Being a workshifter is a constant quest for productivity. Do more with as little as possible - at least, that was one of the reasons I used to justify buying a tablet computer earlier this year.

As such, I've been putting my iPad 2 to the test. My goal was to figure out if tablets could really replace laptops, as I certainly want them to. Carrying my tablet is so much more convenient, not to mention the ease of taking it through airport screening.

However, I've discovered the key to being productive with my tablet is contingent upon the amount of planning I do. Using a tablet for a long trip or heavy-duty work does take some forethought, so for those of you out there trying to go tablet only, here are some tips to consider:

Internet Access

Get both 3G and Wi-Fi on your tablet so that you can access the Internet from anywhere. The internet is no longer a luxury; it's a necessity.

File Access

Nothing is more frustrating than not being able to access a document when you need it. Apps like GoToMyPC give you the peace of mind of knowing you can grab a file when necessary. It's like cloud storage but better, because all of your files are right where you're used to finding them on your PC. It also means no more fumbling around for a thumb drive.

Charging

I know, this sounds so fundamental, but managing battery life has become an essential skill for workshifters. When you're unsure of your next electrical outlet, make sure your equipment is fully charged, and to help conserve power, separate tasks by the most appropriate device. Don't attempt tablet-level jobs on your phone and vice versa.

Keyboard

Typing on a flat screen takes some getting used to, and I'm not sure I've completely perfected it. Short messages are no worries, but longer messages, well, are a little weird. If you're like me, then do what I did and get a cover for your tablet that has a built-in Bluetooth keyboard. It makes typing very convenient.

Tablet Covers

Speaking of convenient, having the ability to angle your tablet screen is very helpful. It's probably because we're used to having the screen angled on our laptops. Whether it's a smart cover or something else, having a cover to give that little angle makes a difference.

Apps

What discussion about tablets would be complete without mentioning apps? These days there's an app for everything. On one hand, that's a good thing for productivity. On the other, it means we have to resist the urge to download a bunch of apps we'll never use. Here's a post to help you manage your workshifting lifestyle.

Got any tips or resources to improve tablet productivity?

Photo Credit: C.C. Chapman

Since starting at Citrix 5 years ago, I've internalized the company motto: "Work with anyone from anywhere." Although we've been using this saying for a long time, mobile technology has only recently caught up. I can still picture an image we used to use for marketing that showed someone working on a beach with a laptop, and I always wondered how many people actually got Wi-Fi access on the beach.

Fast-forward to today when tablets and smart phones are so prevalent that many of us carry 2 to 3 devices (I currently carry 3: iPhone, iPad, IBM ThinkPad). How do we stay connected when we're so distributed now? Mobile collaboration, or the ability to connect and collaborate anywhere, will become even more important over the next few years. Distributed work is not new, but these powerful electronics are increasingly pressuring us to communicate and make decisions at a distance. How do we adjust?

We recently announced that anyone can attend a GoToMeeting session from an Android device or iPhone. The whole process of launching these products got me thinking about how the way we interact will change, a realization that really hit me when I attended a GoToMeeting session from the dog park a few weeks ago.

First, we have to challenge our assumptions. Our communications are very unstructured, thanks in large part to email. We bounce ideas, send messages and make calls, but we've forgotten how to set up an agenda and bring people together for a successful meeting. I recommend you look through a new book titled Read This Before Our Next Meeting by Al Pittampalli, published through Seth Godin's Domino Project, to learn more about how we've lost sight of efficient meetings. We need to get back in the habit of structuring collaboration around outcomes. Mobile work styles are great at creating flexibility for the employee, but not for agendas or results. We must define our interactions and what we want to get out of them.

A bigger theme we see with mobility is the idea of choice - you can choose where and what devices you want to work from. But choice must also extend to when you work. Some people assume the new mobile technologies mean employees can now work 24/7, but we must fight this assumption. Why do we like to be mobile? Because it gives us the freedom to control our lives. We can meet from a park, work on a business trip or share slides with someone in a different country.

Our challenge here is to set boundaries and stick to them. Use mobile collaboration tools to be more effective, to work from anywhere life takes you - but set a schedule of availability and abide by it.

