What is paperless office?

Category: Business/Financial Management

Analysis:

This article is very good, basically explaining what paperless office is in many ways.

Many people know the significance of paperless office, but we haven't seen any company really realize paperless office. So is it necessary to mention paperless office? I have talked to many people about this problem, and everyone has a deep feeling.

One of the most frequently asked questions is that the last set of office automation software is the means for enterprises to implement paperless office, but after the implementation, paper has not been reduced, but has been used more. The leaders of some enterprises or departments, with limited computer application level, are unwilling to use computers to handle some work, and are willing to use paper to feel more secure. There is even a comparison between departments to see who prints clearly and beautifully. If you use a stylus printer, I'll use a laser printer. If you are black and white, I will use color. So sometimes some leaders' preferences lead to a lot of paper waste. The development of office automation makes it possible to save paper or even paperless office. For example, e-mail and the Internet can easily provide relevant information to all parties in need, and of course, they can also be saved without using paper as a carrier. But good wishes are not equal to reality. The reality is that the global office paper is still growing at a rate of 4% ~ 7% every year. At this rate, the global office paper will double in 10.

There are also some people who think that increasing the amount of paper used in paperless office is temporary, just like boxing. Before punching, the hand should be retracted first, so that the punch can be more powerful. Nowadays, a lot of paper is used for a paperless future. This sounds reasonable, and people's understanding of paperless is so limited. In fact, enterprises spend money, set up local area networks and connect to the Internet not only to save some paper. Of course, office expenses can be continuously reduced by establishing office automation system, and the starting point of establishing the system should be to improve the level of office management.

At present, the standard of office automation is still in formation, and the product content of many manufacturers is also very different. But the system in everyone's mind should include: document processing, email, meeting management, file management, information release, electronic forum, work management and so on. In fact, after several years of development, great changes have taken place in the content and form of office automation system. After the development in the late 1980s 10 years, the office automation system in China has developed from providing auxiliary office for single computers to large-scale collaborative work management for enterprise-level applications today. At present, the domestic office automation system has gone through three stages of development and achieved two revolutionary leaps. The first generation of office system, which began in the mid-1980s, took personal computers and office suites as the main symbols, realized the electronization of data statistics and document writing, and completed the leap of office information carrier from the original paper media to electronic bit mode. Since the mid-1990s, with the emergence of workflow groupware technology represented by Lotus Notes and the rapid development of network communication technology, the office automation system has undergone the first revolutionary evolution. The second generation office automation system, which is characterized by network technology and collaborative work technology, has realized workflow automation and made a leap from traditional manual mode to workflow automation mode. With the coming of the era of knowledge economy in 2 1 century, knowledge has become the key resource for economic growth, social development and enterprise growth, and mastering and utilizing knowledge to the maximum has increasingly become the core of information construction in enterprises and institutions. With the unprecedented emphasis on knowledge, the workflow-centered office automation system has been upgraded to the third generation office automation system centered on knowledge management.

Although the office automation system has been integrated with new management ideas such as knowledge management, we found that there are still many unsatisfactory aspects that affect the process of paperless office.

1, the understanding of office automation system is quite different.

In the eyes of many people, the office automation system mainly deals with some official documents, sends and receives emails, and realizes the computerization of paper work. In fact, many people have this idea, but I didn't know that office automation is very knowledgeable, involving behavioral science, management science, sociology, systems engineering and other disciplines. The application of office automation has become one of the symbols of enterprise management modernization.

The core problem of office automation is how to improve the daily office efficiency. Therefore, all the contents of our daily work can be included in the processing scope of office automation system, such as word processing, fax, application approval, office supplies, official document management, book management, meeting management, data management, file management, customer management, order sales, and even inventory management, production planning, technology management, quality management, cost management, personnel management, etc. , can be summarized as the processing scope of office automation software.

The standard problem we mentioned earlier, that is, what the office automation system includes, has different opinions and there is no fixed statement. This leads to the usual practice of software companies: firstly, according to their own ideas, give some simple functions to the office automation system and form a framework. When the enterprise needs it, add the functional requirements put forward by enterprise users for customized development. In this way, companies can develop whatever software they want to meet the needs of enterprises as much as possible. Although it seems to be customer-centric, there are actually many problems. For example, office automation system should permeate many new management ideas, such as collaborative office, knowledge management and customer relationship management. , so as not to become a replica of handmade works. It is not good for both parties to call it office automation if they only do it according to the requirements of customers and do not have good management ideas to guide the office management of enterprises. For software companies, it is more difficult to develop and not easy to promote; For enterprises, office automation system can not be used to improve management, and the benefits are relatively low. Therefore, office automation system will not be as easy to popularize as financial software, mainly because the financial system is supported by national policies and standards and has relatively standardized practices to follow. At present, office automation system can't do it.

