Using the web and technology to best business advantage is what business transformation is all about. Even better if you can do it for free.
One interesting development containing that oft-abused four-letter word has just been launched to take the tedium out of routine online tasks.
Big Blue – IBM – have just launched CoScripter, a free macro-recording tool for the web. It performs like the macro tool you may be familiar with from Microsoft products. You record an online task or search and Co-Scripter will then slavishly carry out the action automatically for you thereafter.
CoScripter works by converting actions performed on a web site into a script that it records and then performs when configured to do so. Users are also able to share scripts with others. Although developed with consumers in mind, IBM points out that companies wishing to be competitive in the Web 2.0 marketplace, where conducting repetitive tasks online is commonplace, can also use CoScripter.
Round about now you’ll probably be expecting a but, and there is a significant one to be aware of. When you save a script it becomes public property and is saved at the CoScripter web site repository where it is accessible by other users. Obviously, then, you don’t want to be doing things that involve user names and passwords.
However, while this is a downside, there are still stacks of tasks that can be safely recorded. And, in fact, the ability to share scripts has a positive business use…as user help guides and for recruitment purposes as IBM themselves highlight.
Instead of going to the expense of producing Flash help files to walk users through online actions such as form filling or changing settings, a CoScripter recording achieves the same effect for zilch outlay.
For example, CoScripter can be used to document difficult or complex business processes and share the recordings with the employees who need them. It streamlines the process of doing tasks and eliminates the need to spend hours conducting the same searches on the internet. This saves companies money as their resources are no longer wrapped up in conducting repetitive tasks online.
Another example cited by IBM is that of a small business looking to hire people with a certain skill set. Instead of constantly searching job sites for the right candidates, CoScripter can be configured with the criteria for one or more potential hires and thereafter automating all the steps required to conduct the searching for candidates.
Once recorded and saved, the script can then be shared with others within the company to help fine-tune the search. The script can also be re-used at a later date for subsequent recruitment and altered to suit any new criteria.
* Scripts, or macros, are brilliant wee things. In a previous incarnation, I assigned macros to each of the keyboard’s F keys for repetitive phrases and text, saving me countless keystrokes in the course of a year.