Photo Credit: guiguis

Google+, the latest and greatest social network, hit the Interweb about 4 months ago in a limited field trial. A select group of, oh, 25 million people or so were invited to poke around and check things out. Last month, Google+ opened its doors to the public at large, so now you only need a free Google profile to get started.

But why join another social network, you ask? Well, that's not an easy question to answer, but the web is all about choice. Providing a new way to connect, share and collaborate might just be a good thing. With privacy and sharing features that differ from Facebook's and a posting format longer than Twitter's, Google+ is quickly becoming a contender in the social media market. I've been looking at G+ through the lens of a workshifter lately, and I'm finding all sorts of benefits for those of us who work in online offices.

Expand Your Network

I'm meeting all sorts of new people on G+. Whereas it can sometimes be challenging to follow the fast-moving Twitter timeline, G+ offers many neat filtering options that let me streamline the way I see folks - kind of like putting a magnifying glass on my social feed. By dragging and dropping people into Circles, I can surf by interest (adding people to lists on Twitter takes more steps than I'm willing to bother with). Most people on Google+ spend a lot of time sharing great content like links and videos, meaning there's an opportunity to get involved in some fun conversations. Google+ also allows long-form posts and displays comments pretty well, so it's easy to follow the real-time updates.

Search Socially

Since Google+ is owned by, well, Google, the search functionality is powerful (and even more powerful now that the site is public). For example, I can search for "fiction authors" and find posts where users are discussing writers, or I can search for people who actually are fiction authors themselves. Because Google profiles can be really detailed, they are extremely searchable. Think of what this means for connecting with others you're interested in and what it means for them being able to connect with you - powerful stuff. If you spend most of your time working alone, you are better able to reach out and network.

Organize Your Interactions

The Circles functionality is fantastic. You can create groups for any number of interests and organize your information streams any way you like. You can have a feed for close friends and another for book club buddies. Then, you can read and share information with just those people. Not everyone who follows me on G+ may be interested in my latest course development techniques or my veggie lasagna recipe. Google+ lets me have different conversations with different groups, which is great for connecting with people who share our particular hobbies or industry.

Hang Out

Want to meet up with friends but can't get everyone together in person? Dump them all into a circle and invite them to a Google Hangout, a multi-way video chat that holds up to 10 people. Google recently added some new "Extras" that allow you to name hangouts, create shared notes and sketchpads, integrate Google Docs and share screens. It's all nicely consolidated on one screen, too.

Photo Credit: Magnet 4 Marketing dot Net

Today we have a guest post from Roger Courville. Roger is the principal analyst and Global Training Guy at 1080 Group, LLC. Roger recently completed a study and checklist on video conferencing and shares his top 4 surprising insights from the study.

The possibility of being able to see the person you're talking with while on the phone is not new - it's literally been decades since the first commercial services have tried to deliver on that promise.

What is new, however, is multipoint video conferencing that is affordable, portable and well-integrated with systems and processes already in use (e.g., computers and web conferencing). But now that it's so widely available, we need the skills to use it effectively.

To better understand what's necessary for successful video conferencing, 1080 Group conducted a global survey of nearly 1,200 professionals that focused largely on the "how" (for example, "What are people doing right that we can mimic?" and "What are video conferencing users doing wrong that we can avoid?"). As a complement to the survey, here are a few thoughts on the "why" behind the results.

There's more to video conferencing than saving money

It's easy to posit: Video conferencing "saves costs of travel" for your organization. Out of eight different values, cutting travel expenses was ranked second.

The winner, interestingly, was that video conferencing "allows us to show something that is not easily shown from a computer screen."

The take-away message: Saving money is important, but productivity is our top concern.

Your mileage may vary

Curious about how survey respondents were experiencing value, we dug deeper. What we uncovered were statistically different opinions about where value is derived. For instance, Europeans were much more likely to appreciate being able to communicate more frequently than their global peers were. In some cases the differences varied by industry, such as financial services' inclination towards being green.

Message: The value of video conferencing depends on your own communication or organization needs.

Not everyone gets it

When we investigated what prevents organizations from using video conferencing, we discovered that the biggest challenges were largely people-based. "Inability or unwillingness to use new technology" and "entrenchment of the current way we do things" took the top two spots by a wide margin.

