Procter & Gamble's chief information officer, Filippo Passerini, says, “The new technologies
“empower collaboration, so you really can be there without leaving here. They are saving money and
enabling us to collaborate and innovate faster, smarter, and more sustainably than ever before?“
Consulting firm BDO Seidman is pushing employees to meet virtually by using WebEx technology,
which lets co-workers across the globe scrawl on whiteboards and share documents. The company
is saving $1 million a year. “lt’s not just about travel reduction, it's also about increasing
communication," says the firm’s training and development director, MaryEm Musser. Workplace
researchers report that getting together with people more frequently in short bursts of time is more
productive than flying off to long, drawn-out confabs.