Digitalization in worklife
Digital tools already in use
I work in a clinical microbiology laboratory. The most important tool that we use, is the electronic patient information system. It contains various information about every sample we receive – its arrival time, result, follow-up tests, response time, sample log data, etc. Another digital tool in daily use is Teams – it contains our department’s current and important announcements, instructions, work related changes and necessary files. However, patient or personal data is never shared there, because it is not secure. WhatsApp application is used as a tool for internal messaging in the department – it allows you to send an important message quickly to everyone in the group and you don’t need to log in to your work computer, as you do in Teams. We mainly use WhatsApp to inform coworkers that someone is late to work, that someone has forget to do something or that there is cake in the fridge. Outlook is also used daily – a personal work email and a separate shared email for the entire department. Outlook is a useful digital tool because it allows you to book time for Teams meetings and send invitations to participate in them. In addition, I think Outlook has a handy calendar feature, and at least in my own organization, I can see other employees’ calendars, which makes it easier to coordinate meeting times. We also routinely use other tools from the Microsoft365 product family, such as Word, Excel, Copilot, Visio. Some of use use them less because they are not so familiar with digital tools, and others, including me, utilize them more. Quinix is another application in our daily digital toolbox. It is used to create our work schedule, apply for time off or holidays, report absences, and log ourselves in and out of work. In short, the Quinix mobile application contains all information related to working hours. In addition, my organization uses its own intranet, where it is easy to find information about the entire organization, such as different departments, superiors, contact information, and joint announcements. The intranet also contains SharePoint, Compass, Gurufeld, and inventory management programs, which are used at least weekly. Last, but not least, we have different user interfaces for each of our analysers. All devices and their software require time to learn how to use them. When working with analysers, you also must know troubleshooting procedure, you must have the courage to push the buttons and to see what happens. But you can’t be too bold or use force in the wrong place, you must know how the devices work, what processes are running in the background and what’s the logic and personality of the devices. And yes, each analysers has a different personality and character.
Digital tools worth considering
The second part of the task caused me difficulties at first. I work with patient data, so nothing can be published via social media, and you must think very carefully before publishing anything about your work or employer online. My workplace has such a comprehensive Microsoft365 package that I don’t feel the need for additional applications. I can handle everything, that is part of my current job description, with the applications/programs I already use. However, I found a couple of suitable options to consider.
LinkedIn is a networking service and a professional personal branding tool. You can upload your resume, work experience and skills, hobbies and interests. It’s an open online digital CV. Many employers use the service to announce new jobs and find suitable employees. In my work, I could use the platform for networking and learning about innovations in my field. In fact, I already have an account on LinkedIn, but I have not been using it because I’m not the networking type.
Xmind is a mind-mapping and brainstorming software. It helps with organizing ideas, planning projects, and visualizing them. The program also has artificial intelligence integration and group work capabilities. The free version can already get you a long way. I’ve used the program before in the idea generation phase for school assignments. In my work, I could also use it for idea generation, various projects, and creating process diagrams. I think Xmind is a lot easier to use than Microsoft Visio.
I could use different artificial intelligence models in my work in acquiring information, planning projects, making instructions, learning new things, etc. Artificial intelligence has unlimited uses; you just need to know how to ask and what to ask. We already use Microsoft Copilot at work, but I think it is always worth asking other AIs the same thing, because they have been taught with different information, in different ways, have different ways of answering and are designed for different tasks. However, when asking AI models for advice, it is worth being cautious about the answers. I asked Google Gemini to compile a table of currently significant AI models and the result is below.
