Intridea, Inc. employs 20 individuals but has no office. We work from our homes in Washington, D.C., Atlanta, San Francisco, Maine, Michigan, and more. Despite our distance, as a company we are able to move and communicate quickly between each other due in a large part to the suite of online collaboration and Software-as-a-Service communications tools we use. Each tool serves a specific purpose but more importantly fits into a larger fabric of interconnectivity that allows us to have all of the needed information at our fingertips.

E-Mail

Of course the most basic form of communication is via e-mail. We use Google Apps for the domain to give us fast, reliable access to company e-mail from any computer on the planet as well as one of the most efficient and usable web mail clients around. While some group communication takes place through e-mail, it is mostly just the starting point for conversation, not the main hub.

Instant Messaging

Instant messaging serves as a storable one-to-one communication for quick conversations. For the most part we prefer IM to calls because of the record-keeping ability and the ability to recall prior conversations with 100% accuracy. Additionally, IM tends to be less attention-requiring than phone calls, freeing people up to have multiple conversations simultaneously or while remaining productive on another task.

Phone calls are still necessary for outside-the-company communication such as with clients, customers and other outside contacts, but internally instant messaging is the preferred way to get in touch with one other co-worker.

Group Chat

Group chat applications such as Campfire or even IRC allow for real-time conversations to take place between people in many locations. Similar to instant messaging, these are useful due to their recall capabilities as well as rich media sharing such as links and file attachments.

Group chat is mainly used among members of a given project’s team in order to keep them in touch with each other in a real-time way. We still have occasional conference calls to discuss projects, but most conversation again happens online.

Twitter for Business

We are the developers and avid proponents of Present.ly, an asynchronous micro-communications platform similar to Twitter but aimed squarely at business use. This has revolutionized our connectivity amongst each other for a number of reasons:

1. With both web and mobile availability, it can be used even when travelling or away from a computer. It provides a level of awareness that far exceeds our previous capabilities.
2. It allows employees to find answers to problems they encounter with incredible speed. The average turnaround time for a question sent out via e-mail was probably around half an hour to an hour. With Present.ly, most questions have answers within 30 seconds to a minute.
3. It’s dead simple to drop a document, image, or other attachment to the company or to a specific group using the attachments and groups functionality.
4. It has completely eliminated the need for “status” meetings by providing a constant stream of updates so that employees already know what their colleagues are doing without requiring “reports.”

Twitter for Business really was the missing piece in our communications network. Since we began utilizing Present.ly the general awareness in the company has increased drastically without requiring any additional time spent communicating. We expect this to remain the case for the foreseeable future.

Cloud Services

We utilize services such as Google Docs for document storing and sharing because of the simple and collaborative features offered by such platforms. This allows many people to work together to form a document without needing to physically sit down with each other.

The key to keeping in touch with digital nomads in the workforce is simply to properly leverage the right tools for the job in a way that is understood by all participants. It takes some time to work out the right system for your company, but it is entirely possible to keep a nomadic work force in touch, aware, and in good communication at all times.