Employment Opportunities

Name two different office applications that could be used by the small business to improve upon the paper-based systems employed in the 1970s:

1. Microsoft Excel
2. Microsoft Word

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Describe two advantages of each over the paper-based system and one advantage of each over the other:

Microsoft Excel:

1. Lots of information needed to run a business can be stored on a single document on a computer and can be accessed anywhere - it doesn't need to be handwritten on many different sheets of paper that would need to be filed and could be lost.
2. Microsoft Excel uses formulae so it can work out maths problems which could prove too difficult for some people - this would make it easier because sums wouldn't need to be worked out by hand and, if they had been entered correctly, they would not be miscalculated.

Microsoft Word:

1. Microsoft Word can store large amounts of text on a single document on a computer and can be accessed anywhere - it doesn't need to be handwritten on many different sheets if paper that would need to be filed and could be lost.
2. Microsoft Word allows you to change the font, size and colour of text, along with making it bold, italic or underlining it - furthermore, if you write a page and then decide that it is wrong, you can delete it and no paper is wasted which saves money.

Microsoft Excel is better than Microsoft Word because it uses formulae which means it can do sums so that you don't have to - that way, there is little chance of the sums being miscalculated so this is a useful tool to have.

Microsoft Word is better than Microsoft Excel because you can store large amounts of text on one document and you won't be taken onto another new page which is what happens on Excel if you have too much information there.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How were secretaries' and typists' employment prospects affected by the advent of these office packages?

Secretaries and typists are no longer used so widely and the role itself has changed - secretaries and typists now have to type things onto computers, use databases and spreadsheets. They no longer need to write in shorthand or take notes so much - they are more like personal assistants now.

The information age has reduced the need for admin staff in numerous different jobs which means that there are now less skilled jobs.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What new job opportunities were opened up by the advent of office applications?

Examples of jobs that would not exist if there was no ICT are:

• Website designer
• Network administrator
• IT consultant
• ICT teacher
• Computer games designer
• IT technician
• Bloggers
• Software engineer
• Manufacturers
• Programmer
• Technical support
• Graphic designer
• Computer animation

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New technology has altered our way of life enormously. Because of technology, we now have new medicines, defibrillators, (more effective) hospitals, casts and X-rays, etc. Technology helps speed up the process of even more technology. Technology enables us to adapt to our environment and, because of our new technology, we are the most adapatable species existing in the world today.