Business and Development

The occasional electric typewriter, a hotchpotch of calculator brands, a small electronic office com puter, a microfilm reader, sophisticated filing units, dictating aids and fast copiers . . .

Office equipment throughout the Pacific Islands is undergoing a gradual but traumatic change and in this special and unique survey PIM examines the latest trends.

There are two major reasons for the accelerating changes in Islands offices —the first comes from the office users themselves, the second, from the huge Japanese, American and European suppliers which make the multitude of products involved here.

Users of offices, particularly Islands governments and the big businesses, are undergoing sharp clerical costs spirals.

And with competition and margins all that keener today, these users are anxious to boost efficiencies and upgrade productivity.

Thus labour-saving and/or new performance achieving equipment which will make possible the above needs and meet costs spirals, make sense.

At the same time, from manufacturers, comes a burgeoning rush of new technology and better pro ducts, with an "automatic office" a lot closer than most observers think.

The Islands are a part, though minor, of a veritable revolution in the office, by far the most important in this area for 100 years.

And an office is one of the most visible areas where new things and new thinking pay big dividends.