How the Internet Has Changed the Work of the Administrative Manager

The last 20 years has seen the world shrink - at least in terms of how we work, and the things we are able to do. Why did I choose 20 years as the timescale for such a change? Well, it was in 1990 that Tim Berners-Lee first coined the phrase 'the world-wide web' and the Internet as we know it todaywasborn. In 1991 there was only one single web server in the world and today there are many, many millions. Now there are almost 1 .5 billion Internet users in the world out of a population of 6.5 billion people. Of course that percentage varies from country to country, with almost 70% of North Americans and 40% of Europeans being regulars on the Internet.In Asia, places like Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong also have very high levels of use. In fact the Internet has seen the fastest take-up of any technology in history and many people regard it as the most important technological development of the last hundred years, a big call when you consider that we put a man on the moon and split the atom in the same century.The Internet is sometimes known as the 'weightless' economy because the software programmes, services and web pages that are produced for the Internet have no physical weight, and so can be produced in one part of the world and sold very easily in another. This creates a huge global market for businesses in parts of the world that otherwise might not be able to compete in the production of manufactured products because of their distance from the market. Web designers can live in the Outer Hebrides and yet have clients in New York. Programmers in parts of India can be working on systems that are being developed in London. For some people with the skills and creativity, it is really changing where they work and the way they work.The effects on Administration: the way we do things around here!So how does the Internet affect the work of administrators worldwide? Does it make their lives easier? Does it allow them to do things that they couldn't do before? I think the answer to this is obvious. There will be few of you reading this article who have not received or sent an email today. We still send 'snail mail' but it is so much easier to read and respond to an email.As a form of communication, the Internet has revolutionised the way in which we interact with others throughout the world. It is a 24 hour, 7 days a week, 365 days a year communication medium. When we awake from a night's sleep, we'll often find email waiting in our inboxes from countries around the globe.Also, as users of online web systems, you can now access these systems whenever you want and wherever you are. We are beginning to get to a situation where there is 'computing on-demand'.The future is always uncertain, but one thing I can be confident about is that we are just at the beginning of the use of the Internet. In years to come we will see this technology having an even greater impact on the way we work, study and entertain ourselves... oh, and it should save a lot of money for ourselves and our organisations too![Sidebar]Paul Callaghan FInstAMPaul Callaghan is Chairman of The Leighton Group, the technology and communications group that he founded. Leighton's Headquarters are in Sunderland, and it has offices in London and in North America.Leighton operates in over 40 countries on 5 continents at the cutting edge of new technology. It currently has four companies that lead the UK in their respective markets:* 4Projects, the UK's market leader in the provision of on-line Project Management software. …