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The Virtual
Workplace: Are You Ready? ©2002 Corbin Ball Associates Technology has
made it possible for many of us to work outside the standard office environment.
The Gartner Group estimates that there will be more than 137 million teleworkers
worldwide by 2003. One fifth of U.S. workers, including a high percentage of
meeting professionals, currently work away from the main office in one way or
the other.
There are many
benefits to organizations in accepting this growing trend:
However, there
are challenges. It is more difficult to maintain a corporate culture in a
virtual environment. There is a greater chance of alienation. Brainstorming
sessions are more difficult to do when people are not in a face-to-face
environment. In short, collaboration is more difficult to do virtually.
The Virtual Water Cooler Fortunately,
there are many technology tools that can help:
Efficient
use email and contact management tools. AOL and Windows Messaging offer free ways to communicate and collaborate instantly via text with people around the world. This can be quite useful for remote teams Web collaboration Online
groups As
we move toward virtual offices, we will need to explore new ways of
communicating and doing business in general.
We will need to overcome the basic limitations of the non-face-to-face
environment. In many cases, it will mean significant change. However, those who
are willing to embrace and use these tools efficiently will create a new virtual
office with both efficiency and good collaboration capabilities. |
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