The GigaOM Network: Cleantech | Tech Insider | Gadget Gurus | Online Video | Open Source | Mac Love | Research | Live Events | About | Contact

“I’m Out of the Office Today…”

November 24th, 2009 (7:00am) Charles Hamilton 4 Comments

A new study suggests that almost half (45 percent) of the workers at small- and medium-sized businesses spend most (75 percent) of their time out of their offices. In fact, only 15 percent of the businesses surveyed reported that all of their employees work in a single location.

The survey indicates that these trends will continue. In 2010, nearly half of the businesses surveyed are planning to hire new employees who will work remotely at least part of the time.

The survey was conducted online by virtual phone service RingCentral (which we recently reviewed) among their customers, so it is probably not representative of all businesses. However, it is certainly indicative of a trend that should hardly come as a surprise to web workers.

How much time do you spend out of the office?

Image by sxc.hu user sykicktb

Jelly, Casual Coworking in a City Near You

November 6th, 2009 (11:00am) Simon Mackie 1 Comment

jellyYesterday I took part in my first Jelly session — and I’ve got to say it was a fun and productive experience that I will be repeating in the future. Jellies are informal, free coworking events that are open to anyone. There were 10 participants at the Jelly I attended, from a range of different backgrounds although they were mainly freelancers, as you might expect. At times, particularly in the morning, the atmosphere was studious and productive, but there was also some interesting chat and opportunities to make new connections.

I always find that a change of scenery does me good, but considering that I was working in a room with 10 other people, sitting around a conference table, and occasionally getting stuck into conversation, I was surprised at the amount of work I got through (and that’s despite the speed of the Wi-Fi connection getting a little slow with 10 people working away).

If you’re feeling a bit isolated at home (or perhaps you just want to brainstorm some ideas) and would like to try out the coworking experience, but perhaps aren’t quite ready to commit to membership of a coworking space, attending a Jelly would be a good first step. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: ,

Web Working In the Library, the Pros and Cons

October 28th, 2009 (11:00am) Simon Mackie 9 Comments

Usually, when I want to get out of the house for a change of scenery, I head to Cafe Kuvuka, a local coffee shop just at the end of my street, but yesterday afternoon I fancied working somewhere new. I haven’t worked in a library since finishing my degree years ago, so decided it was time to give my local library, the Bristol Central Library, a try, and thought it was worth sharing my thoughts on the experience here.

bristollibrary

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags:

Justifying Coworking As an Investment

October 28th, 2009 (9:00am) Darrell Etherington 15 Comments

coworking spaceCoworking is a great trend, one that is taking root in even the most unlikely of soil, including areas where it has a chance of making a big difference, like Detroit. For freelancers and small startups, a coworking space provides a great opportunity to work with others, and to have office space to show off when a client comes calling, without incurring the cost of a more permanent lease. Read the rest of this entry »

Corporate Culture, Not Technology, Drives Online Collaboration

October 23rd, 2009 (1:00pm) Will Kelly 12 Comments

917103_working_together_3Recently, Simon reported on a couple of interesting studies looking at the use of collaboration technologies in the workplace, Forrester’s “The State Of Workforce Technology Adoption: US Benchmark 2009” and Frost & Sullivan’s “Meetings Around the World II: Charting the Course of Advanced Collaboration.” Both reports have great stories to tell about the current state of collaboration technology acceptance within corporations. However, both reports skim over what is perhaps the key element in driving online collaboration within an organization: Corporate culture.

It is not enough to just deploy the latest collaboration tools, whether that is Microsoft SharePoint; Office Communications Server; Google Apps; a corporate VoIP telephony system; mobile devices like the BlackBerry or iPhone; or the latest online collaboration tool reviewed on WebWorkerDaily. The challenge is getting people using them — and for that you need a collaborative corporate culture.
Read the rest of this entry »

Invest in Collaborative Tools, Get More Than Double Return, Study Says

October 14th, 2009 (4:00pm) Simon Mackie 12 Comments

Last week, I reported on the surprisingly low numbers of American information workers using collaborative technology (just one in four uses IM at work, for example). Another study, released today, shows why businesses should be adopting these tools: Businesses that invest in advanced collaborative technology perform better, and they net a good rate of return on their investment.

The Frost & Sullivan report, “Meetings Around the World II: Charting the Course of Advanced Collaboration,” sponsored by Verizon and Cisco, surveyed 3,662 decision-makers in organizations in 10 countries. It found that 44 percent of organizations had deployed collaborative tools (VoIP, document sharing, videoconferencing and IM). The study found that as businesses invest more in these technologies, their return gets proportionally greater. Read the rest of this entry »

My First Virtual Conference

October 14th, 2009 (1:00pm) Pamela Poole 5 Comments

vc-screenshot-sessionI don’t know about you, but every time I go to a conference or trade show, after about an hour I’m getting a headache from overstimulation: Too much shiny stuff and bad lighting. Crowds. My face hurts from smiling at the poor booth people while they do their pitches. My feet hurt. And why is there never enough air? So when I had the chance to “attend” my first virtual conference a couple of weeks ago, I jumped at it.

One of the things I do is translation and, like all of the translators I know, I have a profile on ProZ.com. This year is the site’s 10th anniversary and, to celebrate, it held its first virtual conference on International Translation Day. It was free, and I signed up, even though I knew I wouldn’t get any free pens out of it. Read the rest of this entry »

Only 1 in 4 Uses IM at Work, Says Study

October 8th, 2009 (12:00pm) Simon Mackie 15 Comments

As someone who covers cutting-edge tools for WebWorkerDaily, it’s very tempting to think that everyone uses the kind of technology that we rave about every day. Clearly that’s not the case, but some figures in a new Forrester report, “The State Of Workforce Technology Adoption: US Benchmark 2009,” which surveyed 2,001 U.S. information workers, in companies of 100 or more employees, really surprised me. For example, according to the study, one out of every five information workers shares a computer:

Picture 17 Read the rest of this entry »

Sign up for our daily email:

Watch videos at Vodpod and more of my videos