Technology for the New Millennium
2000; American Institute of Certified Public Accountants; Volume: 189; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0021-8448
Autores Tópico(s)ICT Impact and Policies
ResumoHow to prepare for e-business. Like it or not, technology now defines our world: Workplace technology that started as handy (but still optional) business tools in the 1980s evolved into a high-priority requirement in the 1990s. As we enter the new millennium, it has taken another quantum leap, going from a priority to a prerequisite for doing business. Luddites no longer can reject technology as a social evil, nor can traditionalists dismiss it as an extravagance. From online retailing to data warehousing and from business-to-business Internet links to online teamware, technology is embedded in the way most business is conducted--indeed, in the way many of your clients, customers and suppliers live their lives. As evidence of how entrenched technology has become, consider the fact that it's now possible to manage a business, trade on the stock market, research a technical question, prepare a tax return, shop for anything from eggs to steel ingots and even send a love letter by e-mail accompanied by a dozen roses--all while ice fishing on a remote lake in the Upper Peninsula. NOT JUST FOR NERDS At the birth of personal computers in the 1980s, only a handful of technogeeks used and appreciated their power. But by the early 1990s the PC (and those powerful little electronic chips that are the heart of the new technology) had invaded both the corporate world and people's homes. A complete public mind-shift followed--evidenced by the fact that the laptop has become as ubiquitous as the briefcase; even preteens walk around with cell phones; and a growing number of senior citizens regularly exchange e-mail and digital photos with their grandchildren. Despite the phenomenal growth and overwhelming influence of computers, the majority of small businesses still lag in applying technology. According to a survey by Sage Research, 67% of small businesses do not have a basic computer network, and only 8% of them plan to install one this year. Foot-draggers generally give two basic excuses for the omission: * Technology is too challenging: too much and too fast, and we just can't catch * It's not really necessary: We're still able to do our business with paper and pencil, thank you very much. Those rationalizations don't acknowledge what many recent converts to technology are discovering: The longer one delays, the larger the gap and the harder it is to catch up. And though many businesses still can function adequately with paper and pencil, their customers--and their competition--are not sitting on their hands. PEOPLE GET READY In a recent survey by PC Computing magazine, 54% of white-collar workers confessed they lacked the skills needed to take advantage of the current technology--forget the technology that's right around the corner. (Just because workers can successfully click on a reply button to respond to e-mail does not mean they have e-mail proficiency.) The survey also round that most users developed even their limited skills not through formal training but by trial and error--a slow, frustrating and inefficient process. Although it's true that as technology matures the need for special training will decline--because tomorrow's software and hardware will be much more intuitive and loaded with built-in teaching drills--that time is not here yet. Training is still essential. All financial professionals must assess the consequences of their knowledge gap and determine how much effort they must invest in learning to use the new tools effectively. Managers must budget time and money not only to bring their staff members up to speed but also to stay ahead. Relatively speaking, today's hardware is cheap. Just a few years ago a top-rated PC cost nearly $4,000. Today the price of a fully loaded, fast machine is around $1,000--and dropping. JACK BE NIMBLE, JACK BE QUICK For years conventional wisdom held that it was profligate to buy the latest, hottest computer. …
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