Choosing the Right Technology for Your Virtual Team or Virtual Office [VIDEO]

A question I’m asked by many entrepreneurs, small business owners, and virtual team managers is  . . . “With all the technology available how do I know which tools are best for my virtual team or virtual office?” This is a common challenge and choosing the wrong tools (or too many tools) is a common pitfall of virtual teamwork.  It’s important to decide on a core set of tools to support remote collaboration and make sure everyone on your team knows how to use them.

But how do you choose? I have devised a workflow analysis we call the ICC Approach as it looks at your needs in 3 key areas – Information, Communication, and Collaboration.  In this short video I walk you through this analysis and help provide questions to guide your thinking when evaluating mobile work technology.

Give it a view and share your comments below to let me know your thoughts and experiences!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (18.9MB)

How to use Twitter for Business (The Official Twitter Guide)

Have you been hearing about Twitter just about everywhere you go?  The microblogging service has been getting a lot of press lately and as an entrepreneur or small business owner you might be asking yourself – “What is this social networking service all about and how can I use it to connect with others and increase my business?”

I jumped on the Twitter bandwagon a few months back and I am loving it.  I find it a great way to find and connect with like minded individuals. I’ve me some great entrepreneurs and others that are passionate about working from anywhere – digital nomads and others interested in workshifting and being location independent.

To be honest, when I first heard about Twitter I thought “What a waste of time . . . why do I want to know that someone has just taken the trash out or just had a delicious ice cream sundae?” But after some time I saw the light and started to understand how Twitter can be used for business networking and as a way to meet some wonderful people.

Twitter must have realized many people were asking the same questions I was because they just launched their Twitter 101 Guide for Business – which is a great overview of the business uses for Twitter.  It covers topics such as:

• What does Twitter do for businesses and how does it work
• Learning the lingo
• Best practices
• Case Studies
• Links to other resources

If you are an entrepreneur, small business owner, solo professional or freelancer – you need to know about Twitter! If you have been wondering what all the Twitter buzz is about and how you might use this service to grow your business I suggest you check out the Twitter for Business guide as well as these resources:

• Tweeting for Companies 101
• 50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business
• 10 Useful Twitter Presentations
• Tweeting for Your Business
• The Ultimate Video Guide to Twitter for Business
• Twitter Jumpstart Guide for Non-Profits

As you start to follow more people you will probably find that you need more than the Twitter website to keep up with the Twitter stream and manage your followers and friends.  I recommend two programs to do this – Tweetdeck or my favorite Seesmic Desktop.

If you join the Twitter community, and I hope you will, please follow me @philmontero and say hello.  I’d love to connect with you and find ways we can help each other grow our businesses and share common interests!

Easy Audio Blogging on the iPhone with AudioBoo

Listen above as my 2 year old son Spencer and I take AudioBoo for a spin on my Ipod Touch.

Posting audio to the web just got a whole lot easier thanks to a great service and iPhone app called AudioBoo.  AudioBoo allows iPhone and iPod Touch users to record and playback digital recordings up to 5 minutes long which can then be posted on the AudioBoo website where users have their own pages or channels similar to Twitter or YouTube.

I love to test out new technology (in fact I’m kind of addicted to it) so when I heard about AudioBoo I just had to give it a spin.  I have an iPod Touch – not an iPhone and despite it not having a built in mic I have an external add-on mic (more about that below) so I am able to use any of the recording apps for the iPhone.

I figured to make the test a bit more fun I would ask my 2 year old son Spencer to test it with me. He was having a ball with this and occasionally put the mic too close to his mouth so you will have to forgive some of the audio spikes.

He definitely follows in his Dads footsteps and seems to love technology as much as I do (he’s a born button pusher . . .). In fact he quickly mastered my iPod Touch almost instantly when I got it last Christmas.  He knows how to turn it on – swipe through the pages to find the games and programs he likes and play them all without any help from me.  And if you think that is crazy – you should see him wield a mouse on the Noggin website – lookout!

The iPod Touch is an amazing device and I will be writing (and shooting a lot of video) about it in the near future to let you know how it has replaced my laptop for many of my mobile work tasks – but back to AudioBoo.

Portable Audio Blogging Made Easy
It couldn’t be easier.  I setup a free account on their website and then downloaded the program (also free) to my iPod Touch.  One quick touch of the account button to plug in my account info and we were ready to record.  We plugged in the Phillips Mic – tapped the START button on the record screen and after a 3 second countdown we were recording.  When you are all done you hit the pause button and then the publish button.  It allows you to type in a short message, add a photo, and even post the location you are publishing from. Within minutes it uploaded our audio over our wifi connection and we were able to listen to it. Read more

Smartphones and Work Life Balance

A couple of days ago in the Making Flexibility Work group on LinkedIn a question was asked
about the positives and negatives of smartphones on work/life balance.

In my experience when it comes to smartphones and work/life balance I think a lot of the pros/cons are about how a person uses a tool such as this. Like any technology you have to know when to turn it off and setup personal guidelines for how to use it.

These communication guidelines should be clearly explained to others you work with as well. Sometimes people think because you have a smartphone that gives you almost instant access to email you should be replying to every message within minutes regardless of what time of day it is.

I am a proponent of “work/life integration” as I believe balance can be difficult to achieve at times – but tools such as smartphones and other new communication tools make it easier to integrate work into your life. So if that means you have to do a bit of work on your vacation – but instead you get to take vacations you couldn’t take before – in my opinion that is a win.

That being said I still think it’s important to block out dedicated time away from work where you can focus on family, friends, relaxation, and personal development without the distractions.

I often joke about our company website being YouCanWorkFromAnywhere.com NOT “You Should Work From Everywhere”. That’s how I weigh in on this issue. Please share your comments below as I am eager to see your thoughts on this topic.

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-06-27

• Happy Fathers Day to all the Dads out there! Wishing you all a wonderful and relaxing day. #
• My little boy Spencer woke me up this morning with a home made card, we made corn muffins for breakfast and will be playing and then BBQ … #
• Raising a glass to our fathers for teaching us through their actions and their words! #
• RT @safetelework: “Why do you care if he walks his dog” if performance objectives are being met, do the details matter? http://bit.ly/puZd3 #
• RT @ManagementTip: Take Responsibility for Your Own Professional Development http://bit.ly/Yx86C << Have you learned anything new lately? #
• Build team-manship, even with a virtual team – by featuring one teammate a week in your team call. (via @DaveChurchville) << Great advice! # Read more

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