The World Is Flat, But Are You Ready?
How to Work Virtually
Guy J. Cortesi, Ph.D. eSolve Solutions, Inc. esolvesolutions.com
Goal For Today’s Presentation
Help YOU bridge the gap between the “Flat World” and the tools and technology to be effective in it
What is the Flat World?
Flat World
In 2005, Tom Friedman coined the term “Flat World” in “The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21th Century”
Tom Friedman is an author and columnist for the New York Times and considered one of the top five most influential business thinkers WSJ.
Globalization is leveling the economic playing fields – all competitors can have an equal advantage
Flat World
Globalization
Globalization 1.0 – 1492 to early 1800’s – countries expanded beyond their borders
Globalization 2.0 -1800’s to 2000 – companies expand globally Globalization 3.0 - 2000 to current – web-enabled collaboration tools allow individuals to operate on a global scale
The 10 Flatteners
The first three created a platform for global collaboration
#1 – Berlin Wall Falls 11/09/89 – opens up the economic mainstream to everyone - walls came down and “Windows” went up (Microsoft and Apple graphical OS’s).
# 2 – Netscape 8/9/95 – Dot.com boom and >$1T investments in Fiber – everything goes digital
# 3 – Workflow software – reduce barriers between apps – machines “talk” to each other
The 10 Flatteners
The next six flatteners were all newly emerging forms of collaboration
#4 – Open Sourcing – free software; people upload and collaborate on online projects – blogs, Wikipedia
# 5 – Outsourcing – companies split and offload services to achieve new efficiencies
# 6 – Offshoring – outsourcing to other counties and continents
The 10 Flatteners
# 7 – Supply Chaining – Companies like Wal-Mart streamline/ control entire sales, distribution and shipping
# 8 – Insourcing – Companies like UPS perform new services (UPS employees repair Toshiba laptops at UPS hubs).
# 9 – In-Forming – Google/Search engines allow people to find info on things and people – 1 billion searches per day # 10 – The Steroids – The digital device like mobile phones, iPods, PDAs
The Triple Convergence
# 1 - Around 2000 the flatteners converged and worked together to create a new, flatter, global playing field
# 2 - Business and people adopted new habits, skills and processes. They moved from mostly vertical collaboration to more horizontal methods
# 3 Several billion new people came out on the field, mostly from China, India and the former Soviet Empire
Collaboration in the Flat World
What is Collaboration?
“...a structured, recursive process where two or more people work together toward a common goal—typically an intellectual endeavor that is creative in nature—by sharing knowledge,
learning and building consensus. Collaboration does not require leadership and can sometimes bring better results through decentralization.”
Collaboration in the Flat World
“The best companies are the best collaborators. In the flat world, more and more business will be done through
collaboration within and between companies.” No one can no longer do it all.
“...a lot of new middle jobs will involve collaborating with others or orchestrating collaboration within and between companies...”
Collaboration As A Concept Is Everywhere
The Collaboration Project, led by the National Academy of Public Administration, looks to be a center of excellence focused the on Web 2.0 world and how these tools can help government.
The State of Mississippi and the EPA use cross-government collaboration, with formal responsibility for collaboration Collaboration enabled by networked systems is used by warfighters in Iraq and Afganistan.
Guy J. Cortesi, Ph.D.
When And Where Do We Collaborate?
Time Place
Same Time / Same Place
Flip Charts, Whiteboards, Projectors, Graphic Displays
Different Time / Same Place
Team Rooms, Kiosks, Workstations
Same Time / Different Place
Audio & Video Conf, Screen Sharing, Instant Messaging,
Text Messaging
Different Time / Different Place
email, voicemail, fax, shared databases and file systems,
Guy J. Cortesi, Ph.D.
When And Where Do We Collaborate?
Time Place
Different Time / Different Place
email, voicemail, fax, shared databases, collaboration
tools/systems
Here is where the need is in a flat world
Same Time / Different Place
Audio & Video Conferencing, Screen
New Tools Are Needed In The Virtual Workplace
Tools such as email and voicemail overwhelm users and are ineffective - lack project focus, lose track of information, and no permanent records
Audio and Video conferencing can also be ineffective for large groups and can fail to engage some users
New collaboration tools are beginning to arrive to offer better solutions, but there are generational gaps among users
New Tools Are Needed In The Virtual Workplace
Youth have adapted text messaging, instant messaging, and collaboration tools such as Facebook, MySpace, Wikis
Organizations continue to provide more traditional tools such as email, fax, phones and file sharing
What Techniques and Collaboration Tools
Should You Use In The Virtual Workplace?
Share Text, Not Files
Instead of emailing MS Office documents, consider simplifying and share only text in a central location
Writeboard - free service from BaseCamp
Wiki’s - Open Source software (like Wikipedia) Google Docs - free service for GMail Users
What Techniques and Collaboration Tools
Should You Use In The Virtual Workplace?
Minimize email/Use Project Collaboration Tools - work in a central virtual location
Basecamp - Subscription service - free available DotProject - Open Source - install on your server GoPlan - Subscription service - free available ActiveCollab - low cost - install on your server SharePoint - Collaboration from Microsoft