Comparison of all major AIs
| Artificial intelligence | Developer | Main Use & Strength | Special feature / Unique advantage |
| ChatGPT | OpenAI | Versatile general use, deep research (Deep Research), image creation and idea generation. | The most famous on the market; a huge app store (GPT Store) for customized AI. |
| Pi | Inflection AI | Emotional support, sparring, everyday reflections and casual conversation. | Extremely empathetic, listening and humane conversation style. |
| Gemini | Analyzing and searching for long materials (videos, books) in the Google ecosystem. | Huge memory (context window) and direct access to Gmail, Docs and Drive. | |
| Claude | Anthropic | Demanding writing, complex reasoning, and precise coding. | Produces the most natural and nuanced text. Follows instructions very closely. |
| Copilot | Microsoft | Streamlining office work, reports, emails and presentations. | Works directly within Microsoft 365 applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams). |
| Perplexity | Perplexity AI | Reliable information retrieval, background research and news summarization. | Works like an intelligent search engine thatmarks sources and referencescarefully to each answer. |
| DeepSeek | DeepSeek | Advanced coding, mathematical reasoning, and technical tasks. | A highly effective and rapidly developing challenger who excels at logical problems. |
| Grok | xAI | Real-time news tracking and candid discussion. | Direct accessX-service (Twitter) real-time dataThe style is often sarcastic. |
| Mistral (The Cat) | Mistral AI | Secure information work and a European alternative. | Developed in FranceEU regulations and data protectionRespectfully. Very fast and multilingual. |
Source: Google Gemini 3.5 Flash
DeepL is a very advanced and accurate AI-based translation service. In my professional life, I have used the Google Translate service, but it sometimes has limitations regarding the length of the text, and it does not always find a translation. I could see myself using the DeepL service at work, especially since it can translate entire pages or files. Although translating long texts or files requires a paid version.
WordPress and Blogger are both very popular publishing platforms for websites and blogs. And if we think outside of the box, I could start a blog about clinical microbiology work in general, I could write about bacteria and their identification. I could put pictures of microscope findings on the blog or how different microbes grow on chromogenic plates. All of this would be written in a way that there would be no personal information, patient information or information related to my own organization. Keeping a work-related blog would help me develop professionally and hone my information gathering and source criticism skills. At the same time, it would be a good advertisement for a biomedical laboratory scientist degree and laboratory work in general. I won’t lie if I say that I’m a little excited about the idea of starting a blog.
Elements of successful use of a digital application
There are many applications with the same content, but a different name and different developer. Many apps quickly rise in popularity while others remain in the dark. What makes an app popular? What makes an app good? First, visibility – the more visible advertising there is, the better the chance of increasing popularity. However, extensive advertising is of no use if the user-friendliness of the app has not been thought through to the end. I think a good app must be visually pleasing and easy to use. In addition, a good app must be reliable, meaning that it does not freeze during use, the saved data remains in it, updates do not paralyze its use, and it does not send user data to third party users. Depending on the quality of the data and the purpose of the app itself, a good app is safe to use. In other words, it has sufficiently good login options, e.g. MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication), biometric login or a strong password. It cannot be an easy target to cybercriminals. In my opinion, a hallmark of a good app is also compatibility with other applications or devices.
Self-assessment
When I read the assignment, I initially thought that we have a lot of manual work and therefore few digital tools. When I started listing all the digital tools or channels in routine use, I realized that we have a surprising number of them. And now I perhaps understand better why older generation employees are sometimes confused and angry. If a lot of new digital tools have been introduced to routine use in a short period of time, and the staff has not been trained to use them, because it is assumed that everyone already knows the basics, then this causes stress and resistance to change in the work community. We have employees in our department who do not know what keyboard shortcuts are (e.g. Ctrl +C, Ctrl + V or Ctrl + A), they cannot distinguish a remote desktop from the actual desktop of the computer and now, when we are moving rapidly towards a paperless workplace and all instructions are moving to the intranet, they do not know how to bookmark the necessary pages so that they are easy to find. Even though I have instructed, explained and shown these basics several times as an unofficial IT support person in our department. How to support a colleague in the digitalization of the workplace and the implementation of digital tools, if they don’t even distinguish between Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome browsers, if they accidentally change the size of the icons on their own computer’s desktop and blame the IT department for it, if their own digital development has lagged behind to the times when floppy disks were in use? Will I be the same in 20 years – stuck in the past and not been able to keep up with the digitalization trend?
During this course, while doing separate assignments, I have learned a lot about digitalization, technological developments, the WordPress platform, how to write in English and much more. Even to my surprise, I noticed how much I have enjoyed the course assignments and how getting to know different applications and programs has inspired me to learn more about them, so that I could speed up, clarify and better organize my own tasks – both work and personal. And nowadays, learning something new has been made easy – if you know what or how you want to do something, you just have to ask AI, and it will give you step-by-step instructions. With the help of AI, I have managed to make complex Excel spreadsheets and macros. And that feeling when you learn something new and succeed after a long effort – it’s amazing, it’s inspiring, it gives you wings and you feel like you can do anything!
One must be digitally smart to cope in the current world, both in work and leisure. There are machines, appliances and applications everywhere, and often they are smarter than people, they are faster than people and they are almost indispensable. Each of us must learn to use them to keep up. One must maintain a childlike curiosity about everything; one must dare to experiment!