post responses

By Day 5

Respond to two of your colleagues in one or more of the following ways:

• Explore additional ways that the technology experiences of your colleagues might impact you or change your practices.
• Share with your colleague ideas for how they might adopt other technologies to enable them to further improve their effectiveness as business managers.
• Compare your colleague's experience with your own, and share additional insights you gained.

General Guidance: Your Shared Practice Discussion responses, due by Day 5, will each typically be 1–2 paragraphs in length as a general expectation/estimate. Refer to the rubric for the Week 1 Shared Practice Discussion for grading elements and criteria. Your Instructor will use the rubric to assess your work.

POST1

            Information and information technology are present in every aspect of an individual’s life.  From a professional standpoint, I have experienced an evolution in the way my office has operated over the past 15 years.  When I first started there, all applications were mailed hard-copy from our office in Northern California to a processing center in Southern California.  The applications were completed by hand, mailed, then typed by the processing center and mailed back for us to review and mail out to policyholders.  It was a cumbersome process and a single application could take nearly two weeks to turn around for a customer.  As the years passed, the process of handwriting the applications changed to computer applications that were printed and mailed.  Now the mailing has also been replaced with electronic submission.  The turnaround now takes about two days instead of two weeks.  The evolution of technology has provided us with more efficiency.  This efficiency is not only in the form of time, but in accuracy as well.  It is much easier for a processing center to read type written language than handwritten.  We find fewer errors on the paperwork coming back to us and when there is an error the correction is quick and easy.  Outside the office our professional lives are impacted as well.  The introduction of apps on smart phones allows clients to make changes themselves or complete their own applications.  They can assist our claims partners with getting documents sent in faster.  Overall, this technology has helped our younger generation remain satisfied with our service as they tend to demand quick and convenient access in all areas of their own lives.

            My personal life is impacted as well, though, I will say that it is not all positive.  As technology enters our lives and we become accustomed to being connected to everyone at all times I feel I need reminding at times to put my phone down or step away from a computer to enjoy the people who are physically in my presence.  While I enjoy the convenience of being able to pay for things using apps on my phone and I enjoy that I can more easily keep connected with friends who no longer live in my direct area through applications of social media, this method of keeping in touch has nearly replaced the joy of “catching up” when I do interact face to face with friends.  With the almost daily updates of what is going on in one’s life through these outlets, we are faced with a strange and awkward silence when in person and there is nothing more to discuss.  We almost know too much about each other and what is going on.  As a generally private person, I do not post regularly to social media, but I do log on daily to see what others are up to.  Overall, I tend to agree with the argument that “online communication has an overall negative effect on relationships” (Goodman-Deane, Mieczakowski, Johnson, Goldhaber, & Clarkson, 2015).  The findings in this study addressed the negatives and positives of technology on individual’s personal lives and notes that they are conflicting results, leaving us to decide where we stand on the matter. 

            As a business manager, I can use these technologies to create an efficient and convenient environment for both my team as well as my clients.  Use of computer applications allows my team to work quickly and efficiently, not spend time on steps that can be viewed as a waste.  The technology used, such as e-mail, allows quick access for clients to obtain the information they seek from us without needing to wait for regular mail processing times.  The advances in technology that allow for supply chain initiatives as mentioned above is what allows for the reduction of time between a client request and the fulfillment of that request (Vickery, Droge, Setia, & Sambamurthy, 2010).  The use of technology to provide efficiency also allows for competitively priced products as we are saving time and money on payroll and items such as stamps.  The reduction of operating costs allows for a higher return on equity (Dmevich & Croson, 2013). 

POST2