Working Styles

In this post I am going to describe how using the following ICT will be used to change and improve the working style. These pieces of ICT are: GPS, laptop, software, mobile phone and the internet. I will relate these to an example from the text book below.

John is a sales representative selling tools to garden centres and DIY stores. He travels over 1000 miles a week to see new and existing clients. For the past 20 years he has carried round a large diary, and address book, a large road atlas and numerous A-Zs, as well as numerous small coins for phones. He prides himself on his punctuality, but even so he is occasionally late as he struggles to find a new client or is delayed by traffic. He always takes along a calculator, and a bulky sales catalogue with the latest price lists and order forms. He is usually on the road four days a week, six hours a day and spends two further hours every day completing his administration. He spends every Friday in the office ensuring all his administration and sales are handled properly. He has always said he quite likes the time spent in his car between appointments, as it is his time when he can listen to CDs undisturbed.

Advantages

There is a lot of new technology that John can use to help him with his job. The most useful piece of technology John can use is a mobile phone. This is because the new smart phones can do multiple tasks and can save a lot of time and space while he is doing his job. Most smart phones have a GPS system, calculator and can also use the internet where ever you are. Also if John used a mobile phone he will not need to carry around small coins as his has his own phone to call people off of. If John has a very new phone he will be able to download apps for whatever he needs, for example a GPS so he does not need to carry around at atlas, or a calculator app so he does not have to carry around a calculator.

A GPS will help John because this means that he will not need to carry around a huge atlas with him. Using a GPS system is also quicker and easier than searching through an atlas to find the directions and route to get to his next job. Using a GPS system will also help him get to his jobs faster as the instructions given from the GPS are clearer.

Using a laptop will help John in a few different ways. One way is that it will save space and will be easier to carry around than a catalogue, as you can buy slim laptops and can also use a thin laptop bag so the laptop is even easier to carry around. Also if the client has a wi-fi connection or if the laptop can use 3G or 4G connection, it will be easier or and faster to show the client the catalogue. This is from using the internet.

Disadvantages

There are also disadvantages to using new forms of technology over the more traditional equipment. This main disadvantage is that new forms of technology can be very expensive and the top end equipment always is. This can be a problem for John as he will be using some of his profits from his DIY business, and also his own money to invest in purchasing the new technology. This means it will cut into his profits and he may have a smaller profit margin for a bit after buying the new equipment.

A second disadvantage is that sometimes using technology can be unreliable. Sometimes laptops and computers can crash, also phones and laptops can run out of battery aswell, which would make to equipment useless. Also you can not always can internet connection which would make the laptop useless aswell. A GPS system can send you in the wrong direction is you make a mistake while programming where you are going.

Overall I think using technology would improve John business as it would make the tasks he needs to do more efficient. They will speed up his tasks that he needs to complete and also make them easier to do.