Cross your A's and dot your I's (AI)

Unlocking Excel's Hidden Potential

I remember many years ago being in a training session for Excel where the instructor was sharing a story about the power of using the features embedded into the program to make work easier and allow us to be more efficient and effective. He recalled watching someone doing tedious data entry into a spreadsheet and meticulously going through an exhaustive data set and making adjustments, which was both very time-consuming and had a high risk of errors due to the manual processing that was being done.

Through the example being shared, the instructor demonstrated that when we realized what the features were within the program and how to use them, we could maximize our productivity and minimize the risk of errors that come from manual data entry.

AI's Impact on Modern Work

Recently, as I travelled home from Integrate, I was sitting on the plane next to a lady working on a document. She appeared to be very focused, with headphones on to block out the surrounding noises and distractions; although, throughout the flight from Sydney to Melbourne, she didn’t appear to have made a lot of progress with what she was working on. This made me think about how she (and myself in my work) could be using some of the new programs and tools to allow her to be more productive.

At Integrate this year, there were many sessions and a lot of talk about how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already being integrated into meeting room spaces and the general workplace. Whether we realize it or not, it will continue to impact the way we connect, collaborate, problem-solve, research, or whatever we may do in our daily activities.

Mastering the Changing Landscape

An example of this is Intelligent Meeting Recap in Microsoft Teams, which, as the name suggests, can provide a personalized summary (or recap) of the meeting and the ability to take you directly to the moments and discussion points that are relevant to you, along with timeline markers to see when you were mentioned. With new Smart Cameras on the market, we can also see who was talking when, so we can jump straight to the appropriate part of the meeting. These types of features allow us to be present and engaged in the conversation with the confidence that we can go back through the notes and take the key items that are important and relevant to us.

In my work, I need to be very detail-oriented, 'dotting the i's and crossing the t's' as the old saying goes. Understanding the new tools that are available to me will refine where and what I spend my time so that I can continue to direct my attention toward those areas where I can be most effective rather than getting bogged down in details and meticulous workflows which may not be the best use of my time. The workplace is continually changing, and we need to be curious to understand and embrace our changing landscape.