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Use business technology:

Content guide

Contents

Use business technology: Content guide

Overview
Key terms 2
Office applications
Office templates 3
Project management software
Financial management software
Industry and enterprise applications
Mobile phones
Internet
Getting connected 6
Email 7
Relying on email too much is a trap 7
Application service providers (ASP) 8
e-learning 9
Intranets
Using technology to communicate
Sample answers to My workplace questions

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Overview
If youre a team leader, using business technology is all about knowing the
right technology to use for the situation. This Content guide contains
information, resources and short activities to help you to understand a range
of modern technologies used in business today.

Key terms

e-business
Using the Internet to exchange goods and services, eg your customers
browse an online catalogue and order online.

e-learning
Learning where you get your course materials and/or communicate with
your trainer and other learners via a network, an intranet, or over the
Internet. Course materials may be delivered on CD-ROM where learners
dont have access to the Internet.

e-workers
Team members who do not work in the same location as each other, but use
a network, an intranet or the Internet to communicate and/or supply their
work. These people form an e-team. This may be done because of cost
benefits, individual circumstances or because the nature of the work requires
team members to be spread out or on the move. The arrival of broadband
Internet and wireless Internet in recent times makes e-workers and e-teams a
more workable option.

HRMIS
Human Resource Management Information System; computer system to
collect and analyse information to assist in the making of timely HR
management decisions. Examples are databases, spreadsheets, information
networks.

Intranet
A computer network where information may be viewed as web pages, but
may only be viewed by people inside an organisation (or other people
authorised to view it); a popular way for middle to large size organisations
to distribute information to staff.

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Office applications
Office applications are packages of software with the following tools:
word processor

spreadsheet

presentation software

database.

You can use these tools to:

communicate with your team and your customers

monitor your resources and workflow

schedule

report on improvements

manage payroll

keep staff records such as leave and training.

Examples of office applications are:

Microsoft Office the most widely used office application

Open Office a low cost alternative to Microsoft Office; see details at

www.openoffice.org
Star Office another low cost option; see details at
wwws.sun.com/software/star/staroffice

My workplace
1. What office applications are used in your workplace? What training and support
is available to you and your team?

Answer:

Office templates
Office applications often contain a lot of templates you can use if you don't
already have set templates in your organisation. Websites set up by the

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software vendor often also contain many more templates than those shipped
with the original product. Templates contained in your office software may
include:
word processing templates: eg letter, fax, report, agenda, brochure,
directory, procedures manual
spreadsheet templates: eg expense statement, invoice, purchase order

database templates: asset tracking, contact management, event

management, expenses, inventory control, ledger, order entry, resource
scheduling, service call management, time and billing
presentation templates: eg brainstorming session, communicating bad
news, induction session, presenting a technical report, product and services
overview, recommending a strategy, reporting progress or status, training
session
web page templates.

If you go to the software vendor's website, you will usually find many more
templates to choose from, and also clip art that you may be able to use in
your presentations.

Project management software

Project management software can be used for many of the complex tasks
associated with being a project manager:
allocating resources to tasks

creating a schedule

tracking work

tracking budgets

creating reports on budget use and work progress.

The best known example is Microsoft Project, but there are many others. Go
to Google www.google.com and search for 'project management software',
'time management software' or 'tracking software'.

Financial management software

Project management software helps you to keep track of the money
associated with projects, for example it can help you to:
manage bank accounts

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create quotes, orders, invoices, receipts and statements

manage GST

manage payroll

track time on jobs.

Examples of financial management applications are:

MYOB www.myob.com.au

QuickBooks www.quicken.com.au

For more examples and vendors, go to Google www.google.com.au and

search for 'financial management software', 'payroll software' or other terms
you're interested in. For a list of Australian sites only, be sure to click the
button next to 'page from Australia'.

Industry and enterprise applications

Many industries and organisations have business technology that is purpose-
built for a particular use. Examples are:
customer tracking software

booking/reservation software

manufacturing and production line software

workflow management

patient records software

payroll systems

human resource management information systems (HRMIS)

inventory control systems.

If you or your team use any of these, make sure that adequate user
documentation, support and training is available.

Mobile phones
This is a fast changing area just look at how much more mobile phones
can do now compared to five years ago.
SMS (Short Message Service) has changed the way we use our mobile
phones. We can quickly give short updates on our progress to a family
member or co-worker, and businesses can send one message to hundreds of

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customers at once from a single computer. Telecommunications companies

also offer computer to mobile phone text messages for private consumers.
Address books, clocks and calendars in current mobile phones have turned
them into pocket sized portable computers.
Sending and receiving email is possible using mobile phones now.

