Communication Software at Work

Graphics software at work

We have discussed groupware in some detail, but there are many other types of online software and services that workers value. Consider some specific business applications for the software tools in the marketplace.

Communications Software

If, as an individual, you have a computer, a modem, and some communications software, you have the capability to access any other computer system similarly configured But it is businesses that are the major users of communications software.

Online Reservations

Need a reservation? Do not call your travel agent-research for you computer. For a fee any business can have direct access to the major airlines around the world. Individuals can have access to these same systems. Those who use airline reservations systems for business or personal travel have immediate access to air fares at any hour of any day. The reservation system provides reports on an airline's on-time performance, uses a personalized profile to short through flights and seating arrangements, spells out applications, and summarizes travel arrangements.

Weather Forecasting

We have long relied on the media, both television and print, to keep us informed about the weather. This service is adequate for most of us. some business, however, are so dependent on the weather that they need constantly updated information Online services offer analysis of live weather data, including air pressure, fog, rain, and wind direction and speed. Businesses that depend on the weather include agriculture, amusement parks, ski areas, and transportation companies, all of which make business decisions based on weather forecast.

The Stock Exchange

Stock portfolios can be managed by software that takes quotations online directly from established market monitors such as Dow Jones The software keeps records and offers quick and accurate investment advice. and, of course, the stock exchange itself is a veritable beehive of computers.

We communicate by computer, but, increasingly, we also use computer output in the form of pictures.

Computer Graphics at work

Researcher
Artist and Designers
Musicians
doctors

Computer graphics can delight and entertain and inform. Business people can enhance a message by using graphics is the chief function of a computer system or an integral part of the job of the worker who uses the system.

Researchers

Some people worry a little about earthquakes; others get paid to worry about them. Researcher in the field of earthquake prediction use graphics in several different ways to help them visualize the forces that cause temblors. A computer-generated graphics that helps scientists understand underground formations whose movements results in quakes. Computers can also digitize and assemble satellite photos, and the graphics that result help researchers spot geological patterns and shifts. These two examples are of government research, but private firms also do an enormous amount of research to strengthen their product lines.

Artists and Designers

As a tool of their craft, artists use sophisticated software to produce stunning computer art and animation. A clear business application of graphics is design Everyone from architects to engineers to fashion designers can use the computer to design and simulate products.

Musicians

The old movies feature inspired composers hanging over the piano in the middle of the night. First we see a few fingers dabbling at the keys and then a pause, a cocked ear, another bit of key tinkling, and finally, a pencil writing the notes on paper. Many composers work that way to day. But some do not. Composers still play the notes, but a computers equipped with listening software captures them and reproduces them as graphic images on the screen. When the composition is completed, the composer will instruct the computer to print out the sheet music.

Doctors

How do you look inside the body to take its picture? X-rays are one way, of course. But X-ray films can be so fuzzy that interpreting them seems more an art than a science. Modern medical imaging has gotten quite a boost from the computers.

Decision Making Software

The computerized spreadsheet is a generic type of decision-making software. The ability of spreadsheet software to recalculate automatically lets decision makers explore different possibilities. Beginning with loan amortization, let us consider some of the significant ways that businesses use spreadsheets and other decision-making software.

Loan Amortization
Break_Even Analysis
Property Management

Loan Amortization

Software for loan amortization determines due dates, payment number, payment amount, principal, interest, accumulated interest, and loan balance. Most loan amortization software also produces yearly and monthly report.

Break-Even Analysis

Can we afford the new equipment? Should we buy or lease? Should we tray to compete in that market? is the cost worth is? what is the payoff? At what point do we break even? Net present value and break-even software answers these questions and more-analyzing the relationships among variable costs, fixed cost, and income- and produces alternatives to consider. A computer-generated analysis based on actual conditions is a decided improvement over hunches scribbled on the back of an envelope.

Property Management

A type of program sometimes referred to as "the landlord" can be used to manage any income property, Whether marina, apartment complex, or shopping mall. The software can record charges and payments for each renter and produce a variety of reports, such as a lease expiration list and tax analysis for each property.

Storage and Retrieval Software

Office workers and salespeople and manufacturers all use computers as tool in their businesses; most of these workers and many others rely on access to stored data.

Crime Decision
Sport Statistics
Performing Arts
Legal Services

Crime Detection

A lot of crime detection involves a process of elimination, which can be tedious work. A tedious task, however, is often the kind to computer does best. Once data is entered in to a database, then searching by computer is possible. Which criminals use a particular mode of operations? Which criminals are associates of this suspect? Does license number AXB221 refer to a stolen car? And so on. One specific type of crime-detection computer system is the fingerprint-matching system, which can match crime-scene fingerprints with computer-stored fingerprints with computer-stored fingerprints.

Sports Statistics

Here this situation: Tied game, bases loaded, two outs, left-handed batter, bottom of the ninth. If you are coaching the team in the field, do you leave in the right-handed pitcher or pull him for a lefty? The seat-of-the-pants hunch is less common these days. Coaches and managers in professional sports want any help they can get. A wonderful source of help, one that can be carried right to the edge of the field, is the computer. In our current example, the bases-loaded scenario, the manager can check statistics from the better past performance against about each available pitcher-in just seconds, of course. All kinds of statistics can be stored in a database and retrieved on the spot.

Performing Arts

People in the performing arts use as standard business tools. They find database particularly useful. database software, for example, can search for the names of musical piece-all 20-minute violin pieces by German composers, for example. The American Ballet Theater managers take their computers on tour: One database plots rehearsal schedules; another keeps track of sets, lighting, and customers. Some sophisticated organizations use databases to coordinate ticket sales with fund-raising; as a patron, this probably means that you will receive your tickets with great efficiency and then be solicited for a donation.

Legal Services

You have sen the formal photograph of the judge, the attorney, the politician-each with a solid wall of law books in the background. Those books are not just decoration, however. Workers in any law office need to be able to research legal precedents and related matters. But why not take the information in those books and just "drop it" into a computers? That is, in essence, what has been done. The books have been converted into computer-accessible databases, and the result is that legal research systems are Lexis and Westlaw, available in most law libraries and law firms.