With the current economic problems, will organizations embrace the ideas of the virtual workforce?

“Historically, the cost of coordination has outweighed the benefits of agility, which is why the virtual corporation had a hard time breaking through. But today’s cloud technologies, with their ability to bridge the gaps between firms, and between businesses and consumers, are spawning a new generation of collaboration tools that slash the cost of coordination, unlocking a potential revolution in organization and management.

And thanks to the current economic crisis, the business world is ripe for revolution. The mantra of ‘too big to fail’ has been proven yet another meaningless buzzword by the fall of corporate giants like GM and Citigroup. ‘Small is the new big’ is taking its place, and this advice applies to both small businesses and major corporations.”

In his article, Chris:

– reviews the link between collaboration and business

– the rise of IS-based collaboration tools

– the Internet made collaboration personal (again)

– the new Web 2.0 and cloud computing tools make new things possible

– four ways that cloud computing enables businesses to do more with less, eg, get rid of servers, cut back on travel

(At the very end of the article, after seeing the product PBWiki mentioned in all of the case studies, you learn that Chris is the VP of Enterprise Marketing there. Nonetheless, there are some good ideas in here.)

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