A sales representative - who travels over a thousand miles a week; who carries a large diary, an address book, a large road atlas and numerous A-Zs, as well as numerous small coins for phones; who pride themselves on punctuality but who is occasionally late when trying to find a new client or delayed by traffic; who always carries a calculator, and a bulky sales catalogue with the latest price lists and order forms; who is usually on the road four days a week, six hours a day and who spends two further hours completing their administration; who spends every Friday in the office ensuring that all of their administration and sales are handled properly; who likes the time spent in their car between appointments, as he can listen to CDs - would definitely benefit from employing ICT to change and hopefully improve their working style.
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The following ICT could change and hopefully improve the sales representative's work:
PDA:
A PDA - a Personal Digital Assistant - is a palmtop computer used to store information such as addresses and telephone numbers, and for simple word processing and spreadsheeting. This would mean that the sales representative would no longer need to carry an address book, numerous A-Z, or a large diary because all of the information in those could be stored on the PDA.
GPS:
A GPS - a Global Positioning System - is an accurate worldwide navigational and surveying facility based on the reception of signals from an array of orbiting satellites. This would mean that the sales representative would no longer need to carry a large road atlas and, if it was an advanced GPS system, it could show where the traffic was bad which would mean that the sales representative would no longer be delayed by traffic.
Laptop:
A laptop is a portable microcomputer, suitable for use while travelling as it is light and can be stored safely in a soft, padded laptop bag. A laptop can access the internet, has word processing and spreadsheets, allows you to create websites, can store information, has numerous different accessories such as notepad and paint, and allows you to save images and videos online. This would mean that the sales assistant would no longer need to carry a large diary or address book because these things can be stored on a laptop, a large road atlas because maps can be found online, a calculator because this is usually an accessory on a laptop, and a bulky sales catalogue with the latest price lists and order forms because these could be stored on a laptop, either in a word document or to be sent by email.
Software:
Software is the programs and other operating information used by a computer, such as operating systems, (e.g. Windows, Mac); media players, (e.g. iTunes, Songbird); and word processors, (Microsoft Office Word, OpenOffice). This would mean that the sales representative could use a PDA or laptop to complete tasks as the correct software would be installed, and that he would not necessarily need a CD player if he had a media player to listen to music on instead.
Mobile phone:
A mobile phone - sometimes known as a cellular telephone - is a hand-held mobile radiotelephone for use in an area divided into small sections, each with its own short-range transmitter/receiver. This would allow the sales representative to contact the client if they were going to be late, due to traffic or getting lost, or if it was an advanced mobile phone, the sales representative could access the internet and simple word processing and spreadsheeting. Furthermore, there could also be a calculator on the mobile phone which would mean that the sales representative does not need to carry a calculator around.
The internet:
The internet - a global computer network - provides a variety of information and communication facilities, consisting of interconnected networks using standardized communication protocols. This means that the sales representative can look up maps online which means they no longer need a large road atlas, there are online calculators so a calculator would not need to be carries, addresses can be found online so an address book would not be needed, an online blog could replace a large diary, and websites such as YouTube mean that CD players are no longer needed. Also, if a person has used the internet to make an email account, they can log on anywhere in the world provided there is an internet connection.
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The disadvantages of employing lots of ICT in work are that technologies such as laptops, PDAs and mobile phones need to be charged and without that they are useless. Also, if people become too reliant on ICT then what would happen if, one day, they were left without technology? They would have no idea what to do and work would come to a standstill. Furthermore, if there is a virus on your ICT then you can lose everything you have saved there which can be a huge setback. In the same way, if there is a powercut and you have not saved what you were doing then everything will be lost.
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Websites I used:
www.google.co.uk
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_some_examples_of_software
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