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A look back at the history of Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word was developed back in 1983, around 40 years ago. Unfortunately not much has changed since then.
Basically, little has changed since the original version, apart from colors and a more complex graphical interface. Microsoft Word is still a piece of digital paper on a screen with a few basic writing tools. However, with an increase in graphical details and a nicer, albeit complicated interface, the program became more and more memory-hungry, which regularly causes the program to crash when processing larger documents.
And although we've switched from .doc to .docx, the output of the text hasn't really changed either. Everything became more complicated and confusing and instead of the usual two toolbars in the 1980s, it became more and more, so that only a little text was left over on smaller screens. At the end of the day, however, despite its more modern interface, Word still produced a digital sheet of paper with static text and graphics on it. While this was still a perfect result in the early 90s, the world has changed a lot since then.
Tablets and cell phones are now the most important devices we connect to, more email is opened on mobile devices than on desktops, and we consume over a billion hours of online video content every day on YouTube alone.
Even more important, however, is that the number of people on this planet has almost doubled since the 80 years. As a result, the way we work together has also changed. Content has become more complicated and the process of how we experience knowledge has also become dynamic. The quality of many business relationships has also changed. While in the past, a business relationship could be recorded in a document at the beginning, which then slumbered in a steel cabinet for decades, today's business relationships are also becoming outdated much more quickly with the shortening of innovation cycles. Static text on a white background has therefore become completely inadequate.
These significant changes in the way we work, combined with the fact that Word hasn't really changed much in the last 35 years, means that it really isn't the best tool for every task anymore.
Here are just a few examples of where Word works with Preparation and processing of contracts fails:
1. Word documents are not interactive
Word documents are static documents with images and text. In contrast to web applications or websites, you cannot embed interactive content here. Interaction with employees or customers, limited to text and content, is only possible if you hand over the entire document. A simple connection of digital processes, as would be necessary for internal areas of companies, is currently not planned. It is just as difficult to have documents signed by customers or supervisors.
“The usual 5 battle in the office: print, sign, scan, create a PDF, send it by email.”
This means that if you want to allow collaboration with colleagues or customers, you must pass on the authorization across the entire document. Signing documents, which is actually so simple, only works through a process that has remained unchanged for more than 30 years. If you do not want to relinquish design authority, you must create a PDF, then print it out, sign it, scan it and send it back by email. Research has shown that this slows down document processing time by 80%
2. Word documents are difficult to edit together
Have you ever had to go through hell and collaborate with other people on a Microsoft Word document? Up to now, people have helped themselves to exchange documents via the well-known but insecure e-mail channel. This sometimes results in crazy and pointless file names such as' presentation_final_Final_v22 'in order not to lose track of which document is the latest version in the chaos of collaboration with colleagues and customers.
Or you have also helped yourself in the past by dividing sections of the document to be created into different files, which could then be edited separately. At the latest after integrating the individual sections, you were back in version chaos.
Obviously, these systems only help to a limited extent to determine which is the latest version, and often result in people overwriting each other's work or creating conflicting versions. As you can see, many of your employees' valuable hours are often wasted completely unnecessarily in this process.
As an objection, you have to put up with the fact that there is reasonable software for version control, which is used in particular in law firms. Unfortunately, these expansions are not available before all. This useful extension must be bought for additional money, and at the latest with the first project with various law firms and several companies, new styles of file naming emerge. This time, however, expanded to include the versioning system of the law firm's software. It then goes something like this: #23223av20200307 #2324v2020_final_Anmerkung_final_final_14 .docx. Congratulations.
“The challenges of an office worker today with Microsoft Word: #23223av20200307 #2324v2020_final_Anmerkung_final_final_14 .docx”
Admittedly, with the use of SharePoint and Microsoft 365, you could get some of these problems under control. But at the latest when one of the parties involved was unable to participate in this solution due to partly justified security concerns, you were back in versioning hell.
3. Word documents are difficult to evaluate
Although some email tools offer a way to track when someone opens an email, it's still not easy to know whether the attached Word document was actually opened.
