The issues confronting the adoption of a virtual organization are many, but with the right culture, business systems, and technologies companies can really benefit from becoming more virtual.

We have all seen it - organizations adopt virtual working models and productivity falls. Management is unable to manage teams effectively and workers can't collaborate with colleagues. The result can be a drop in productivity and a lack of customer innovation. With careful consideration, companies can successfully adopt flexible working models to reduce the real-estate footprint and contribute to a more green economy.  On May 20th, I am joining a discussion at the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium along with some great Panelists:

• Dr. Irving Wladawsky-Berger, Chairman Emeritus IBM Academy of Technology and Visiting Professor of Engineering Systems, MIT;
• Ms. Lorie Buckingham, CIO Avaya
• Mr. Simon Crosby, CTO of the Virtualization and Management Division Citrix Systems
• Mr. Bilal Husain, Director of eServices Projects Saudi eGovernment Program, Saudi Arabia

Here is the abstract:

The Virtual Organization

Flexible, dynamic, and mobile, organizations are no longer constrained by traditional barriers of place and time. Business leaders are looking at virtual organizational structures to address critical resource, personnel and logistical issues.  This session will examine the ways that technology is helping business leaders implement optimal models to gain competitive advantage.

Considering the Opportunity:

There are real opportunities to virtual organizations and flexible working. Businesses can retain great employees who need a work-life balance, they can lower costs of real estate occupancy and related overhead, and they can better support a global workforce that needs remote collaborative working models. With changing demographics and an increasingly global workforce, virtualization is no longer an option, it is a critical need. However, we have all seen it - organizations adopt virtual working models like hoteling and see productivity fall. Often, management is unable to organize virtual teams effectively and workers can't collaborate and coordinate with colleagues. The result can be a drop in productivity and a lack of product and customer innovation.

At the same time, changing demographics and an increasingly global workforce suggest that succeeding in deploying a virtual organization model is no longer an option. For key segments of the workforce, global virtual working is the norm and must be delivered with the right technology and business systems.  Companies can successfully adopt flexible working models to reduce the real-estate footprint, retain great employees, increase employee satisfaction and productivity while contributing to a more green economy.

The value of a virtual organization is particularly strong for knowledge workers and those workforce segments that are working with global distributed teams and are on the road with clients and customers.  R&D teams and developers can benefit from follow-the-sun strategies for continuous development and delivery. Obviously, it is far more challenging for production workers or call center staff to work in a virtual organization.  Today's broadband networks, telephony and computing capabilities to offer a secure collaborative environment for virtual workers.  The results can be lower costs of occupancy, a happier workforce, and a green environment.

A wish list of the technology enablers for a virtual organization (please add to this list!):

Core Office

• I am not ready to give up traditional desktop office applications like MS Office PowerPoint and Word applications but I will also use emerging cloud models like Google Documents
• Advanced Calendaring and synchronization (MS Exchange for the enterprise,  Google Calendar is getting better, but it can still be difficult interacting outside our firewall)

Communications

• VOIP – I use Skype to communicate with a team in Portugal and Kiev… great!
• The perfect PDA - I use an iPhone, but enjoyed my blackberry before. Why can't iPhone work well with Exchange calendaring? It is a fun media toy, but not yet a powerful tool for virtual working
• eMail - 'nough said
• Electronic scheduling across networks – including people and resources of all types
• Synchronization of my calendar (e.g. Google Calendar Sync) and someday my contacts with LinkedIN? Plaxo?  (not really there yet)
• Presence and interoperable collaborative secure chat (Which chat service is everyone on? How do I connect?)

Collaboration

• Knowledge Management and Expertise Location - we have had this for a while, but collaborative systems and communities are improving and we can now begin to get access to valuable information - if tagged and stored in the right shared spaces!
• Videoconferencing ( I use a free service, but everyone needs to dial a toll number - not too bad)
• Virtual Whiteboards and collaborative workspaces (Everything from Google Docs to the Groove Application MS Live)
• Adobe Connect vs Webex  (these are getting better all the time, but can still be a bit awkward to use)

Broadband and Infrastructure

• I am always in search of speed and the coffee shops are still behind the times
• Secured Shared File Storage - We need trusted identity solutions that will help ensure authentication and protect our critical assets. What about those really big files?
• Auditing technology - how can we ensure remote workers are using their collaboration tools appropriately without being a big brother?
• Organizations need continuous operations and better service management using ITIL standards - this is particularly important for un-tethered workers engaging in critical business activities.

Share your thoughts on www.revenuearchitects.com I look forward to hearing your views.