If you’re reading this blog, it’s probably because you’re heavily involved in the virtual space. The Internet is your home, and you feel at ease doing business on it every day. However, can we really go all virtual? Is it possible to completely abandon means of communication like snail mail and the telephone? Can programs like Skype and AOL Instant Messenger truly substitute older ways of communicating?
I’m reminded of the movie Up in the Air, where the process of laying off employees was moved entirely to a virtual space. Despite numerous struggles, the process largely worked in the end.
But I’d argue that there are four key areas in which the Internet cannot replace "meatspace" communications:
Networking. In my experience, it’s nearly impossible to replicate a face-to-face, first-time meeting online. When you’re introduced to someone in the virtual space, it’s often a “Hello” followed by immediate discussion of business. Nothing personal enters the conversation, and the players often just add each other to their buddy lists, where they become one of hundreds of entries.
In the “real world,” introductory meetings often involve discussion of families, interests, and work experience before anything business-related slips into the conversation. What results is a considerable degree of buy-in from the very beginning, which makes business even easier to discuss. When you meet someone in person, an extra dimension to your relationship is added. You don't get that in the virtual space.
Bargaining. Rather than bat emails back and forth aimlessly for days, the process of bargaining is greatly expedited in person. If you’re trying to buy a car, for example, it’s much easier to go to the dealership and have a conversation, rather than send an email to a sales associate. If you do the latter, the rep will answer it on his own time, send it back to you, and you’ll respond when you have a spare moment. The process could take days or even weeks. But when you drive your beat-up Chevy to a dealer to discuss a new Dodge, you'll get instant service, and the process of purchasing a car could take just 10 minutes.
Similarly, negotiating advertising deals is often simpler in person. Face-to-face communication isn’t necessarily easier in all industries, but I greatly prefer it where possible.
Client Retention. If your goal is to retain clients, then face-to-face interactions are important. From client appreciation events to providing customer service when business turns sour, face-to-face contact is critical to keeping clients.
I recently created a new account at a local bank and was asked several times to come by the branch. It didn’t matter that I could send everything I needed to set up my account through the mail; my account representative wanted to meet me. She kept stressing all of the “drinks” and “deposit slips” I could get in person. The odds of the bank retaining me as a client long-term are greater because of that personal effort to arrange a face-to-face meeting.
When client interactions go wrong online, sometimes an in-person meeting is just what the doctor ordered. Meet your suppliers in a foreign country when you feel like traveling. Find a local graphic designer and sit down together to sketch out ideas. Then, if anything goes wrong, it’s an easy, face-to-face, mano-a-mano fix.
Conversation. I can’t stress enough how important using that thing called the telephone is. Sure, you can sit behind your Macbook all day and fire off emails, but picking up the phone to talk to a client, customer, or co-worker gives you the opportunity to have a more personal interaction. Good old-fashioned talking, even when you can't see other person, can build and solidify your rapport with your contacts. It doesn't matter if it's nothing more than a five-minute call to chat about your weekend. Give it a shot.
What do you think? Can we really go virtual in every way? My personal and business experiences tell me no.
— Dan Cypra is an Internet gambling industry expert and writes for several of the leading poker news sites on the Web.
I've been online with places like the Well since the mid-1980s, and I have plenty of people with whom I've worked whom I've never met. We sometimes use phone, but AIM works just as well.
Of course, I met the guy I've been dating for three years online, and we're bicoastal and half the time our relationship is virtual, so I may be an outlier. :)
I basically agree with your post, however I think there are a lot of things that are done in person right now that can be done virtually. I've done some things virtually that might seem crazy or impossible to others. For example:
* Hiring everyone virtually and have not met most of my staff (45 staff in 9 different countries)
* Managing staff completely virtually, and I"m even developing my own software timedoctor.com to manage virtual workers, send me your feedback if you have time to check it out (free public beta)
* I even interviewed hundreds of potential property development business partners, never met them in person, then found another person (virutally who I never met) to go in person to meet the property partners and check them out, then started a business relationship with 5 people and started developing properties.
... however there is a limit to this, I did it out of necessity as I was travelling and in other parts of the world and have now met all my business partners and wouldn't want to do extensive business without meeting them. BUT the only purpose of meeting is to develop a relationship with them. I don't actually need to meet them at all for the mechanics of doing business
What can we do? I think it's a matter of getting used to the new ways... younger generations will have an easier way and maybe we'll have to wait for them to take over companies to get those social tools going.
In the mean time, when appropiate, showing people that the online meeting saves money. A good method might be to give rewards for every meeting that is held virtually.
I absolutely agree with you. Some jobs are not fungible. They are the jobs that require a more intimate presence than you get from telecommuting. Some other things that I would suggest you cannout virtualize;
Project Management - Go ahead and try it. Given that this is 90% about relationships and motivation I doubt you would suceed.
Security Auditing / Consulting - Yes you can hire someone to pentest you 10,000 miles away, but you need boots on the ground for physical audits and to help build a culture of security in an organization. Again, it's very relational.
These might change as the paradigm changes. Certainly Skype, iMeet and other technologies can help to bridge the gap, but there is a reason we that consultants call it hand-holding ;)
Great job bringing up cultural differences. It's actually far more complicated in the virtual world. I work with folks who don't do business on the Sabbath (Israel), juggle Costa Rican holidays, and juggle U.S. schedules. It can be extremely complicated and perhaps technology can improve that. However, the amount of time spent arranging schedules, meeting times, and projects can be extremely high in the virtual space given cultural diversity.
While I agree that you can obtain rock solid talent via programs like IM, your cohesion will likely be much lower if no one ever meets in person. It's kind of like farming out customer service to a call center - The work will get done, but relationships between the home office and a call/support center don't really exist.
David, I would venture to say that it is complementary to othe reforms of communications as well. There are things that are better depicted in text than could be communicated in conversation. Would you sign the car deal over the phone? Probably not, but you might do the contractual negotiations via email giving you time to review things in detail on your own agenda and not under the pressure of the showroom ( sales person's home court). I also think that the one off conversations about family and other things do happen once the relationship is formed and you see more of the interaction and relationship building in dispersed teams via IM. IM and presence allow people to work from anywhere, thus improving the talent available for projects. - Christopher
I agree that the things you identify as not being able to be replicated well in virtual wordl, but I' say 2 things: 1) Some people and some business do not do thosse same things well even person to person and 2) one might say the same thing about technology in general. The things you listed were basically human to human interactions. The issues is that we digital natives cannot imagine networkng (or any of the other 3) in virtual land... but people who have grown up 100% with technology all alround them form connections digitally much better and faster than we the immigrants do. What are the immigrants? People who have known the world before cell phones , email, and facebook. We cannot imagine business happening online as it does in person, but yet it does, can, and will more and more as the currrent generation graduates college and become leaders in business.
Mr Roques - very good question. "always" is a long time. Maybe we could ask "What could we do with today's technology that will help encourage acceptance of these new tech ways. Clearly telepresence has helped many (self included) and for some, the physicality of being in the same space is essential, and not optional.
What could we do to encourage a "stamp of acceptance"?
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