CLASS: II-MSC MATHS

PAPER CODE:
OFFICE AUTOMATION AND ITC TOOLS

UNIT -I
Office Automation – Office And Office Automation
UNIT – II
Computer Mail Systems – Telecommunication And Word
Processor
UNIT – III
Wp Hardware Configuration
UNIT – IV
Reprographics – Electronic Mail And Electronic-Filing
UNIT-V
Facsimile Transmission And Micrographics- Voice Technology
Recommended Text:
1. Office Automation Tools And Technology(Unit 1 & Unit 2)
2. Office Automation Tools, Yatendra Kumar & Suitha Varshney,
Naveen Prakashan Pvt.Ltd
Reference Books:
1. Office Automation Tools, Dr.Rizwan Ahmed, Naveen Prakashan
Pvt.Ltd
2. Office Automation Tools,Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar.
What is Office Automation?
 First things first, let’s define what office automation means. Office
automation is a general term that describes the different types of
computer systems and software that are used to collect digitally,
store, transfer, alter and utilize office information to execute tasks.
In essence, office automation helps to manage data.
 Office automation allows data to move without human
intervention. Since humans are left out of the equation, there is no
risk of manual error. What once began with a typewriter has
evolved into a myriad of automation and electronic tools that have
changed how people work.
Office Automation: The Basics
There are a lot of different aspects of office automation, but they can be
easily divided into the following categories:
 Information storage: This includes the recording of information,
like forms, documents, files, images and spreadsheets. Information
storage generally exists in formats of word processors or
spreadsheets, but it can also be more sophisticated like records in a
CMS or automation software tool like SolveXia.
 Data exchange: Systems allow for the real-time exchange of
information, such as fax machines or emails. Automation software
tools also fit into this category as you can easily share information
and send reports between people.
 Data management: Office automation must also be easily
manageable between different parties and relevant information. As
such, office automation systems can handle short-term and long-
term data, including financial plans, marketing expenditures,
inventory management, etc.
What are the Benefits of Office Automation?
Businesses rely on a little or a lot of office automation tools. Regardless
of the extent, the benefits are expansive, namely:
1. Saved Time
With a reduction of manual effort to achieve tasks, everyone is able to
get more done in less time.
2. Reduced Errors
Even with the most experienced teams, mistakes are inevitable,
especially when dealing with data-heavy and repetitive tasks. Office
automation eliminates errors.
3. Speedier Resolutions
Processes take less time to complete, as do issues that need resolutions.
4. Greater Transparency
With a software moving tasks through to completion, there’s enhanced
transparency and process improvement abilities, as everyone can check
in on the status of a process. Additionally, it’s easier to see where waste
or duplicate efforts are occurring, so you can improve upon processes,
even in real-time.
5. Improved Decision-Making
With access to data and forecasts, business owners, executives,
managers, and stakeholders have the information they need to make
informed decisions.
6. Measurement
Enhanced metrics and KPI monitoring make way for clear answers and
factual insights, rather than having to guess how processes and people
are performing.
7. Employee Satisfaction
Since employees no longer have to conduct repetitive, monotonous, and
tedious work, they can allocate their time to responsibilities that require
human thought. This promotes increased employee satisfaction as
employees understand their value.
8. Improved Customer Service
Since workflows are streamlined, you can deliver value to customers
more directly and with less delays. Greater customer service can
translate to increased retention and customer loyalty.
What are the Challenges of Office Automation?
When choosing an office automation tool, it’s vital to be very clear with
your goals, resources, and communication. Otherwise, there can be
challenges and drawbacks that arise, such as:
1. Lacking Capabilities
It’s possible you could end up with a software that falls short of your
needs. For example, you may have a solution that streamlines workflows
but lacks analytics and insights.
Rather, seek a solution that covers all your needs and desires by first
defining what they are, requesting a demo, and asking the right questions
before implementation.
2. Adds Risk
Since your office automation software will have access to sensitive data,
it’s paramount you find a solution with enterprise-grade security.
Otherwise, you are adding risks to your business rather than the purpose
of office automation, which can be to decrease compliance risk and other
types of business risks.
3. Scalability
Some tools are unable to scale with your business. They may suffer from
backlogs as the volume of automation requests increase.
That’s why it’s important to find a scalable solution like SolveXia,
which can grow with your business without ever sacrificing quality and
speed.
What are the Essential Elements of an Office Automation Tool?

