Managers at the Keyboard — The Future of the Executive Work Station
| Pages | 12-12 |
| Published date | 01 May 1986 |
| Date | 01 May 1986 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb057440 |
| Subject Matter | Economics,Information & knowledge management,Management science & operations |
Managers at the
Keyboard —
The Future of the
Executive
Work Station
Introduction
Secretaries to senior managers could soon be amongst the
powerful staff in industry. According to a new report, one
in three executives will have a personal desk-top computer
by 1990. But you will not find the chief executive pounding
the keyboard. Instead his secretary will be in the front line
of office technology with access to information once the
domain of senior managers.
Authors of the report, WordNet International, who market
videotyping systems, claim executives are keen to acquire
multi-function work stations which can access shared
databases, telex, teletext, electronic
mail,
and talk with other
word processors and computers. For many, a personal work
station is a matter of status. But only one in ten can type
well enough to input text accurately at a reasonable speed.
In the rush of enthusiasm for new technology, many ex-
ecutives underestimate how long it takes to learn to use a
program.
And they frequently overlook the time needed to
enter large quantities of data to compile a usable database.
Another major problem is pride. The average senior manager
is 50-plus, and has been working in industry for at least 20
years.
For 85 per cent of his working life, office skills have
been relegated to junior female staff. He does not want to
learn to type.
And how many senior managers really want to keep their
own electronic diary, place telephone calls via their
keyboard,
transmit telexes, and check their electronic mail
boxes twice daily? Even if they did, it would cost too much,
claims WordNet. Direct inputting by management offers
confidentiality, but it costs the company twice as much if
a senior executive types a report than if he hands it over
to his secretary.
Only at the end of the century, when voice recognition
technology has developed, is there a real possibility of a
multi-function work station on every senior manager's desk,
and even then the many problems inherent in the English
language make the prospect of truly integrated telephone,
dictation and voice mailbox functions by no means a
certainty.
At present, most of the 200,000 standalone business micros
bought by management for their personal use have ended
up on their secretaries' desks. The only exception is the Ac-
counts Department, where micros with sophisticated finan-
cial packages are a vital management
tool.
Insuperable
Despite a recent investment by industry in office technology,
there is still an insuperable hurdle. It is often impossible for
one department to communicate with another where they
may have a need to share information. One survey shows
that 50 per cent of UK firms have two or more different and
incompatible micros in their offices. Some have as many
as five or more makes. In 1984, there were nearly 700 types
of hardware available — most not readily compatible — and
4,000-plus software packages.
Standards for Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) should
change all that, but are unlikely to be adopted widely before
1990.
And word processors and micros currently being in-
stalled are unlikely to be replaced before
then.
Meanwhile
the fragmented approach has meant that UK firms wasted
£800 million of the £5 billion spent on information
technology in 1984.
And,
there is another problem. The Sales Director may not
want his department's stored information readily available
and open to modification by other executives. In many com-
panies, departmental boundaries are
rigid.
Multi-function
work station suppliers can offer compatibility, and password
protection for data, but characteristic mistrust has to be
overcome before there can be any real progress.
Ideally there should be an executive in every company with
overall responsibility for office automation. His job would
be to reconcile opposing views, and take an overview of
future systems.
Growth
To keep pace with office automation within a company's
spending restraints, the report predicts a major growth in
videotyping systems. At the most basic level these are elec-
tronic typewriters enhanced with display screen and
memory, forming a basis for a multi-function work station.
They offer more than 90 per cent of the text processing
power of dedicated work processors at a third of the price.
They can also be networked with up to seven other terminals
running a wide range of business software and sharing fast
printers, including laser and hard disc storage.
Videotypewriters can send telexes, communicate with other
typewriters and word processors, and by telephone with of-
fices around the country.
There are already 500,000 electronic typewriters in the UK,
and the number goes up by more than 100,000 a year. Most
can be upgraded to videotyping systems. The big advan-
tage of videotyping is that the keyboard is already familiar
to the typist. This overcomes initial resistance and cuts down
on training time.
WordNet's report predicts that by 1990 videotyping systems
will be as popular as micros in the UK for multifunction work
stations. One in three of the UK's 1.3 million secretaries will
be using a screen-based terminal with multifunction capabil-
ity. And one in three of these will be a videotyping system,
impacting heavily on UK sales of micros for word
processing.
So the videotyping terminal could be the key to the growth
of office technology in British industry in the next decade.
But unless attitudes change dramatically, it will still be
secretaries at the keyboard, not directors.
"Managers at the Keyboard" — a report by WordNet Inter-
national.
A free copy is available from:
WordNet International plc,
Chelsea Fields, 278 Western Road,
Merton,
London SW19. Tel: 01-685 0550
12 IMDS • MAY/JUNE • 1986
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