The electronic office, or e-office, was a term coined to cover the increasing use of computer-based information technology for office work, especially in the 1980s. It was a marketing buzzword at the time, but now is not so widely used since all modern offices are electronic offices.
The term appeared much earlier in the name of the LEO computer (Lyons Electronic Office), that first ran a business application in 1951 in England.
The ongoing process that led to e-office adoption was elimination of paper and making most of the office communications electronic. The definition of electronic office is not precise, and it might be either:
- the introduction of individual computers running office software applications, such as word processors,
- or to the interconnection of office computers using a local area network (LAN),
- or to the centralization of office functions via web applications.
The introduction of e-office improved accuracy and efficiency of organizations and thereby improved their level of service, while theoretically lowering costs and drastically reducing the consumption of paper. Many documents are still being printed out and circulated on paper, however, especially the ones that require signature.
References
- Susan Fenner (ed.), Complete Office Handbook: The Definitive Reference for Today's Electronic Office, 2nd edition. Random House, 1996. ISBN 0679770380.
External links
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