Perhaps of interest, "expense that is difficult to justify" came in dead last. For many this isn't a surprise, but it's an important reminder that the bottom line does not drive everyone in an organization.

Message: Capitalizing on new value-creating opportunities in your organization may have a cultural element.

Personal leadership is critical

Finally, a number of insights pointed to the experiential nature of meeting and collaborating virtually. Sadly, some people disparage the communication medium because they see someone else use it unsuccessfully. By analogy, this is like saying, "PowerPoint is bad," instead of, "Some people use PowerPoint poorly."

When we compared how video conferencing leaders (those who initiate and lead video conferences) say they perform against how attendees rate those leaders, we noticed some differences. The main gripe for attendees was that leaders "have distracting mannerisms or gestures."

Message: Turn your leaders into good examples for others to learn from.

The bottom line

The expected growth for video conferencing use is staggering - our survey respondents anticipate 211 percent in the next year. Interestingly, even those respondents who already categorize themselves as active video conference users expect 63 percent growth, a strong testament that they believe there's untapped potential.

The good news for all: While meeting and collaborating via video conferencing might be different, it's not hard. The question for many organizations may be "Are we going to lead, follow or get trampled on?" as this momentous shift occurs.

Photo Credit: Citrix Online

Have you ever tried to imagine what the future of technology will be like? Ignoring the perennial favorites (seriously, where's my flying car already?), nailing down those small-time changes that add up to a real culture shift is no easy feat. I recently got myself an HD webcam (to use in my GoToMeeting with HDFaces™ sessions), and it got me thinking about the future of workshifting tech. What's next? 3D? Holograms?

Turns out, 3D cams are already available, but you'll have to put up with those ever-popular goggles to see the full picture, losing any chance of being taken seriously in the process. So until we get holograms, we're stuck with good ol' HD, which I discovered in a recent meeting makes people look like bashful preteens when it comes to making good eye contact. I flick my eyes up to the lens, back down to the screen, back up, back down - and I wonder if I've been caught staring somewhere I shouldn't have (curse those off-camera distractions).

It made sense to me, then, that the next step for video conferencing is a technology that can further strengthen this visual human connection. But how? To answer that problem, I did what I always do when faced with a difficult question: I googled it. Here's what may be coming our way soon:

Potential video conferencing future # 1 - Periscopes

Have you ever used a periscope? Mirror magic lets you look somewhere and see something else. Now imagine having a mini-periscope covering your webcam and extending down to eclipse a portion of your screen. Sound weird? Well, apparently it solves the eye-contact problem. Despite its effectiveness, I'm having trouble picturing wide-spread adoption with this one, although the thought of periscopes popping up in cubicles like a sea of submarines does strike me as appealing.

Potential video conferencing future # 2 - Camera behind the screen

Take the webcam that sits on top and embed it into the middle of the screen. Then simply position the webcam video feed over the hidden camera and voilà - seamless eye contact! Seems like a simple concept, but as always, there are some pretty big complications. Light has to pierce through the Las Vegas glow of your screen to reach the camera lens. Apple's idea is to rapidly cycle the display between active and inactive, transparent and opaque, at such a rate that the camera can still get a good image while your eyes notice nothing.

Potential video conferencing future # 3 - LCD monitor-camera hybrid

Think outside the box with this one. Instead of having one central lens that collects visual information, try having thousands - as many sensors as there are pixels in your screen. That's Apple's other solution (surely another manufacturer must care about eye contact): weave in loads of light-sensitive receptors in-between the cells of an LCD screen and then combine the separate data feeds into one big picture. High-tech and futuristic, this solution is what I'd like to see. The image resolution would improve thanks to the larger "lens" - it'd be like looking through a window the size of your monitor.

Until the day when the people in my virtual meetings are projected as holograms onto my desk R2-D2 style ("Help me, Obi-wan Kenobi!"), I'll continue to eagerly make predictions about the future of workshifting tech. What do you think is coming next?

Photo Credit: Sean MacEntee

It's the most wonderful time of the year...back to school time! If you're a teacher like me, it's also the busiest time of year - lesson plans, building presentations,  making videos and rubrics, and anticipating all the new school year will hold. 

