I heard a story about how there is a push to bring the “Hipster” crowd to Eau Claire Wisconsin, a family oriented, affordable, city of 150,000+ in Northern Wisconsin. My first response was that with current technology, people can choose to live wherever they want, so why not Eau Claire. Having this opportunity is not a new concept and in fact, people working remotely is very commonplace already.
However, what it brought to mind was that it’s not just your remote employees that you need to plan for these days. Today some portion of your business process may be outsourced and you need to plan for those workers as well. Where are those workers and how will they be included in the process? How does your technology support this new conglomeration?
Who is part of your organization and where they are located is blurring. Companies and their systems need to function efficiently and securely with traditional networked employees, remote employees and these third party participants. The dreams of some early technology proponents and visionaries to getting work done wherever you are is getting closer to reality.
Phone systems can reach someone on any device no matter what number was dialed. Messaging and email systems can include any user in the communication chain. ERP systems, which manage the accounting and production process, are now web based. It is much easier to make people feel like part of the team with Skype or GoToMeeting or other desktop sharing, video meeting systems.
And of course file cabinets are now online providing access to drawings, specs, reports and other documentation that is needed to perform tasks. And with web based workflow and digital signatures, virtually any business process, whether it involves internal users only or includes external users, can now be done via the web.
Processes that involve employees in the office, remote employees or remote third party users, can now be structured to be the optimal process, not the optimal process under the physical circumstances. You too can be a titan of industry – use technology to build your conglomeration.
Millennia Group provides web based document management and workflow solutions with integration capabilities to ERP systems. For more information, please visit www.mgdocs.com or contact us at info@mgdocs.com or (630) 279-0577 x122.
