Advertising Agency Hardware and Software Support

Hardware and Software Support  

Brianna Bridges

CIS 205 University of Phoenix


Supporting Multiple Computing Needs

The advertising agency that I work for is a mid-sized full-service, independent integrated marketing services agency founded in 1974, headquartered in Brookfield, Wisconsin with service offices in Chicago and Lincoln, Nebraska. We recently implemented a corporate intranet in which employees can retrieve information such as agency announcements, newsletters, blog posts, and the company handbook, company code of conduct, and company policies and procedures.  The company intranet is especially valuable for sharing and connecting with the remote offices.  My company provides advertising, public relations, brand management, market research, and relationship marketing services to companies targeting sales to other companies, as we specialize in B2B marketing. We have a variety of different departments that provide these services, all with different hardware and software needs that range from basic computing requirements to higher functioning necessities for day-to-day activities.

 The Microsoft Office Suite was acquired by the agency for associates to organize presentations, and spreadsheets, and perform word processing. The core software tools used by everyone in the agency include the Microsoft Word processing software; Microsoft Excel spreadsheet software; PowerPoint presentation graphics software; occasionally Access database software; and Outlook, an independent personal information manager. Outlook is used mainly as an e-mail application and for scheduling meetings, and contact management, and meeting scheduling requests and receipts of acceptance are a primary function that the entire agency uses. Associates’ company e-mail accounts are accessed via Outlook, but it also includes a calendar, task manager, and note taking that is useful to keep track of individual schedules and meetings.  Microsoft Office 2003 enables our associates to collaborate with one another over documents created, revised, and shared as e-mail attachments as well as to control who has access to documents as some deal with sensitive information that must stay within their department.

Join now!

The agency provides each associate with a computer running Windows XP Professional with Internet access. Most of our PC’s come with CD-ROM drives, or DVD drives to store video, audio, and graphic data, built-in multimedia capabilities, including high-resolution color monitors, and stereo speakers for amplifying audio output.  PCs range from Intel Pentium Four 3.0 GB processors to the very latest processors, depending on the needs of the department. All workstations have optical mice, 100TX network cards or better for data delivery, and possess a minimum of 512 MB RAM, 64 MB or superior video capabilities, 40 gig or better hard ...

This is a preview of the whole essay