One of the things I love best about being a teacher in the 21st century is being able to leverage technology inside and outside the classroom to connect and collaborate. It's something I've had some great success with in the past couple of years, and I'm only continuing to build upon what I've learned. Currently I'm teaching classroom based, online and hybrid courses (the latter being a mix of online and classroom-based) at the post-secondary level. In addition, I am a partner in a successful new media consulting and production company, so I don't spend all day long in the classroom sitting at a desk. I must be mobile and I must be able to connect with my students when they need me.

The Right Tools for the Job

I have a laptop equipped with an Internet rocket stick, as well as an iPhone and an iPad. My students are encouraged to contact me outside of class time via email, Skype, Twitter, or Facebook - and they do. I promise them 24 hour turnaround on a response, and with about 70-100 students per term across all my courses, it's vital that I have access to these tools all the time so I don't end up with a backlog of questions. At any time I can link up a screen-sharing session on Skype to help a student with an issue. I can be notified on Twitter when someone has a question, or participate in a group chat with the class on Facebook.

I don't HAVE to be online and available 24/7, and I do shut it down. But as a teacher, I think being accessible to my students is vital. Often it's outside of class time when they will run into issues or have questions, and it's my job to be there to help. Using the right combination of hardware and software, I make my life easier by being able to connect and collaborate from wherever I am.

Connecting to Each Other

Not only do these tools enable students to connect with me, but they also facilitate connections with each other. For my classroom-based and hybrid courses, I always set up a closed Facebook group for each class at the start of each term. This is a space where students can connect with each other outside of class, via their computer, tablet or smartphone. They use the space to share relevant links and help each other out. Some teachers are reluctant to get on Facebook with their students. However, closed groups are a great way to collaborate with classes without having to be "friends" with students - so if that worries you, then set up a closed group. That way, you can connect on one level and your private photos remain private. Last term, my class Facebook group was so successful that my students asked me to turn it into an Alumni group after they graduated - and they are still connecting there!

I often have guest speakers into my classes; experts from industry who come in to share their perspective on the course subject matter. Sometimes, my guest speakers aren't in my city, and my college definitely doesn't have the budget to fly people in - not to mention the people I bring in are often on the road themselves, so may need to connect to my classroom from their hotel room in Norway. This is where online meeting tools come in handy. I can start a meeting with the guest and we can see and hear each other clearly - it's like she's right there with us! Students can ask questions, concepts can be explained on a virtual whiteboard or via screen sharing, and everyone has a great experience.

Ultimately, when it comes to mobile collaboration with students, it's not about the tools - it's about connecting and sharing and learning. But having the right items in your technology toolkit can make your life as both a teacher and a student more rewarding. Give it a try, and let me know how it goes!

Photo Credit: C.C. Chapman

While video conferencing technology isn't exactly considered "new" technology, it has long been considered a potentially revolutionary solution for healthcare.

Why? Not only does it mean that patients can receive real-time access to specialists in metropolitan hospitals regardless of their location, but it also dramatically improves the way that GPs and clinicians share information and train staff across multiple practices.

Not only have the latest developments, such as the availability of high-definition group video conferencing, meant that this technology is now far more accessible, affordable and compelling for healthcare organizations, but the Australian government's decision to provide doctors monetary incentives for videoconferencing is sure to drive uptake. Check out the full article that appeared in The Australian here.

The great thing about this initiative is that it's a mandate. Introduced in July of this year, the new plan supplies doctors with a $6,000 incentive payment the first time they introduce a patient to a city specialist through a videoconference - just a part of the government's $620 million telehealth program.

What does this mean for Australians? For those living in regional areas, it means greater access to healthcare, which is really important for such a geographically dispersed country as ours. Video conferencing technology gives clinicians and patients in rural and remote areas real-time access to the specialist advice normally only found at city hospitals, and patients no longer have to travel long distances to consult city-based medical specialists; instead, they can receive the same level of care from the comfort of their own home.

One of the areas where video technology will have the greatest impact is in the care of young children, who may find a hospital environment stressful. It will also be useful for doctors working in rural practices or nursing homes. These government incentives will help regional GPs afford the necessary equipment and train their staff to provide these video consultations.

While it's too early to evaluate the success of the program, given that some specialists still do not use computers, it's definitely a huge step in the right direction. With the availability of proven, easy-to-use technology, more healthcare organizations will adopt desktop video conferencing, making consultations far more beneficial and cost-effective while encouraging specialists to adopt electronic communications with GPs.

