New office job, IT skills, looking for advice

Ella108

Hi, I recently got an admin/secretarial job, and some things in my office looks archaic, such as phone itself. It does not show caller ID, and I never know who is calling.

My colleague/ person I work with/office owner, does not know tech or have IT skills and does not want to pay too much for IT support, relies on my IT skills ( which needs upgrade too ).

How much would an IT company charge for a small business ( literally 2-3 employees, self employed) ?

Is there a course on Linkedin (preferably as I have subscription currently) I could enrol into to brush my tech skills?

I want to make changes to make my work life smoother starting by changing the landline phone device itself. The office has two computers - laptop and a computer with CPU (???) it takes up so much space. The printer/scanner is inkjet is bit slow and there is fax machine also.

My work involves : Lot of email processing, printing and scanning, and making bookings over the phone, calling and receiving calls, and noting appointments, invoices, billing, etc

Any recommendations, any advice will be useful

techguy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058334832/new-office-job-it-skills-looking-for-advice

Hi Ella,

There is a lot in there - but the general theme seems to be double edged.

1. General office environment needs its technology updating
2. You would like to brush up on your IT skills.

Office tech setup

I can't comment on what an IT company might charge your business. But by the sounds of your colleague/boss/business owner? The costs will be unacceptable to them. What you want the IT company to do for you?

Personally, I feel like you will learn a lot more (which is what you want?) by doing IT stuff yourself, which will build your confidence and also help with your CV.

If I were you I would make a list of the items that you feel like need upgraded and discuss with your boss. It's important to provide a solid justification for each upgrade (cost!) - business owners aren't in the business of buying stuff because it's cool.. because it all comes off their bottom line.

For example:

• No caller ID - missed chance to return a missed call from a potential customer. (Lost money to boss).
• Inkjet printer - Inkjets are grossly expensive and unreliable in my experience. Assuming you do any amount of printing, laser will provide a better experience and will also be cheaper. Do some research, but cost per page is a lot cheaper on laser compared to inkjet (IIRC).. but this only holds true if you are using the printer a nice bit because the initial costs can be a bit higher. But in an office environment you might print a nice bit over a 12 month period.

So there, both of the issues you mentioned can be justified, IMHO.

I would talk to your boss and explain a few things need upgrading and would like to discuss setting aside some budget.

Also, do not forget supporting equipment such as screen, desk and chair. It is extremely important that you have the correct setup if you will be sitting all day.. incorrect posture, screen eye levels can really throw off your physical wellbeing. Justification there would be that you could possibly have more sick days due to physical ill health. (RSI, Back pain etc..)... and also, if an employee were to request proper/safe equipment, it were to be denied.. if that person ended up injured from it, they could put in a claim for compensation.

If you are going to be on the phone a lot... you need to look at getting a headset. Either a) that will plug into the new phone you buy :) or b) plug into your computer and look into getting the business phone number connected to your computer via SIP / VOIP. Which is also another area of cost saving IMHO. You potentially no longer need to rent out a phone line and can go with just internet. VOIP services are a lot more competitive and there are a hole host of cool features that can be leveraged to help with your productivity.

Brushing up on your skills

For various topics, over the years - I have tried online courses.. I find them boring to be honest and they take up a lot of time.

I find it wayyyy more efficient to just search YouTube for any problems I need solved, or if there is a particular topic I am interested in.

So in your case, you could be looking up - "how to setup VOIP instead of a phoneline" or "inkjet vs laser printing" or "how to make health and safety assessment for desk/chair in an office".

But if you do want to look into formal courses, I would only do stuff that will prepare you for something like a Comp TIA A+ certification. Which is something somebody like you would really benefit from, actually, now that I think of it. Employer should be happy to cover the cost as it will probably enable you to carry out a lot of what the aforementioned "IT Company" will do for you.. and save them cost in the long run.

You should also start looking at data backup solutions and ask yourself how you would continue to support the business and keep it running if the office building was burn to the ground over night with all computers in it. It's actually easier than ever to plan for this now, with the likes of dropbox and cloud email etc.

Ok.. so I am going to stop typing now, but if you have any questions or would like some help feel free to ask here, or PM me.

Conor

Flinty997

Lots of info from Conor above.

Office that size really just needs to a cloud solution like Office 365 or Google, or iCloud.

Consider doing an evening course in local community school. You'll get face to face with someone enthusiastic about helping people. Can ask all the questions.

Ella108

Yes, we got cloud now.

Ella108

Thanks Conor for your reply, all brilliant advice

Ella108

I am now looking into VOIP/PBX solutions as this small private company is working for a bigger company because we need to make calls internally using extension numbers

Ella108

I have so many questions:

Does MS office bookings allow you to book and schedule appointments? And can these be linked to MS Teams? Is all communication on 365 via emails or can you send an appointment text reminder through phone ? Can it all be integrated via VOIP so you don't pay separately for phone service?

ItHurtsWhenIP

I don't know the technicalities of it, but I remember a friend who works for an ITMSP mentioning that some form of VOIP telephony could be integrated with M365 and Teams.

BTW - you mentioned a fax machine earlier - is that still used???

Ella108

It is where I am at :D