Built in cameras and the availability of MMS (Multimedia Message

Service) means that mobile phones can now be used to record and send
sounds and pictures as well as short text messages.
The latest phones coming onto the market allow the user to watch
television clips, send video clips to other users, use fast Internet
connections to browse the web, and make face-to-face mobile video calls.
Phones for business users also include office applications such word
processors, spreadsheets and presentation software.

Internet
If you're in a large organisation chances are you already have high speed
Internet access from your nearest computer. If you're in a small to medium-
sized organisation you may have to purchase Internet access from an ISP
(Internet Service Provider). Most ISPs will have business packages that you
can choose from to get your workplace connected.

Getting connected
Businesses will usually choose high speed (broadband) access, which
depending on your local communications infrastructure, may be delivered
by:
ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) uses your existing copper
phone lines to deliver the Internet at very fast speeds; there's no need to
dial up each time you use the Internet, with ADSL it's 'always on'; ADSL
has made fast broadband access possible for many people
cable the cable that carries pay TV channels can also be used to connect
to the Internet; like ADSL, cable Internet is 'always on' it's very fast but
only available where pay TV cables have been laid
satellite a new development for rural and remote areas is 2-way satellite
broadband access; the equipment at your workplace can send and receive
data to and from an orbiting satellite, which is then connected to the
Internet; a cheaper option is 1-way satellite where you get fast download
from the satellite, but slower upload (eg sending an email) via your phone
line

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wireless as the name says, this is access to the Internet without wires;
wireless access is useful where your job requires you to be on the move;
you will however need to be near an access point called a 'wireless hotspot'
and access speeds are not as fast as ADSL or cable
ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) this also uses your existing
copper phone lines to deliver the Internet at fast speeds; it's not as fast as
ADSL (and some people would argue that it's not fast enough to be
considered broadband) but if your location means the other options are not
available, ISDN may suit your needs.
Once you're workplace is connected to the internet you may use it to:
search for information eg
o Google www.google.com.au (to find a website, this Australian
version of Google allows you search for Australian websites)
o Sensis www.sensis.com.au (to find a website, also allows you to
search for Australian websites)
o Yellow Pages www.yellowpages.com.au (to find a business)
o WhereIs www.whereis.com.au (to find a place)
o Whitepages www.whitepages.com.au (to find a person, business
or to look up world times, postcodes and phone dialling codes)
conduct e-business you can purchase the resources that your team
needs online, sell your products or services online
manage e-workers and e-teams broadband Internet and mobile phone
technologies mean it's now more feasible to have teams comprised of
people who are not physically located together; e-workers are offsite team
members who you supervise using a combination of business technologies
and of course email, which we cover below.

Email
Email can be effective and very convenient, but you must use it carefully
and you must ensure that your team member do the same.
Email has become an important and widely used communication tool in
many workplaces. Heres an example of an effective email sent by a team
leader:
Hi Margaret
How are you going? I would like to catch up with you early this
week, to have a general chat on how things are going for you.
Can you check your diary and perhaps we can grab a coffee and
have a catch up. As you can see I am pretty booked (I have
attached my diary appointments for you to take note) but I can
rearrange a couple of things if our times clash.

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Regards
Jo
Your team member, Margaret, will get the message that you want to make
time to see her during the week that you think its important that you and
she talk about how things are going.
You should also encourage your staff to use email carefully and
responsibly.

Relying on email too much is a trap

If its poorly used, email can be a very destructive force in the workplace.
Unfortunately, when were busy its very easy to send emails that sound
abrupt or rude, or are unclear about what we really need, or what we really
mean.
Heres an example of an ineffective and abrupt email sent by a team leader:
Margaret,
I have attached my diary appointments for you to take note of.
As you can see I am very busy this week, and I only have time
to see people from 9-10 am Tuesday and Thursday. If you have
a problem, I remind you that you must discuss it with me. If
thats the case you should make a time with me via email and I
will attempt to see you.
Regards
Jo
If you sent this message, Margaret will get the message that you are too
busy to talk to her, and if she tries to tell you about a problem, you will
probably just regard her as a nuisance. She may also get the feeling from
this email that you dont trust her.

When not to use email

Although email is quick and efficient, there are times when you should not
use it to communicate with your team. Here are some examples of when
email is not the best way to communicate:
When your message or question is complex it will be harder to write
and understand if its in an email, so phone or meet with the other person
instead. This way you will avoid a long string of emails going backwards
and forwards as you and the other person try to make yourselves
understood!
When you need to communicate bad news or sensitive information to
staff peoples self-esteem takes a huge battering when organisations use
email this way. You may have heard stories of organisations that have
retrenched staff or downsized their business, and used email to tell the

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staff. Think of how disempowered the people who receive these emails
feel. I wasnt even good enough to be retrenched face to face is a likely
reaction. Email may be a cheap and easy way to communicate but you will
never gain loyalty, trust and respect when you treat staff as if they do
not matter.

