Office management software

Office Management Software is described as software which can manage a Small Medium Business Office. Currently there aren't many solutions which achieve this, but instead offer the management of specific activities.

History

Software solutions have come a long way, in a relatively short while. In the 80's most of us remember having a green computer screen and using a computer for basic needs and calculations. Later on, in the 90's, with the launch of Microsoft Office and Exchange, more and more companies started using Microsoft Word, Outlook and Powerpoint to manage their emails, customers and documents.

Today, companies are realizing that in fact, Microsoft Outlook, together with Word and Powerpoint are not sufficient and do not include the proper functionality needed in managing all their office activities.^{[citation needed]}

Trends

- CRM (Customer Relationship Management) have become more and more popular, but again, are not sufficient to manage all office activities.

- Smartphones have also begun offering more functionality, especially in managing contacts, appointments and email, but again, they fall short in truly offering a solution that can manage an office.

Solutions

- Integrated Office Management: More and more software companies have begun offering truly integrated office management applications which can manage all office activities from a single application, thus storing all information in a central server. Such is essential for businesses as now all information can be accessed and the time typically wasted in finding information is greatly reduced, thus ultimately saving money for the consumer^{[citation needed]}

Examples

• IBM Lotus Notes - A great solution but probably a better fit for a large enterprise as it is expensive to purchase and complicated to install.^{[citation needed]}
• Microsoft Outlook - This is not an integrated solution^{[neutrality is disputed]} but many companies have been able to find 3rd party softwares that can integrated with Outlook. Although this is a popular solution, it can become very frustrating.^{[neutrality is disputed]}