“I just wanted to make sure that you received the document I sent you”
But imagine being notified when someone is reading your document, and then imagine being able to see exactly which sections of the document the customer interacted with or how long that section was read. This would make it possible to schedule further emails or calls perfectly or at least avoid pointless emails without major effort. This would make emails like “I just wanted to check that you actually received the document I sent you” a thing of the past.
Unfortunately, unlike modern data rooms or web pages, Word documents have no way to track reading time or interactions, so this kind of advanced insight into when people view your documents and what content they're engaging with isn't available to you in Word. The only thing left for you at this point is to count the number of characters and words used since 1983.
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4. Word documents are not secure
As soon as you email a Word document to another party, the document and its content are shared with that person forever. It can be forwarded, shared with others, published, printed, left behind in the office or meeting. All at once, you give up control over your document, including the versioning number. Granted, you can password protect a Word document, but the password can easily be shared with the document with third parties or completely removed by anyone who has the password.
5. Confidential information is no longer confidential when sent
In sales
An offer that you have once sent to the world via a Word document can no longer be withdrawn. All price information can easily be sent to the competition, including your corporate design worked into Word for hours in order to receive a counteroffer. It's best to say goodbye to your margin right away when you send a Word document.
In the human resources sector:
Highly competitive workers can send their multi-page offer to their own employer without delay in order to raise their current salary once again. You have the choice to enter into a bidding war, or choose the next best worker you can afford.
In the legal sector:
In the legal sector, the problem is particularly glaring. As a rule, companies do not want negotiated transactions and the highly confidential details they contain to end up with the competition or in the public eye. However, this cannot be ruled out when sending Word documents.
It is often enough if the negotiated contract is used as a template for the next transaction so that all details - often simply unintentionally - end up with the next takeover candidate, meaning that well-guarded negotiation strategies quickly become unusable.
6. Word is a very generic tool
A Swiss officer's knife is a very generic tool. It can be used in many ways and solves small and fast tasks very reliably. However, if you came up with the idea of cutting down a tree with your pocket knife, you would probably be able to achieve success after several days, but the feeling of success would not really be felt when looking at the worn knife and the calluses on your hands.
The situation is similar when using Microsoft Word. A quick memo, a quick thought, an invitation to a birthday party are great things to do with it. But if you think of writing a doctoral thesis using the same software, or writing a three-hundred-page securities prospectus, or drawing up framework contracts, then you will probably see the calluses on your hands in the form of well-worked nights.
However, if you want playbooks, contract signatures, data security and data sovereignty, as well as a way to sign contracts directly, you might want to leave your Swiss knife at home and bring a chainsaw instead.
Tools you can use instead
Although there are certainly alternatives to Microsoft Word such as Google Drive and Zoho Docs, they are unfortunately all more or less among the diseases mentioned above. At their core, they are also nothing more than a digital writing pad with advanced formatting options.
As a rule, there are different software packages available for various areas of application, as well as when using knives, to stay with the example above. Just as you will have better results when cutting meat with a filleting knife than tackling the same task with a butter knife, tailor-made software solutions can save you a lot of time and money.
Here are two examples of tools that you can use instead of Word:
Internal memos and notes
Notion likes to present itself as a one-stop office application that is perfect for internal documents and internal collaboration. Instead of a simple, static document, you can simply embed videos, bookmarks, checklists, special text (such as code, transcripts, etc.), and more into the document.
Even simple databases can be created that can be summed, divided, and organized. Tasks can also be given a due date. All documents, simple tables, and corresponding tasks live in one place. The need to constantly change applications is no longer there.
In addition, the need to format text is completely flat. Text is automatically formatted. Headings and text blocks are simply assigned semantic formatting similar to the Markdown format and Latex. So you know that a headline is also a headline, and not just a section of text that you have randomly formatted as a headline. Everything looks perfect within seconds.
Contract software
top.legal is a End-to-end platform for collaboration and management of contracts, which helps companies close contracts faster and at the same time provides deep insights into contract data. The AI-enabled system offers contract creation, negotiation, e-signature and analysis and saves companies up to 96% of the time they spend on contracts must.
The new design-oriented way of working with contracts makes top.legal very suitable for performance-oriented sales environments. Contracts can be used as a sales tool and you retain control over the data at all times with maximum security.
