Office Automation

Office Automation

Office automation refers to the use of electronic devices in office activities in order to increase efficiency. This increased efficiency is resulted by completion of information exchange inside office and between offices and their environment and finally could help secretaries to provide better information to their boss or managers (Beheshtian, 1999).

According to Geoffrey (2003) office automation is an aid to the secretary who makes constant use of the machines, hence the machines can carry out routine work or clerical jobs quickly, accurately and automatically more than the ordinary human being can do, thereby freeing the secretary in working out payroll, and other numerous letters and calculations which need an expert and excellent touch to be done correctly. Some of these machines have large storage facilities and can store information in their memory unit. He confirmed that the presence of computer as an office automation has created new job opportunities especially for the secretarial assistant.

According to Ejeka (2006) office automation refers to utilizing personal computers such as word processors and electronic intercom mail plus other technologies used to upgrade workers productivity and efficiency. It is the technique of making a processor system automatic in the office. Ejeka went further to assert that office automation is the merging of technologies an integration of providing quality information and communication facilities designed to improve professional and management productivity.

According to Meyer (1999), Office automation refers to the varied computer machinery and software used to digitally create, collect, store, manipulate, and relay office information needed for accomplishing basic tasks and goals. Office automation systems (OAS) are configurations of networked computer hardware and software. A variety of office automation systems are now applied to business and communication functions that used to be performed manually or in multiple locations of a company, such as preparing written communications and strategic planning (Grantham, 2014).

According to Rahimian (1998) office automation is a mechanism which aims to improve organization efficiency and productivity through use of effective and efficient management by utilizing electronic flow of correspondence in organization level, easy searching stored data, quick and timely response to client, removal of paper from administrative correspondence cycle, proper control over users, maintaining and recording data efficiently and improve communications within organization. In addition, functions that once required coordinating the expertise of outside specialists in typesetting, printing, or electronic recording can now be integrated into the everyday work of an organization, saving both time and money (Canning, 2010).

In the words of Behan, (2008) office is a part of business that handles the information dealing with various operations within an organisation that are performed to meet certain objectives. Such operations include accounting, payroll, billing, etc. An automation system is a planned change in the physical or administrative task utilizing a new process, method, or machine that increase productivity, quality and profit while providing methodological control and analysis. The value of system automation is in its ability to improve efficiency, reduce wasted resources associated with rejects, increased consistency, enhanced quality, and greater customer satisfaction and maximize profits (Mohammad, 1998).

According to Meyer (2014) automation systems vary from simple ones to highly complicated ones. Office Automation is the process of applying modern machines and technology to improve information management as well as the overall performance of an organization. Small businesses often manage to perform all their office tasks from simple desktops or laptops. Office Automation refers to all tools and methods that are applied to office activities which make it possible to process written, visual and sound data in a computer-aided manner (Roshan, 2005).

According to Benjamin (2012) Office automation systems are a blend of different technologies which help in reducing the manual labor required in operating an office environment. Office automation systems are concerned with handling, controlling and distribution of the information in the organization. These systems aim at increasing business effectiveness by the use of technology for the improvement in both the quality and productivity of work performed in the office by clerical and knowledge workers. Office automation system provides for the incorporation of documents of all types by integrating images into the system (Benjamin, 2012) summed up.

Habibi (2004) states that various activities that come under office work are document preparation, filing, performing simple computations, checking information, intra-office communication and external communication. Such processing within the office is usually stimulated by the arrival of a request for service such as an order, a bill , a complaint , a message to order more material, a message to change the order or the date changing to Friday etc. The office can be viewed as a mechanism that maintains the state of the business by means of a series of activities that cause a change in state. Therefore the term office automation refers to the use of integrated computer and communication systems to support administrative procedures in an office environment (Roshan, 2005).