One customer that has already reaped the benefits of video conferencing is Medibank Health Solutions, a division of Australia's largest integrated provider of private health insurance and health solutions. The organization has been using Citrix GoToMeeting with HDFaces, a high-definition group video conferencing solution to connect disparate remote staff for better collaboration and training.

In this short video, Dave Buckmaster, the technology manager for Medibank, describes how they're trialing the technology with its clients to improve their services.

Watch this space as we see more healthcare organizations enjoy the benefits of video collaboration!

Are you a consultant who workshifts between your home office, the library resource center and the orthodontist waiting room? Afraid you might flub an important detail or miss a deadline because your day is consumed by work for 2 or more (distinctly different) clients? Then this article's for you.

Tips for managing concurrent client programs

1. Maintain separate writing tablets or Moleskines - Wherever it is you like to jot down meeting notes and to-do lists (many of us still prefer old-school paper), it helps to keep things for Client A separate from Client B. When you maintain separate hard copy "bibles," you prevent taking a bunch of notes about your financial management client in the middle of the notes reserved for your software start-up client.
   
   
2. Designate one color Post-it pad for each client - Lower your eyebrow, pal - colors are valid organizational criteria. I love little punches of color, even with mundane things like office supplies. Second, I like the way I can easily scan the frame of my monitor (my favorite stickum surface) for orange slips when I need a WordPress logon for Client A and for blue slips when I want the call-in numbers associated with Client B. As a visual learner, the color theme is processed more efficiently in my head than regular handwriting. 
   
   
3. Separate file folders in different colors - This might go without saying, but file folders can really help compartmentalize all the project trappings. I like to jot client phone numbers and email addresses on the outside of the folders - you never know when you might need to go Betamax because your system or cell phone is on the fritz!
   
   
4. Separate online calendars - I use Gmail calendars for personal appointments and, along with Tungle, for work-related meetings and due dates. While the central Gmail calendar keeps me in tune with each day's agenda, I use the "copy to [additional] calendar" function to single out appointments associated with individual clients. When needed, I can zip up an account of the time spent on calls or in meetings within each calendar as either backup to an invoice or as part of an assignment's progress report. There's no need to look things up and then manually create another document if a question arises. The calendar layout also helps add visual context to each client touchpoint (often triggering memories of billable time spent together).
   
   
5. Use the Pomodoro Technique to allocate time well - It's all too easy to let time slip away from you when engrossed in research for a project. Before you know it, it's 3:30 PM, and you still have tasks due for another client. Consider using the Pomodoro Technique to avoid sinking too much of your days' time into single tasks related to just one client.
   
   
6. Use Dropbox to centralize documents - Dropbox is a service I simply adore for its simplicity and ease of use. It allows me to work with clients and subcontractors to share files via the cloud for fast collaboration with version control. It's also a great way to deliver large finished projects without fussing over thumb drives or CDs.
   
   
7. Refer to your accounting software often - When you're running your own business, a couple of things can happen. You may enjoy the actual client work but despise the operations and administration side (avoidance is not a good management technique). Don't let your aversion to the "business" side of business keep you from looking at P&L statements. Quarterly tax payment mandatories aside, you should check things monthly to ensure that values are aligned: you're charging appropriately for your work , and remittance is being made in a timely fashion. If not, consider revisiting your terms and fee schedule for problematic or slow-to-pay clients. For me, Freshbooks makes this easy.

Working on concurrently running programs for separate clients demands your different skills and talents - bring variety to your day (possibly one of the very reasons you went out on your own, eh?). With deliberate organization and careful planning, workshifters can be their own boss, achieve their ideal work/family balance and deliver top-notch results to clients.

How do you manage your client workload?

Photo Credit: ideali

Two recent surveys by the Small Business Authority make for interesting reading. Perhaps not surprisingly, uncertainty about the U.S. economy has been identified as one of the top three challenges facing small businesses, fueled by ongoing concerns about the growing U.S. debt and deficit (46%) and over-regulation (35%). Economic uncertainty is once again seen as the greatest obstacle to hiring more employees (55%).