Adding efficiency to your workflows with an office automation tool is

highly desirable. But, knowing what elements to look for in a chosen
solution is key. Keep an eye out for these components:
1. Mobile Compatibility
Chances are, some or all of your workforce is mobile or operates away
from an office desk at some point in time. With remote workers, the
need for a mobile solution is a must-have. Cloud-based solutions with
mobile accessibility make this easy to accomplish.
2. Visual Designer
Since you’ll be automating different types of workflows, it should be
straightforward to set up the processes.
Finance automation solutions like SolveXia come with a library of pre-
built workflow templates to choose from, or if you prefer to customize
your own, you can do so with drag-and-drop functionality (that’s right-
there’s no need to know how to code).
3. Integration
Office automation relies on access to data. Since you’re already using
technology that collects and stores data, your newest solution should be
able to integrate and work alongside your tech stack.
4. Reports
Is your office automation tool doing all you’d had hoped it would?
Forget the guesswork by leveraging analytics, reports, and dashboards to
quantify the ROI.
5. Access Control
Since many office automation tools handle sensitive data, it’s unlikely
you want everyone to have the same amount of permissions. With access
controls, you can determine who gets access to different data and tools.
The Necessary Pieces to Automate
When bringing automation into your organization, you will face two big
decisions. For starters, what do you want to automate? Secondly, what
tool is the right tool to do the trick?
There are primary important change management considerations that
should be addressed when introducing a new technology tool which
includes: an understanding of the tool itself/its purpose, adequate
training / a positive mindset on behalf of those who will use it.
Let’s take a look at how to accomplish all of this.
1. Choosing the Right Tool
The best automation tools have a lot of necessary attributes. Here is
how automation tools can assist your business, such as Solvexia, a
human analytical automation tool.
 Easy workflow design:
Automation tools should make your employees’ lives easier
and not more complicated. This means that workflows and their
design should be intuitive to use. The tool can complete your
internal processes like account reconciliation, for example, without
requiring an IT team or anyone to code the procedure.
 Instead, you can choose from a library of commands and put
together any process easily.
 Mobile compatibility:
These days, employees and business leaders are always on
the go. Having a tool that is mobile compatible and accessible
means that you don’t miss any exchange of information when you
are out of the office or away from your computer.
 Software integration:
You probably already have office automation tools working
for your business. Whether it be Slack, Google Sheets, Dropbox,
Salesforce, Mailchimp or any other software, it’s best when these
tools can speak to one another.
 Reports and analytics:
You’ll want to be able to measure if your tools are working in
your favor consistently. Software solutions with reports and
analytics can take care of this management aspect for you. Not
only will these tools provide analytics based on your data and day-
to-day business, but you can also create internal reports that show
how many hours have been spent on one task, for example.
 Access control:
With any software that touches data, one of the most critical
considerations is control and security. Tools like SolveXia allow
for access control, meaning that you can restrict and grant access to
only those who should have it. You are also able to see who made
any change to data and when so that audit trails are valid and
accurate.
2. Providing Proper Training
The right tool works only when people are on board. For those in
your organization who manage different processes, automation tools will
help alleviate the burden of any manual and repetitive tasks. It first
requires proper training and understanding of how the tool works. The
best software on the market not only design for easy to use interfaces,
but they also provide training and support.
Proper training works best for those who are open to it. As a
business leader, you can help to support a culture that is open to change
and constant improvement. One way to do this is to practice continuous
process improvement.

Types of Office Automation Tools

Office automation spans all aspects of a business’ operations virtually.
There are tools to support:
Facility Management:
Gain the ability to grant or deny access to your facilities remotely.
Example:
  Access management
 Visitor management
 Service
 Membership
 Room scheduling
Staffing:
Use automation to onboard employees and approve contracts. Example:
Contracts
 Hiring
 Rostering
 Onboarding
Productivity:
Store, share and collaborate regarding notes and essential
information. Zapier can connect various productivity apps to talk to one
another.
 Notes
 Office supplies
 Events catering
Communication:
Try Google’s suite for emails and document sharing.
 Responding to enquiries
 Writing fewer emails
Administrative:
Use software tools like SolveXia to manage repetitive tasks, consolidate
data from all legacy systems in one place, automate accounting and real-
time analysis plus more.
 Collect and organize data
 Streamline repetitive tasks
 Less time on paperwork
 On top of billing, expenses and invoicing
Appointments and Scheduling:
Avoid back and forth, emailing for scheduling. Instead, try a tool
like Calendly that can help automate schedules.
 Schedule appointments automatically
 Emails before and after appointments
The Bottom Line
Office automation plays a significant role in both daily processes, as
well as process optimization. Organizations can utilize office automation
on a variety of forefronts.
What is office automation?

