Technology Makes Going To The Office An Option For Many
On a recent Friday, I had two phone interviews. One was with an executive for a local tech firm who works in Sri Lanka. The other was with a research analyst for Framingham-based IDC who was working from New Zealand that day (she's usually based in Australia).
I can remember when calling someone in Wyoming for a story seemed exotic. At the time, I fretted as to whether I was going to get in trouble for calling so far away.
And here I am today, working from an easy chair in my home, calling someone in New Zealand from my cellular phone, which also doubles as a mini-computer that's faster than the first computer I ever used.
To borrow a phrase from one Thomas Friedman, the world is indeed flat.
At the time "The World Is Flat" was published, in 2005, the book's anecdotes seemed far removed from the average person's life. But seven years later, Friedman's predictions have truly come home to roost. The global marketplace is now touching the lives of everyday people and local businesses.
Beyond Copper Wires
Of course, we have technology to thank for this shift. One major advance enabling all this global commerce is VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol), according to Eleanor Loiacono, an associate professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. VoIP allows you to make phone calls over data lines (the same ones you use to surf the Internet), rather than phone lines. That means calling around the globe is a lot cheaper (at least for the moment) and easier than it used to be. Remember the early days of IT outsourcing, when you called India for support and heard an echo? Those days are over.
Another key driver, according to Loiacono, is the employees themselves.
"We're starting to see people coming into organizations wanting to use certain technologies," she said.
But in some cases, it's leadership that drives the adoption of these world-flattening technologies. One example of a leader is Sascha Deri, CEO of AltE in Hudson, which helps people set up alternative energy systems like solar panels.
While a majority of AltE's customers are in the United States, Deri himself is actually based in Costa Rica. He lives and works from his home there and travels to the main office in Hudson every three months or so for about a week.
Deri's decision to live in Central America wasn't a business one — it was a lifestyle choice. And during the time he's in Costa Rica, it's technology that allows him to do his job.
During my interview with him, Deri rattled off a pretty comprehensive list of technological tools that have allowed him to live in Costa Rica while he runs a business in Massachusetts. That list includes VoIP, instant messaging, chat rooms, wikis, ERP (enterprise resource planning) software and cloud-based services like Gmail. Pretty much any business-related technology that you've heard of, Deri has used.
It's clear that Deri's comfort with technology — he's a former physics and engineering major who describes himself as a geek — is what makes his multinational office work. That, and the fact that as CEO, he helps set the organization's tone and direction.
"You definitely need to have leadership pushing the edge of technology," Deri said.
There are challenges of course, not the least of which is the fact that he's simply not in the office with employees.
When Deri first made his move to Costa Rica, around 2006, he said some of his employees "just couldn't imagine me not in the same office as them." So, he decided to set up a "mini me," which was basically a computer with a constant video feed from his Costa Rican office. But that didn't really work. Number one, the computer would lose its Internet connection, meaning he'd have to call the Hudson office and ask someone to "reboot the mini-me." Second, there was no video on the Hudson side, so people were watching him, but he couldn't see when or who.
What Deri has settled for instead is an amalgam of things, ranging from simple phone calls to check in with employees to get a pulse on the office, to elaborate on metrics that allow him and his team to always know how they're doing in a number of key areas. The metrics, he found, were essential for him to get a sense of how things were going in the business.
Less Local
While folks like Deri are taking advantage of the flattening world to an extreme, my sense is that this global connectedness is creeping into all of our lives. But what does that mean, aside from the fact that we all have to get a little bit better at figuring out time zones?
"Essentially it means that technology has eliminated the idea of a central working place," said Gary Chaison, a business professor at Clark University in Worcester.
And for businesses, having a local territory or home can be diminished in importance.
"The geography has changed so dramatically," Chaison added. "The idea of having a headquarters operation is almost meaningless. You don't need that. [Workers] could easily be at home."
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