Hope for workers stuck in IT time warp
by Thel Krollig
Workplaces
stuck in an IT time warp, where email, chat and simple file sharing is
about as far as computer support for group activities goes, should soon
look forward to a new generation of group-oriented software technology
that will make working together easier.
Leading UniSA IT academic Roger Tagg says the way we approach computing in groups, particularly in administration, is failing to take advantage of the many recent bright ideas from researchers and the IT industry.
A senior lecturer in Computer and Information Science, Tagg says that many IT innovations have been developed, but neither software vendors nor organisations have quite found the way to cross the bridge of adopting these new technologies, without which organisations will not get the best out of their staff.
“Most users do not venture beyond email and chat,“ Tagg says. “We are not sharing tasks and there is little support for shared processes, limited help in organising stored data in any consistent way and no easy way of integrating different systems into a single user portal.“
“Groupware, which loosely is any software that supports people working in groups, has been around for a decade or so now. But to some extent, people have shied away from the technology. And even if users were to use the current features fully, it would only scratch the surface of the information overload that many office workers are experiencing,“ he says.
“For example, even within the same project or activity, it is difficult for a user to link the related data that is split between text documents, databases, email messages and web pages, and it’s even harder with project management and business applications“.
But a new generation of groupware, which could be just around the corner, may change all that.
“Some of the new techniques, such as adaptive workflow, intelligent assistants and automatic text categorisation, can improve productivity by providing better integration of information and knowledge, and products that are easier to use,“ he says. “The key to success is that the users understand what the tools can do and are motivated to learn how to use them.
Of course it helps if the tools are presented in a consistent and easy to learn way. Otherwise people will be turned off and simply not use them.“
According to Tagg, workers can soon expect to be working from something that looks more like a car dashboard than what we are used to today from tools like Outlook and Lotus Notes.
“One key to success will be in personalisation of the user’s desktop, which needs to be tailored to each individual according to the many different workgroups or projects they are involved with.“
“To handle this, we may have to expect to be using even bigger screens, sometimes multiple screens, or even whole walls of screens. And, because many users do not sit in one place all day, there is a need for views for users on the move.“
Tagg says groupware advances must enable a more balanced working day for workers.
“We need to be spending more time in the workplace communicating face to face and building and strengthening team and group relationships.
“What we know is that if members are forced to spend more and more of each day in front of a screen and keyboard, team and group work suffers.“
Tagg says the costs and benefits of office automation aren’t easy to quantify. “In the end it may be that managers will only spend money when a crisis occurs – say when customer service quality drops off because of staff overload, or when there is a serious failure in control,“ he says. “At the time of the first generation of groupware, the big management consultancies hit this barrier first. They were early users of Lotus Notes, and they also understood the downside of overloading humans.
“But many organisations – and individuals – show lemming-like tendencies!“