Skype's video featuring pop rockers Scarlet Grey seems somewhat fictitious when compared to the actual day-to-day of using Skype with its dropped calls and delays. The challenge is for the trio to play a single gig in LA, London and New York using Skype.
Creative license used in the video (read: audio editing) aside, the concept is actually what counts. Being able to work virtually with colleagues—whether that is agency work or a band gig—is a game changer. The next revolution is the office.
Office vs. Virtual Office
Some large corporations are encouraging their staff to work at home. Others (telecommunications giants included) insist that their employees work in office cubicles like generations have before them.
Whether companies want to acknowledge it or not, there is change afoot in work spaces and places. Brands are no longer spread by the mothership alone—they're spread by everyday people, including the people who work for these corporations. The idea of buying tablets so staff can social media engage with customers is still new, but not for long.
People Work Harder When They're Happy
It's true that people work harder when they're happier. The workforce is increasingly mobilizing in coffee shops, parks, flexible work spaces or working from home. Does this kind of lifestyle make people happier? Undoubtedly, yes! When all that is necessary is a smartphone, there's nothing stop people from living the lifestyle they want, while working at their dream job.
Work is Projects
For most people, work is a sequence of projects lined up. Working virtually can be more productive, because it emphasizes the very essence of what work is: projects. Removing the office eliminates water cooler chit chat and Facebook time, and working reverts efficiently and easily back to...work.
Of course there's something and necessary magical about face-to-face collaboration, but there's also something equally magical about collaborating in the cloud. When most people's jobs involve working and communicating online with one's colleagues, the need to sit side by side every day begins to pale.
Now that it's official that 1 in 5 relationships start online, there's no reason why other kinds of relationships can't thrive and flourish online also. After all, virtual workspaces are social media spaces.
Like Scarlet Grey demos, working virtually through a tool like Skype can give the same results as working face-to-face—it's only the method that's different. Now, the only thing that Skype needs to look out for is competitors like Meetings.io that offer an online video meeting solution without making participants sign up for an account.
Topics: Technology
