If an organization wants to increase office staff productivity, which type of commercial system should it choose?

• A. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) system
• B. Office automation system
• C. Special-purpose system
• D. In-house system

Answer: (B)

Office automation systems focus on the everyday tools office staff use—word processing, spreadsheets, email, scheduling, and document management—so they directly speed up routine tasks, reduce manual data entry, and improve accuracy. By streamlining these common activities, they boost productivity for administrative personnel without the heavier complexity of broader systems. In contrast, enterprise resource planning integrates many core business processes across the organization and can be expensive and complex, not primarily aimed at daily office task efficiency. Special-purpose or in-house systems might address a narrow need or be customized, but they don’t offer the broad, ready-to-use office productivity gains that off-the-shelf office automation software provides.