2. The ideology of leaders and users needs to be improved.

It is very important to change people's ideas and habits if paperless office is to become a reality. In people's traditional concept, "black and white" is authoritative and true, and * * * can also read or give instructions directly on paper. It is easier for people to relax when reading things on paper, and it is not limited by time and place, so the written things are easy to carry. Besides, paper has obvious advantages: compared with computer screen, we can clearly see what is printed or written on paper even in poor light, and we can easily comment and modify it at will on paper. Handwritten copies of the same content show more information than e-mail or floppy disk storage, and body language reveals this. Through handwriting, you can feel each other's feelings, personality, cultural literacy and other information.

This is just the idea that some people miss paper, but the convenience brought by informatization is more and more, which is incomparable to the original paper method. For example, the advantage of information sharing enables you to work anywhere, as long as you can connect to the Internet. Online office has been recognized by people. In particular, to realize office automation system through ASP, it is not necessary to install complex application software on the enterprise internal network, but only to obtain the corresponding user name and password from ASP service providers and assign them to their own employees to use the personnel and functions in network office. On the basis of the second generation, the third generation office automation system provides relevant knowledge to deal with various problems, ensures that every user can learn from the existing knowledge of experts and enterprises at any time and place as needed, and makes the position of employees in the office automation system change from passive to active, thus greatly improving the overall innovation ability and adaptability of enterprises and institutions in the process of enhancing the creativity of each employee.

There are also many users who don't want to use office automation system. The reason is very simple: the system needs a lot of original data and information, and everyone's workload will increase, especially some data related to departments and personal interests, which everyone subconsciously does not want to disclose. Therefore, there will be some resistance to the implementation of the system, especially the participation of the top leaders in the project. The top leaders mentioned here are not only the top leaders of enterprises, but also the heads of various departments.

3. Office automation technology also needs constant innovation.

In the application of office automation system, the application of some technologies will also promote its development. An important issue mentioned by many leaders is signature. In fact, there are still many technical details to be improved, such as network signature authentication technology, local area network communication, file network broadcasting and so on.

For example, in the process of realizing file batch circulation by computer, when users modify files in batches on the computer, how to keep the modification traces of different users is a problem that users are very concerned about. When signing by hand, different people have different handwriting, which is easy to identify. However, it is not a simple matter to modify and edit files on the computer, and it is necessary to keep everyone's traces. Some systems deal with this problem by making copies of files modified by everyone and then comparing the differences between the two copies. This method is not intuitive enough, nor does it conform to the usual work habits of users, and it wastes a lot of space because it needs to save multiple copies. Some systems write their own editing software, in which users draft and modify files, but because the editing software used is designed and written by themselves, it can be seamlessly connected with OA system, so it is more convenient to show the modification traces of different users. Although this method is flexible, it is difficult to compare the editing software with the mainstream word processing software (Microsoft Word, WPS Office, etc.). ) in terms of function. On the other hand, if the end user is already familiar with the operation of commercial word processing software, it is difficult to accept other editing software.

I believe everyone has seen these problems, and some companies have already had good solutions. But at present, there are still some technologies in the application process that you have and I don't; I have skills that you don't have. As a result, many office automation software companies have uneven levels and cannot cooperate to make use of each other's advantages. In particular, many small and medium-sized software companies around us can't fully cooperate, and often there will be vicious competition, which will lead to the failure of both sides to achieve leapfrog development.

4. Integration with other systems is bound to become a bottleneck.

Everyone who works in an enterprise knows that besides office automation system, there are many contents of enterprise informatization, such as financial system, production management system, invoicing management system, human resource management system, CAD, CAPP and so on. At present, the application status of enterprises is: due to various reasons, a large number of information islands have been built, and there is little close cooperation. There is no data connection between various systems, which leads to a lot of repetitive work and inaccurate data. The existence of information islands leads to great redundancy of information, a lot of junk information, the consistency of information exchange can not be guaranteed, it is difficult for individuals and departments to share information, and it is difficult for leaders to take charge of the overall situation. Because the system is provided by multiple suppliers, even if it wants to be integrated, there are many difficulties, especially the database is not unified, which increases the difficulty of integration, and more importantly, the cooperation between them will become a big problem. At present, this phenomenon exists in most enterprises with information systems in China.

The problem of "information island" has seriously hindered the whole process of enterprise informatization construction, making it difficult for enterprises to make decisions when making a new round of investment. The key to solve the problem of "information island" is not only the technology of software, but also the process management and standardization of related technologies. Therefore, enterprises need to make a standardized overall plan before implementing office automation system, and do not want to connect scattered systems through "interfaces". The original isolated and scattered application systems cannot be simply connected through a large number of interfaces. Only by re-planning and conceiving and establishing an integrated information system model can system integration be realized.