B3: Use of computers — contracting

This paper is not Intended to be a technical discourse on the benefits that computers confer on business. Instead, I shall approach the subject from the point of view of the needs of managers for aids to the vital processes of sauagement which the new technologies can provide. From a manager's standpoint the main justification for using computers, or any other technical aid, is to add to his ability to direct and control the business, to make sound decisions, to plan, monitor and steer a growing, dynamic organisation towards its corporate objectives. I snail describe the process of development towards that goal which we have employed in the Laing Group over the past twenty years, and give an outline of our expectations for the continuation of the process in the future.