When virtual presence is better than physical presence

Parallel to the growth in co-working and hotdesking is the explosive growth in the adoption of presence technologies - both high end video conferencing (tele-presence) and immersive 3D worlds (virtual -presence). Of course the two trends have closely bound synergies as the latter helps facilitate the former.

Now the Financial Times has an interesting take on how these technologies are being put to work by the multinationals -

When Cisco Systems held its annual summit this month for its top 3,100 executives, no one hopped on a plane to the group’s San Jose headquarters. Instead, staff in China, India and the UK gathered in front of high-definition screens in conference rooms and communicated via instant messaging.

As expected, the US maker of communications equipment saved millions of dollars that had been racked up on previous retreats. But more surprisingly, Cisco found that interaction improved.

Other collaborative techniques are being taken up by big companies. IBM last year held meetings for hundreds of employees using the Second Life virtual world.

Very interesting. But here’s the bit I found most fascinating of all -

[Cisco's] average US employee telecommutes 2.3 of every 5 days, and some appear to be in many places at once. A single virtual receptionist, for example, appears on giant screens in seven different building lobbies, printing visitor badges and offering directions.

Wow, one receptionist doing the job of seven. Does that mean hot-desking is a nicer way of referring to sweaty-desking? Seriously though, this is definitely something worth noting down, that a (remote) virtual receptionist can actually be more productive than a physically present one.