The Changing Way We Work

Over the last two decades, technology has changed everything about the way we work. Twenty-five years ago, connecting with customers meant calling them on the phone, mailing them a letter, or going to their place of business. Today, connecting with customers might mean firing off a quick e-mail message, distributing an electronic newsletter, posting information on the Web, giving a custom presentation via an Internet connection, or—the good old-fashioned way—calling on the phone or showing up on the doorstep with a laptop and a folder tucked under your arm.

Today we have a whole new set of expectations around what we consider “productive and effective” uses of our time:

• Thanks to e-mail, voice mail, and instant messaging, we expect to be able to communicate directly and quickly—if not instantly.

• Thanks to desktop applications with publishing and data merge capabilities, we expect to be able to control and complete in-house projects we used to outsource.

• Thanks to shared document technologies, the Internet, and e-mail, we expect to work collaboratively with others outside our immediate circle of coworkers and peers, or with our peers back in the office when we’re traveling.

• Thanks to application-independent file formats, we expect to be able to share information—regardless of computer type and application used.

• Thanks to integration among applications, we expect to be able to leverage data and documents we have previously created.

In this chapter—and throughout this book—you’ll see how this latest version of the Microsoft Office system is designed to help you meet your goals in a reliable, trackable, and efficient way. What’s more, you’ll see how the Microsoft Office system helps you get the clutter off your desktop (and out of your mind) and focus your energies on what’s most important: making sound decisions, producing high-quality materials, and working effectively with others to meet and surpass the expectations of a fast-moving marketplace.