ZOHO

One of the newest 2.0 web applications that I has been introduced to me is Zoho Office Suite. Zoho Office Suite is an online application with various functions that can be extremely useful to individuals in all disciplines. Some of the components found within Zoho Office Suite are Zoho Writer , a word processor with collaboration features, Zoho Project, a project management software, and Zoho Show, a presentation tool. The function that interested me the most was Zoho Sheet, which is an “online alternative to traditional spreadsheet applications”. Zoho sheets, allows multiple users to edit, and collaborate on one spreadsheet, at the same time. While each individual adjusts and contributes to their part of the spreadsheet, other individuals will be able to see these changes almost instantly. Another unique feature provided by Zoho Sheet is referred to as "Zoho Chat Integration". Now, users are able to have online conversations with the individuals working on the same spreadsheet project. This feature makes collaboration more effective and efficient. In addition to these benefits, Zoho Sheet just recently added more chart variety, page loading improvements, semi- public spreadsheet, Hyperlinks spreadsheets and Auto-versioning.

Ladies in Finance

In an article out of The CPA Journal, titled Executive Women in Finance, author Charles Eldridge addresses many of the struggles executive women in finance face. Many of these struggles are exactly identical to the ones women in marketing, accounting, and management are currently experiencing. Much like women in other business disciplines, studies have found that women in finance have “worked with out significant breaks in their careers; rather than cutting down on work, they have sacrificed time on outside commitments and interests.” Studies have determined that 86% of women in finance have sacrificed their free time on outside hobbies because of their careers. 52% of women’s relationships have also been impacted by their demanding careers. Then there are 16% of women who have decided not to have children in order to achieve ultimate career success. Although women are often times perceived as lacking organizational commitment, I believe these numbers demonstrate that women are very committed to their careers. The question is, why are women perceived as being less committed to begin with? Because women normally take on the demanding roles of mothers and wives, many employers believe that women will put their families first and their careers second. One finance professional stated, “the perception is that because I am a woman, wife and mother, I have different career goals and commitments.” These inaccurate perceptions about business women have proven to be detrimental towards their upward mobility.

Number of Business Women Declining

One of my sources, titled Women Still Scare In Top-Level Jobs, addressed a major issue that is presently occurring in the business world. New studies have shown that the number of women holding top corporate positions has actually been decreasing. According to these studies, “women held 15.6% of corporate officer positions in 2006, which is down from 16.4% in 2005. This information is surprising to me for a couple of reasons. First of all, there has been several publicized appointments of females executives during the past couple of year. For example, Carleton Fiorina became the first female CEO for Hewlett-Packard in 1999. Because of these appointments, I was under the impression that conditions were somewhat improving for women in business. This news is also surprising because it contradicts many of the articles that I’ve read about women in business. Many of my sources have always implied that women are slowly catching up to men. Although these sources identify that it will take many, many more year for women to reach equity in the board room, they have never stated that the number of women is actually declining.