 Office automation is the process of watching data flow around on

its own without any human intervention, inaccuracies, and errors.
It is the process of using an automation tool to create, collect,
store, analyze, and share confidential office data that is required to
accomplish basic day-to-day routine tasks and processes
effectively.
 Technology has made a serious impact on the daily work of office
administration. Emails have replaced memos, shared drives have
done away with filing cabinets, and biometrics have taken over
employee timesheet stamping. Many businesses think that they
have attained office automation nirvana simply by going paperless.
 But office automation is a different ballgame altogether.
 Using online forms and sending Google Calendar invites might
mean that you’ve ditched a lot of paper, but it doesn’t mean you
are automated. It just means that instead of pushing around the
paper, you are pushing around data.
 Handling work electronically doesn’t mean your office is
automated.
What is an office automation system?
 An office automation system is a tool that enables data to move
from one system to another on its own without human intervention
and inaccuracies. These tools help organizations collect, manage,
and analyze securely to accomplish everyday tasks and processes.
It optimizes and automates existing business processes and
procedures.
Why use an office automation system?
 Free yourself for what matters. Automate the rest
 Streamline your office operations
Unlock Automation Power
 In today’s digital age, office automation systems offer an array of
benefits for organizations of every size. Powerful office
automation systems reduce manual effort and store a large amount
of data in little space.
 They not only streamline day-to-day tasks but also speed up
information retrieval. Additionally, these tools improve process
visibility and help businesses spot bottlenecks easily.
On the other hand, you could be watching data flow around on its
own – that’s automation.
Benefits of Office Automation
Some of the biggest advantages of automating office workflows include
 Reducing the manual effort to complete mundane tasks
 Cutting down on manual errors
 Shrinking the processing time for items
 Getting insights into process performance metrics
  Gaining greater process visibility and identifying potential
bottlenecks
 Making sound business decisions based on data
Office automation adds efficiency to your workflows, but you need to
look beyond emails and digital forms to really embrace it.
If you are looking for an office automation solution that can take your
company workflows to the next level, don’t settle for anything that
doesn’t have these five essentials.
The 5 Essentials of Office Automation Tools

1. Easy workflow designer

 Creating workflows used to be the domain of hard-core system
coders. So, as workflow software evolved, it assumed the people
using it would be programmers as well.
 However, a modern office automation system should start with the
business user in mind, not the coder.
 When you sit down to trial an office automation tool, start off by
making your own workflows.
  How easy is it? Can you intuitively create the sequence of tasks
needed to finish a process? If you can’t figure it out within the first
five minutes, you need to move on to the next option.
 A piece of software shouldn’t determine how your business should
set its operations. It should instead aid your teams to strengthen the
existing processes.
2. Mobile compatibility
 Your office is mobile, and all your tools should be too. Whether
you have remote workers or you just want to check in while
waiting for a flight, the office automation tool you choose should
work just as smoothly on someone’s phone while on a trip to China
as it does on a PC at the main office.
 Your marketing campaign can’t be delayed a day just because you
need to wait for Greg to get back from his vacation in Machu
Picchu.
 You should be able to run your core processes from a secure cloud
and never have to worry about where your data is or who is
protecting it. If you use an office automation tool like Kissflow
Workflow, then Greg can go over the marketing plan on his mobile
from his hotel lobby in Peru and give his nod before he goes on to
take selfies with the llamas.
3. Integration with other software
 Office automation software isn’t the only thing you are running.
You’ve got your internal database, a CRM, a marketing
automation tool, and your financial software, and that’s just for
starters. When you’re reliant on so many systems, you need a tool
that doesn’t just keep to itself.
 Of all the software out there, office automation should be the
easiest to integrate with your other tools. If it doesn’t, you are
stuck pushing data around from one system to another.
  When doing an evaluation, see what kind of pre-integrations the
office automation software provides, or if it takes advantage of
connecting to a tool like Zapier to open access to thousands of
other cloud tools.
4. Reports and analytics
 How do you know if your office automation is yielding results?
You can’t just evaluate process performance based on how happy
your team is. Data is the ultimate decision-maker, and it’s
important for your business to compare a process’ history, its
speed, the outcome quality, etc.
 Adopting another software to measure your workflow data is time-
consuming and unnecessary. Why not have a single piece of
software that comes embedded with reporting and analytics
features? The best office automation products now come equipped
with this feature as part of their fundamental offering.
5. Access control options
 Just like limiting entry to your office premises, you should also
have access privileges set to all of your business workflows.
 A good workflow automation system understands this sensitive
requirement and will have access control as part of its integral
features. Don’t overlook this capability when considering office
automation software for your business.
What are the functions of office automation software?
An ideal office automation software:
 Requires less space to store data
 Streamlines data storage and retrieval
 Retrieves information instantly
 Eliminates the need to preserve paperwork
  Removes any chance for data redundancy
 Allows multiple people to access data
 Reduces the possibility of errors
Save money, save time, and step into the future
 If you have been fooled into thinking your office is
automated, when it’s really just digitized, It’s time to upgrade your
workflows and take the leap towards office automation.
 Offices that automate can save a tremendous amount of time and
money and let their workforce focus on the things that actually
bring value to the company. Try Kissflow's Workflow today and
see how far you can go with office automation.

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