It has become quite essential nowadays to ensure that you get the most out of your office. The cost of office has gone up with the real estate prices. Similarly, the productivity of the employees also depends largely on your office. Hence, it is necessary to stay ahead of the game in terms of office technologies. An important development in this field has been complete office automation. This has largely been enabled by the proliferation of networked electronics. Let us take a look at a couple of examples which should highlight the scope of complete office automation.
Data management
The backbone of complete office automation is networking infrastructure. This infrastructure allows you to manage data far more efficiently and effectively than has ever been possible. A well-designed office automation system will provide several improvements over traditional data management techniques. A complete office-wide networking allows all employees to instantly deliver any messages or digital documents to any other employee with incredible speed and ease. It also has centralised storage so that all the necessary files are centrally located and can be accessed by an employee from anywhere. These files can also be easily shared with superiors or clients with ease. Such systems also incorporate schedulers and sorters which can automate certain operations such as backups. It also makes it easy to track each file, where it has been and who worked on it. This is a great management tool for any office. This can reduce the burden on clerical record keeping and help reduce the cost of operation significantly.
Access control
Many modern offices deploy sophisticated access control system. All employees are given smartcards or radio frequency identification ID cards which they need to present to a scanner. This scanner automatically scans the information, decides if the employee has access to the area and then proceeds to grant or deny access accordingly. It can also easily keep a detailed log of each instance of access attempt by each employee at all of the office’s doors. This is a great boon for security as well as accountability.