Beneath The Knowledge Wave

By Pam Martin

$22.50 USD

Why patchy computer skills are costing organizations a fortune.

Beneath the Knowledge Wave is the personal journey of the author as she helped people learn how to use a computer.  Although the stories will make you smile, underneath there is a really serious message for all businesses, and that is either the total ‘lack’ of computer skills in our workplaces, or the haphazard skills that people have picked up along the way and the effect of that.

Every business, large or small needs to increase productivity to compete in a global market-place.  Ineffective use of technology could be a large part of low productivity. Every individual in the workplace of today must have basic computer skills.

Readers describe this book as a blinding flash of the obvious. The majority of the working population has mostly taught themselves to use computers or avoid using them altogether because they don’t know how to use them and are afraid of looking dumb.

Meet some of the people in the stories:

• Adam who applied for a senior marketing position and was on the verge of being offered the job when he was asked if his computer skills were up to date. They weren’t. He didn’t get the job!
• Bronwen, an office worker aged 60 who had spent years working on a computer for her last organization. Unfortunately she had used an in-house programme rather than Microsoft Office and so failed the computer tests the recruitment agency put her through.
• A new accounts manager who was never asked if she had Excel experience – when asked to make a presentation to senior management using spreadsheets the CEO challenged her calculations. No-one had ever asked if she could use Excel

And a success story:

• A signage company was looking for a new operations manager and had spent a fortune on recruitment agencies with no luck. When chatting with one of the long term employees the GM realized this employee had all the skills and experience, but no computer skills. After attending a short course to learn how to use a computer he took over the role and the results were amazing. He had years of experience in the business – a new person – even a new person with computer skills wouldn’t have had his knowledge.

The author also deals with a lot of assumptions we have in our organizations:

• We all use computers every day at work, so we know how to use them effectively
• The younger generation are really confident with computers and must have the relevant skills for employment
• Increased broadband speed will improve productivity
• There are only a very small number of lower decile people who don’t know how to use a computer 

And so having identified the problems the author then moves to finding solutions:

• For individuals
• For small businesses
• For large organizations
• For women
• For men
• For mature users
• For families
• For communities

This book is one of those little treasures that comes along every now and again and smacks society in the eye with what is staring us in the face but no-one wants to admit to. We are in a technology world where most people don’t know how to use technology.

So if these stories resonate with you as an individual who is self-taught and probably knows that your skills are patchy at best or non existant at worst; or if you own or manage and know that your people do not have great computer skills – this book could be a life saver.

$22.50USD

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Beneath The Knowledge Wave

By Pam Martin

$22.50 USD

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