I think that the Microsoft programs have completely revolutionised the World’s way of business from 20-30 years ago as the technology available these days offers something that is reliable, quick, easy to use and also has more features to choose from that make using the Microsoft programs more practical to use then writing on a piece of paper. For example 20-30 years ago if you were owning a video rental shop and were recording a member’s address but then they decided to move to a different place then you would have to scribble of the old address and write the new one in. This would therefore mean that the details that you have written are untidy and not to forget that the piece of paper can easily get lost. Microsoft Access would ensure a tidy, reliable and easy way to record data and to find data. Access, although only one program has created many jobs in database designers. These people are hired to design databases for companies.
Internet Connections
My mum’s job would be extremely hard to do and a lot more time consuming if it wasn’t for the internet. At home we have BT broadband so that the time to load and download different pages is around 10 times quicker than a standard 56k modem. At her office her company has a special deal with BT that means it’s cheaper to use the internet on a few dozen different computers. My mum uses the internet to look properties for her housing association. Search engines like Google and Ask Jeeves help her achieve this as they cover a wide majority of web pages that are on the internet. She also goes on different housing association sites. 20-30 years this job would be very hard to do as my mum would have to actually go around different estate agent’s to look at properties whilst now she is just a few clicks of the mouse away from finding a suitable property.
I.T on How it Affects my Mum’s Job and Different Work Patterns
I.T technology makes someone’s journey a lot more enjoyable. For example when my mum takes a train to a different part of the country she would take a laptop to make the journey more enjoyable as she could go on the internet, watch a DVD or do some work as then that way she could not waste time just sitting on the train. At my mum’s office, I would say that the business practice has changed as now you have computers instead of presenting work by it being hand written like it was 20-30 years ago. Many people today blame I.T for causing lack of jobs such as Labouring. This may be true but I.T has also created many new jobs and so it’s just a matter of how people moving on to a different era in terms of businesses. Jobs that I.T has created are jobs such as Website designers, engineers and not to mention phone engineers and electricians.
My mum’s work pattern follows at that on a usual working-day she gets the tube to south London and there she just types up reports and run’s the base of the company. Nearly every afternoon she has to attend to meetings. General business meetings have changed a lot as now my mum is just starting to get used to using programs like power point which she then does her presentation on and then shows it by using an interactive whiteboards. Interactive whiteboards have become a common feature just recently and are not only used in conferences but are now even used by schools to teach pupils. Interactive whiteboards are basically projectors except you can interact with them by using an electronic pen. Using the interactive whiteboards is a great way to present a presentation as it gets the audience’s full attention unlike 20-30 years ago when you had to be a good speaker to get your point across. The use of Laptops have also changed the way in which my mum works as now she doesn’t need to be at a computer that is situated somewhere but can now carry around a laptop which is easy to use and an I.T technology that can be used anywhere you want to use it. Laptops are also forever expanding in memory as more science is being invested in them.
Storage media like DVD’s are also commonly used, more so than a standard VCR video player. The reason for this is that the image on a DVD is a lot sharper and has better resolution than a VCR video. Also DVD’s are lighter and don’t take up as much space. These factors are extremely useful to my mum as it means she can easily slip in a DVD to most modern computers. Other storage media like Zip-disks are used because they present a fast way to handle the data requirements of today's ever expanding computer applications. They contain more storage than the floppy disk so are therefore used a lot by my Mum. This affects my mum’s use of storing data as it means she can store more applications onto one disk.
I.T Skills My Mum needs and how she Interacts at Work
As has already been mentioned, I.T skills are very helpful to my mum and for her boss to actually employ her as she needs to have a good understanding on Microsoft Office and the internet to do her job. People who might well have good grades and degrees might not get a job to someone who hasn’t got as good grades because that other person will have the I.T skills needed for the job.
Two pieces of technology that my mum uses for work that is absolutely essential is the use of email and her mobile phone. Email (electronic mail) is actually electronic mail. It is widely used and is becoming a lot more popular than posting a letter as it is a lot quicker, cheaper and a more reliable way to get a message quickly transmitted to anywhere you want to send it. My mum uses it to send documents and uses it personally to send media files and other different applications.20-30 years ago Email didn’t really exist meaning that my mum’s job would be more time consuming and expensive as it you would have to pay for the service of the delivery and you wouldn’t get your message across as quickly as Email would.
My mum is also completely reliable on the invention of the mobile phone. Really, mobile phones have just started to take of. Just a few years ago the best phone that you could buy was just a phone with a decent size, a black and white colour, standard text messaging and not to forget that you could talk. Now however the best phone you can get is in a very good intensity of colour resolution, Video and sound recording, WAP, media messaging to send applications such as images and sound and a radio on them, (Some phones obviously include different features to it depending on its mode). My mum has a Nokia 7210 and is on a T-Mobile pay monthly tariff. She uses her phone quite a lot for sending emails by text and because she spends a long time on the phone. If she used a’ pay as you go’ SIM card then it would actually turn out more expensive. She also uses a special tool on her phone that allows her to type in a question to the server which then replies answering the question. She uses WAP rarely although does go on it to find out the latest news and to find out the weather in the morning. The use of SMS is very helpful to my mum as she can quickly get a message across even if the phone that she is sending a message to is switched off as when they turn on the phone, that certain person will receive a text message. Because of this my mum tends to text more than she would talk on her mobile phone.
Conclusion
I think that after pointing the details before, I believe that I.T plays an absolutely massive role in how many jobs all over the world are created and how jobs are worked at. The Microsoft technology’s such as word and power point have made a big difference when you are writing a report or when you are making a presentation. My mum is expected to write a report using Microsoft Word just as I am expected to write this assignment. Also, when mum travels instead of wasting time she can actually now because of laptops write her documents or relax and watch a DVD. The use of Email is used so much now that the post-office are having a lot of problems and are having to pay off a lot of workers. Some people use cases like this to attack I.T technology’s but then to defend the argument you could say that I.T has created many jobs as well. Mobile phones affect my mums way communicating at work in a positive as she doesn’t actually use a mobile phone as much to talk but to send an email by multimedia messaging or to send a text by using SMS. If it wasn’t for I.T then my mums’ job wouldn’t exist or would be very hard to do.
