WORD PROCESSING-EQUIPMENT OR CONCEPT?
             Increasing administrative costs in recent years have made the production of business communications a major expense and one that will continue to rise. One way to help control the cost of business communications is to make the processing of documents more effective and efficient through the use of current technology. Word processing equipment has been around for more than twenty years. However, during the last decade it has really made an impact on the business world.
             There are two major contributing factors to this increased impact. The first is technological advances made in the area of equipment manufacturing. The second, and just as important, is the acceptance of the concept of word processing as a system rather than just a piece of hardware.
             Word processing first appeared in the business environment on a widely distributed basis in 1964. Since that time, the question, "What is word processing?" has been heard all over the country. When this question is asked, it is usually aimed primarily at hardware. But word processing should not be thought of as a piece of equipment; rather it is a concept for improving the efficiency of producing business communications. Equipment is but one of several tools used in the construction of a word processing system. Word processing is now being accepted as the capability to transform ideas into written word by employing procedures, equipment, and people. These three ingredients make word processing a viable solution to increasing the efficiency and reducing the cost of producing business communications.
             The next question is usually, "How does word processing actually work?" Very simply stated, text material can be stored and retrieved later for manipulation during revision cycles. This process eliminates the need for lengthy rekeying due to errors or changes in the document. This process is ideal for long docume...