How Information Technology Changes the Nature of Work? - Paper Example

Introduction

In today's world, where advance in technology is rampant, the quality of work has improved. Technological advancement in Informational technology has influenced employment, productivity levels, social differences, and salary inequalities. There are even new ways that manage people on how they would work in their organizations. However, there are benefits and some negative impacts that result from Information Technology (IT) influence on how work is conducted. A good example IT Provider Company is Microsoft; this company has equipped the customers with almost everything needed to perform more job. The company has provided the user-friendly tools to complete a role in the office and back at home.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

The tools provided by the company include word-office, MS paint, Xcel, PowerPoint, and operating systems. IT has also significantly advanced in cell phones, and today there are several applications embedded in a single cellphone that can ease an individual's job. Inter-networks is another factor that has enabled users to get resources and materials online, and this includes online jobs.

Remote Working and Virtual Team

A remote team consists of a group of individuals who come together for a common purpose or project. The group answers to their organization and they usually have one manager. In technological advancement, remote working nature is n9ot as common as virtual working. Virtual working is again the group of people who join together to perform a specified task, the main difference the remote and virtual operation is that virtual workers are answerable to different managers. There are challenges found in virtual teams, for instance, the worker must answer related questions from the managers. However, the project owner cannot fire the project handler.

The virtual team is affected by many problems, but it the most effective way of doing business if all the requirement and conduct from members are followed to the letter. Communication is a problem in a virtual team; many people do not understand other people's connection. The discussion might assume, but again the media and preference of communication may be inadequate. Ethical and unethical working is also a problem in virtual teams, this can create mistrust and suspicion which is not suitable for business organizations. In practical team things like delegation, a noting potential and hidden competence can be a problem. However, some IT provider companies provide both software and hardware solution to these problems.

Challenges Faced by Virtual and Remote Working

First, in virtual team members do not know each other since physical distance is a problem. It is even hard to locate the IP address of some members if need be. Some people are not ready to do business with people they can't see, and they might opt to get into such business giving it the benefit of the doubt. There lacks a structured schedule for the day- to day activities, this is because people would work at different time zone and different places. The other biggest threat to this type of working organization is that security levels are not always optimized. People provide their details, which might be sensitive and leave it on the internet.

The information is always prone to attackers, as cybersecurity has intensified very much. In a virtual, there are problems on clarity and reachability (Lin, Y., Dournov, P. A., Ingle, A., & Smith IV, F. J., 2014). However, Microsoft Corporation has come up with means to handle these challenges.

Remote working is no exception from those type of challenges; time management is a problem when it comes to remote operation, this is because of the kind of system used and traffic experienced in the order. Technology issue is another problem with remote working; this happens because not all companies and organization can afford the unique, efficient systems. Some applications and software may not be compatible with the device in use, and thus the user will tend to get newer machines that will align with the software versions available. In a bid to solve these issues, more issues are still found. For instance, a company or organization might choose to communicate through Skype and slack. These forms of communication are not always practical when conducting businesses. Microsoft Corporation has tackled several issues related to remote working and virtual teams.

Microsoft Solutions to Virtual Team AND Remote Working Issues

Changing Ways to Connect

IT is merely here to stay, the advantages found while linking IT to businesses weigh out the limitations found. The Microsoft Corporation came up with newer methods and approaches to the betterment of both remote working capabilities and virtual team coordination.

Microsoft Office 365

Microsoft designed an interactive Microsoft office 365 that enables communication across members, and the software uses messages and calls to communicate with members every time. In this office version, an application group chat is also available as the central nerve for group discussion board. In this way, issues about mistrust and suspicion are diminished (Dorman & Self M., 2017). Users of the software realize several benefits while using the software. The beauty of this software is that instant communication, a user provides the email address over the software for the other group members to see.

Cloud Meeting

This is another fantastic feature for comfortable technological working is meeting in the cloud, meeting in the cloud is another technological advancement powered by Microsoft. It is an advancement of Skype, which also called Skype for businesses. Group member s can carry out virtual meeting in the cloud through a video conference. In a manner that the members would get to know each other and strengthen trust, trust and confidence are crucial in any business team.

IN-BUILT APP integrations

In-Built apps integrations are meant to ease the functionality of software used without the need to update the hardware version of the device used. The good thing with this integration is that application the third-party apps are also flexible. Office 365 apps is an example of the built-in integration of applications, and the third party application may include Hootsuite and Zendesk (Lin, Y., Dournov, P. A., Ingle, A., & Smith IV, F. J., 2014).

Productive Business Environments

Microsoft has realized the problem faced by people who work remotely; recently the corporation came up with businesses environments like Lync and advanced windows phones. These business environments make it efficient f9r small and big businesses regarding cost saving.

Changing Collaboration

IT has enabled collaborative nature in technological work, and this collaboration works in four different considerations. First, the teams perform their activities at different times, members might work together at the same time, they might be working at the same time different location, and finally, members working at different time and place. All these might have different VPN and IP address. The solution to collaborative issues has new reforms in the organizations.

New Decision-Making and Changing Information Processing

Information technology changes both the way an organization makes decision and the information processing criteria. Data need to be processed differently to have improved data quality and to have the data within the timeline. Organizations are working remotely or virtually can use it-based tools to and modern devices to make their work easier. For instance, Microsoft Corporation enables the organization to make decisions on quality management. Microsoft has several platforms like Cortana that collects feedback about customers satisfaction and analyses data (Dorman & Self M., 2017). When it comes to information processing, Microsoft Corporation has enhanced computer hardware production that supports their products and operating systems. IBM has severally requested Microsoft to design a custom-made operating system that would function effectively with the hardware produced by IBM.

Conclusion

Conclusively, IT is here to stay technological advancement will change with time. The most critical issues are to be familiarized with services and products available in the market to ease IT jobs. Working remotely and virtual teams will be the next move contrary to the traditional way of organizations. It is always advisable to understand the nature of hardware and software products and services available when an organization utilizes the latest products from the recognized provider then the business environment would be conducive. Security issues should be checked regularly too.

References

Dorman, G., Asok, S., & Self, M. (2017). U.S. Patent No. 9,575,981. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Kohlbrecher, S. (2015). A Holistic Approach for Highly Versatile Supervised Autonomous Urban Search and Rescue Robots (Doctoral dissertation, Technische Universitat Darmstadt).

Lin, Y., Dournov, P. A., Ingle, A., & Smith IV, F. J. (2014). U.S. Patent No. 8,713,096. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.