Platforms I use at work
In my current job I use a whole lot of digital tools as everything I do happens on a computer, and I constantly must be in touch with colleagues from all over the world. To start with basic Microsoft tools we use Teams, Outlook, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, OneNote daily. Besides these we of course have an Intranet where Viva Engage is embedded.
My job is in the field of logistics and logistics invoicing. We have two different transportation management systems in use simultaneously (Oracle TM and SAP TM). Financial system SAP S4HANA and SAP Global Finance. Our invoicing systems are Basware P2P and Oracle TM and besides these, we have multiple other systems that support all logistics functions. For reporting we have two tools: Oracle Analytics Cloud and PowerBI. PowerBI uses CDP (Common Data Platform) as a data warehouse. I have calculated that I use 12 of these different digital tools in my work daily and the rest of them a little bit less frequently, but still weekly.
Elements of successful use of digital application
Purpose
Every digital tool that is taken into use should be for a specific purpose and that should be clarified to users. If toll is not serving its purpose or users do not find it useful, there is no point in using it.
Adoption
Users need to be trained to use new tools. It should never be the case that new tool is implemented, and expectation is that users learn to use it on their own. If that is how a company takes new tools into use, it is likely that they do not learn to use it and continue to use old tools.
Ease of use and integration
Digital tools should not contain unnecessary features, that only confuses users. Tools with needed and essential features are more likely to be used correctly and efficiently. If new tools can be integrated with already existing tools in a way that provides more benefit to users, it definitely should be done.
Improvement and monitoring
All digital tools need to be improved based on user experience and to follow the technology development. If a tool is not improved in a few years, it is not anymore up to date and other tools in the market have bypassed it. With monitoring company can keep on track of how much tool is used and if the outcome of the usage is what is wanted. Without monitoring company lacks possibilities to interfere with miss usages and they might also keep paying for tools where the usage amount does not cover the expenses.
Data protection and support
All user data as well as company data must be protected in a proper manner. Users have to know who to contact in case of any issue and where to search for help in case of issues they are able to solve by themselves.
Social media tools in my work
We use a lot of digital tools in our daily work and some social media tools as well, such as Microsoft Teams and Yammer.
ChatGPT is not a good solution for us but we have replaced it with Copilot. We are still waiting to get licenced version of it in use that would bring a lot of benefits to our daily work. Current version of Copilot basically works as a search engine and there for it is not the most useful tool. With licensed version we could use AI to create presentations on our behalf, teach AI to search big Excel files and highlight the lines employee would have to check more carefully, compare two Excel files and find differences or combine data from two files. These are just a couple of examples how it could be used; the possibilities would be endless. We could also use AI to create work instructions based on teaching lessons and a whole lot of other things that are done manually now. So far, only a handful of employees have gotten licence to use the full version of Copilot and the rest of us are left hanging. I hope others will get the licence soon as well.
Miro & Mural. Currently we are using Microsoft OneNote, which is a good tool, but I would see that some parts that are done in OneNote could be better done with Miro. Miro is a really good platform if multiple persons have to work on a same thing. I have used it lot at school team works and think it would be a good option for us in work too when brainstorming around ideas or gathering ideas for different projects. I don’t think our organization would be willing to pay for Miro, as same things can be done with other solutions but the free version of Miro would be enough for our needs. Mural could be a good tool for us when we must ideate things. Mural would be more visual and more fun to use.
Asana. My team is constantly working on different projects, some small, some big but the common thing is that we need to follow up what is happening, what has been done and what is still to be done. Based on my research Asana could be great too for this purpose. One place to see quickly and easily what the status of each project is would bring benefits to us. Downside of Asana seems to be clutterness, difficult to learn and it is not very highly automated. It seems that Asana would not be the best tool for managing big projects, but as we are not managing the whole projects, only our own participation and our tasks in project, I think Asana would be just right tool for that purpose.
Other option would be Monday.com which can be integrated with Microsoft Teams (that we already have in use). Although Asana would be enough for us, Monday.com would bring more benefits. Monday.com has more features, better automation but it can be expensive if advanced features are added, and the reporting options are not the best possible.
Pi AI. I got excited when I read about Pi AI which I had not heard before. Working in a hectic work environment where I have to tackle multiple things at once, navigate through many different systems, operating seamlessly between them and shifting my focus in a seconds from one thing to another a personal assistant would bring many benefits. Imagine just to speak out what you are thinking instead of writing everything down – or forgetting the thoughts before it is possible to write them down. If I would have Pi AI in my phone, I could use it when I am going to a meeting, walking to my car or sometimes even when I am driving home from work. I could send emails with the help of Pi AI when I do not have the time or possibility to write the email myself. I could get Pi AI to set me reminders of things just by speaking the subject to my phone which is much faster than finding a piece of paper and writing it down. Not to mention how inconvenient it is to have dozens of small papers lying around in my desk until I actually have time to do the tasks and can throw them away. I would very much like to use Pi AI.
As Pi AI is an artificial intelligence tool, there are the same issues as we already know from other AI tools. AI is vulnerable in sense of data protection and privacy topics, AI can learn to be bias or even down right offensive, racist, or might not focus on ethical points enough, not to mention cybersecurity risks. But, as mentioned, these are normal things to worry and consider when using any AI based tools. They have to be carefully considered, risk assessed, and a backup plan has to be thought of in case something goes wrong, but that does not mean they should not be used. Maybe the most confidential information should not be allowed in the hands of Pi AI but when used as a personal assistant I feel it is safe enough to be used.
X, Snapshot, Tiktok, Instagram, Facebook etc. applications will not be suitable for my work as the data protection in them is not as good as it should be. We are handling confidential information daily that can’t leak and there for we can only use tools and solutions that have high enough data protection. Usually, it means that we only use tools that are in our own servers and we can control the data handling.
Self evaluation
With this assignment I got to learn more about a lot of social media applications that could be used in work. I think I would not have come in contact with most of them without this assignment and I think I might suggest the use of some of them at my workplace. I have participated in a lot of AI/digitalization courses in which we have talked a lot about the elements of digital applications. More often the focus has been on the development side (UI/UX) and it was good to focus this time on the users point of view.