My workplace
2. Does your organisation have a policy for using email? What are some key points
in the policy that you and your staff need to be aware of?

Answer:

Application service providers (ASP)

Application service providers (ASP) provide applications across the Internet
or other networks. Instead of the program being housed on your own
computer, it's hosted by the company selling the application possibly
thousands of miles away from where you're using it. Examples of
applications provided this way include:
marketing tools (online surveys)

financial applications (book keeping or accounting software)

online shopping (catalogues, shopping baskets and online payments)

project management (schedules, online timesheets, job sheets)

help desk software

collaboration software (sharing files, reviewing work, forums).

e-learning
e-learning means learning or training where content or course materials are
delivered via a network, an intranet, or over the Internet. It can work in
many ways:
learners may follow a live session conducted by a trainer, perhaps
involving video and 'talk back' between the trainer and the learners
learners may work through prepared learning resources at their own pace
if this is the case there may still be facilities for communication with the
trainer and with other learners

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course materials may be delivered on CD-ROM where learners dont have

reliable access to the Internet or to a corporate network
many organisations now deliver blended learning, where there is a mix of
both face-to-face sessions and e-learning
technology may also be used to help conduct assessment, either as
computer-scored online tests, or by delivering the instructions for practical
assessment tasks to learners, supervisors and workplace assessors.

My workplace
3. How does your workplace use the Internet? Can you see an opportunity for
using any of the online technologies we've described above? If so how would this
improve the effectiveness of your team? What costs would be involved in this?

Answer:

Intranets
An intranet may look like the Internet, but it isn't! An intranet is closed
network of computers where information is viewed as web pages, using
your standard web browser. It can only be viewed by people inside an
organisation or other people who are authorised to view it. They are mostly
used by medium to large-sized organisations; some examples of how they
are used include:
to publish the organisational policies, procedures and forms (helps ensure
that everyone has access to these, and that the most current versions are
being used)
to distribute product information to staff

to distribute staff newsletters

to provide access to organisational software where a familiar web interface

is desired (eg customer contact software).

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Using technology to communicate

Face-to-face communication, talking to your staff and 'managing by walking
around' are some of the most important parts of your job as a team leader.
But sometimes it makes sense to use business technology to communicate
with your team, your customers or with management.
Be sure to choose the technology carefully here is a summary of the pros
and cons of different communication technologies.

Pros (good points) and cons (bad points) of methods of communication

Method of Pros Cons

Communication

Mobile phone, office phone Instant Can be overused

Good for keeping track of No non-verbal
staff communication
sometimes hard to tell what
Can communicate with
somebody really means
people who are away from
the office Can be used at inappropriate
times, eg person may take
Feedback is instant
the call when he/she is not
With mobile phones, people really in a position to talk
are easily contacted
Mobile charges can be
costly

Meetings by video Many people receive the Some people may dominate
conferencing or audio message at the same time discussions
conferencing
Opportunity for feedback Can be difficult to manage
without a clear agenda and a
Opportunity for discussion
good chairperson
A less expensive way to get
people from distant
locations together

Presentations using data Useful for training Can be boring if not

projector prepared well, eg if speaker
Allows for participation and
just reads from the screen
feedback
Poor planning may mean
Sends the same consistent
there is not enough time to
message at the same time
answer questions
Diagrams are useful for
showing complex
information
Non-verbal communication
give information to the

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presenter and the listeners

Email Instant Information overload,

people may delete
Can make contact with
information without reading
people that you might not be
able to access on the phone Can become a time waster
or face-to-face as people spend more
and more time sifting
Can send the same message
through their emails, they
to a number of people in lots
are spending less time
of locations
working
Feedback can be instant
Requires very precise use of
written language to avoid
misunderstandings
Email rage can occur
where people are aggressive
or hostile whereas if they
were in a face-to-face
situation they would be
more careful about how they
said things
Can reduce politeness and
respect
Requires skill
Files can be deleted
Inappropriate material can
be sent by email

Faxes Instant Feedback can be slow and

limited
Complex information can be
sent Lacks confidentiality
Diagrams and charts can be
sent

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Sample answers to My workplace

questions
1
As well as face-to-face training consider setting up brief on-the-job spot
training sessions one person who knows how to do one thing in your
office application show the other people in your team.
2
Policies for appropriate use of email often cover things like:
use a brief, clear and descriptive subject heading

messages should be concise put detail in attached documents

there should be reasonable time limits on the use of email for personal
purposes
email must not be used to harass, intimidate, bully or threaten another
person.
3
For example, how do you use email? Is there anything you could do to
improve how your team uses email? Do you use e-learning programs or
Internet search tools to find information?

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