Contrast this with another finding which revealed that 71% of small business owners had never heard of cloud computing. It went on to show that of the 29% of those questioned who had heard of cloud computing, 74% could not describe just what cloud computing is. Not surprisingly, many small and mid-size businesses are apparently still struggling to understand its relevance to them.

How are these two situations related? Well, with business confidence wavering, shrewd executives should be looking for ways of running their operations more efficiently. Taking advantage of new cloud-based computing solutions might well prove to be highly beneficial, enabling organizations to free up capital, with more predictable associated operating costs, enabling organizations to just pay for what they use.

Cloud computing can be very simply viewed as on-demand computing services delivered by third parties over the Internet. Historically, in order to do tasks such as word processing, a business needed to buy a computer and license the relevant application that was installed on the device, often known as a server. The application was invoked through another computer (or client) and the user created the necessary files, which in turn were stored either on the client or on another computer on the office (local area) network. Backups of files, particularly data files, had to be made, so that if the computer storage failed, the user did not lose all their data - those precious digital letters, presentations, models and other documents upon which they, and their business, depended. All of this required upfront capital outlay - the business had to pay for these assets before they could use them - only to witness them depreciate over time. For larger businesses, it often became necessary to hire people with expertise in these systems just to fix things when they went wrong and to help keep everything running efficiently.

With cloud computing, organizations no longer have to own the servers, the storage, the networks and the applications that they once had to purchase in order to be able to undertake business. All that is now required is browser-based access to the Internet from any preferred device (desktop, laptop, smartphone, or tablet). A wide range of both free and subscription-based services are then immediately available on-demand to the user. No additional hardware or software needs to be purchased upfront, and the business essentially pays for the services it uses. Files can be stored locally or in the cloud on the service providers' computers where they are professionally managed. Furthermore, there is no need for the business to require dedicated IT support staff to help maintain these systems.

So all your stuff can now live in the cloud. Instead of having to go to work in your office, (whether it be a home, remote or official location), where most of your stuff still physically resides, you can now go to work in the cloud - your own office but now residing in the Internet. It's cheaper, arguably more secure, and typically accessible 24x7; best of all, it allows you to focus on your business and not on the technology needed to run it. Instead of owning computers on which to work, you simply have a device from which you can access your own personal cloud. All the stuff you need to digitally work or play is always at your disposal on your preferred devices, enabling you to do what you want, as you need. With your office in the cloud, you may not even need all that physical office space that was once so necessary and you can save on commuting related costs. So, welcome to your new office in the cloud - the place to be as the economic climate becomes increasingly stormy!

Photo Credit: dannykboyd

Whenever I'm part of a conversation about workshifting, the topic of communication comes up. Business leaders know being able to find the right communication systems is an imperative. Any workshifting solution must address the issue of effective business communications.

That's why I wanted to share with you a recent article I found on the use of video conferencing in the workplace. The article, from Human Capital Magazine based out of Australia, talks about the advances and advantages of using video conferencing for business. As an HR pro, I found the article particularly interesting since it was written from an HR perspective.

Conceptually, we know that using video can save travel time and expenses. And, we've seen how technology advances have improved video quality while making it extremely affordable. So it was fascinating and perplexing to see the data from Citrix research indicating a low adoption rate with Australians. For example, here are some highlight statistics:

• Only 26% of Australians use shared phone lines to work, compared to 49% of British workers
• Only 13% of Australians use video conferencing, with almost half insisting on organizing face-to-face meetings
• 83% of Australians prefer to meet in person to build trust

Another statistic I found particularly interesting was that 45% of Australians insist on face-to-face team meetings. Only one country meets more often - Americans (51%). The article goes on to ponder how culture may have an impact when it comes to the adoption of business systems.

There's been a lot of conversation, particularly over the past couple of years, that technology advances are requiring us to stretch our minds and our skillsets. Is it possible that technology will also ask us to move away from or adapt our cultural beliefs?

Incorporating video technology will require considerations not only in terms of systems implementation and financial cost analysis, but an examination of culture. Educating participants on the dynamics of video and how to interpret an employee's participation (i.e., body language, facial expressions and voice inflexion) will be keys to the success of using video communications.

Are you using video communication in your organization? How does it compare to in-person communications?

Photo Credit: Citrix Online