Digitalization in Administrative Work

I have a little bit more than 10 years of experience working in the public sector as an office secretary, administrative secretary and as executive assistant. The workplace has changed a lot in these past years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic period. Suddenly digitalization was on the fast track because of the restrictions and lockdown. During that time, my work also changed a lot and working from home became a new normal. Microsoft Teams and Citrix became everyday tools. People learned new programs and new ways to communicate and do daily tasks.

Before the pandemic, we used the social welfare client information system only in our office. After the lockdown, the guys in our IT department did a lot of work and soon we were able to use the system securely from home using Citrix. Citrix is a software platform that allows users to securely access applications, desktops, and data remotely for home or cottage. It basically gives users their work desktop and programs as if they were in the office.

Team meetings moved from face-to-face meetings to a virtual space in Microsoft Teams. Also meeting notes became digital, most saved in a department’s own OneDrive. The notes were available faster and easier to everyone in the department. Although Microsoft Teams meetings are more time- and money-efficient, they also need a different kind of communication. For example, using a web-camera while speaking is highly recommended. Also showing your presentation on screen is one of the unwritten rules. It is also common to use the chat and have an open mic for further questions. Nowadays some meetings are recorded, so it is easier to catch up if you had to miss the meeting.

I guess in the future several of my tasks will end up changing a lot. One of my main tasks in different meetings is taking notes. As the technique develops, there is no need for a human to take notes when, for example AI can listen to meetings and take notes. Although we use spoken language a lot and all the notes should be in written language. AI also makes mistakes, so we need someone to check the summary. Nowadays some people also like to use AI, for example ChatGPT instead of Google. Yes, it gives answers faster and even with sources, but it also makes mistakes and doesn’t always know the right answers or doesn’t understand the question. Therefore, we should always analyze the answers before using it in our work.

General Data Protection Regulation (also known as GDPR)

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) plays a major role in companies’ data management nowadays. It protects personal data, so the companies can’t collect, share or sell personal data without individuals’ consent or knowledge. Many companies use personal data for targeted advertising and therefore they encourage people to buy their products. We can also say that collecting data is a major cybersecurity risk. Every organization is responsible for handling personal data carefully. For example, cybersecurity measures, employee training and risk management are a few of the many things a company can do to protect our data.

Nowadays you can see privacy policy notification on different websites or applications. It outlines the types of personal information collected, how it’s used, with whom it’s shared, and the user’s rights regarding their data. Basically, the website or application alerts, that it is collecting data about you. Although a person has the opportunity of asking the company to correct or delete data about her or him, it is often nearly impossible to delete all the data about a person.

I guess that GDPR has also brought an increasing cost for smaller companies, because they must regulate and document data collecting. If they haven’t got enough knowledge about the new requirements, they may need to buy the service somewhere else. The companies have also increased risks of getting penalties and reputation damages if they don’t obey the General Data Protection Regulation.

ChatGPT

Until last year, I basically used Google for different searches, but this year I have found myself turning more and more to ChatGPT. It provides answers quickly and often with the source of the information. I haven’t yet used AI for work related tasks (as I am on maternity leave at the moment), but I believe I will use it in the future.

I asked ChatGPT 3 questions about my work:

  • What tasks could AI perform from the duties of an executive assistant in the social and healthcare sector of a wellbeing services county?
  • What are the best qualities of an executive assistant?
  • How many executive assistants work in Satakunta Wellbeing Services County?

I was surprised when ChatGPT answered that AI isn’t replacing humans, but it can significantly reduce administrative load and enhance service quality. First, AI could support me especially in repetitive, routine, and information management tasks. For example, meeting coordination and documentation would be one of the main tasks. AI could automatically schedule meetings by finding available time slots and sending invites. It can also take notes in meetings and generate summaries for reporting or follow-up. AI could also collect data about staffing levels or client levels etc.

According to ChatGPT the best executive assistants demonstrate a combination of technical skills, emotional intelligence, and strategic thinking. The first and most important thing is knowing and acting before the leader asks for something to do. It basically needs a lot of trust and knowing the other person. Also working as an executive assistant means that you are independent and you don’t fear making decisions. Especially working in social services and healthcare means that discretion and confidentiality is a must. An executive assistant needs also organizational and communication skills. And because most of the work is done on computers, you must have also technical skills.

ChatGPT wasn’t sure about the number of executive assistants working in my workplace, according to public information, but there are at least 12 executive assistants within the organization. I guess the number is quite accurate, although I haven’t got the official number.

A few days ago, I asked a question about the founding year of my past workplace. ChatGPT gave me the wrong answer, and I tried to tell it about three times, that the answer was incorrect and the results concerned another organization. It still gave me the same wrong answer multiple times. I am slightly pleased, that AI also makes mistakes, not only humans and that said, I guess that it takes years before AI can completely do my tasks. In general, I think that AI would be a lot of help when I go back to work. I believe that the leaders and IT department have a lot of work to do to plan how, for example, people in administrative tasks could benefit from AI.

Self-evaluation

In conclusion the first major task was quite interesting. It was fun to read other blogs and watch all the videos by different speakers. Some of the videos were about 15 years old, but you can see how the speakers had long-term goals and a vision of the future. I was surprised how easily we could fall victim of a cybercrime. It makes me think how easy target I am to all the criminals online and in real life. We should be on guard all the time.

Digitalization will have a major role in our lives also in the future. We use digital services at work and at home. To my mind, it has made our lives easier. I also realize that everyone doesn’t have the opportunity or knowledge to use digital tools, for example the elderly. Therefore, there should always be another way to handle our business besides digital services.

Blog comments

I commented on:

DIGI SOCIETY
DIGI SOCIETY


Comment on Johanna’s blog:

“Hello Johanna and thank you for the interesting blog. I agree that our personal information should be protected against private companies who are only interested in making money with it. Therefore, GDPR is necessary to protect our data. I also agree that digital tools are here to help us and save time to do other things. For example, in my job, digitalization saves me time in basic tasks and therefore I have more opportunities to communicate with colleagues and customers. Also, I think ChatGPT is nowadays a good help in certain tasks, but it is also necessary to evaluate the answers before using them as the “whole truth”. Computers do make mistakes, although less than humans. As my physics teacher said ages ago: trust it but always check it.”

Comment on Anna’s blog:

“Hello Anna and thank you for the interesting blog. We both work in administration and therefore I was especially curious about reading your blog. The year 2023 was a remarkably special year for us because it was the first year of the wellbeing services counties establishment. I agree that digital skills and continuous learning are very important, and they also save a lot of time and money in the big run. AI will be a lot of help in the future, but I think it won’t be doing my job completely in the near future. Maybe some tasks though, for example taking notes in meetings.

I also agree that cybersecurity has an important role to play in our daily tasks because of the area we work in. Technology has one part of it and of course us workers have also a big part of keeping data safe.
I also like the fact that nowadays I can easily check the data a service provider has of me and request to change or delete data about me. Digitalization and different digital services, for example in banking and healthcare, have made our lives easier. But I agree that especially the elderly people need more and more support from us because of their limited digital skills.
So, let’s stay tuned to see what the future brings us.”