Virtual Office Environments and Going Green
As virtual environments become commonplace, companies are realizing that taking advantage of flex-time and work at home employees saves money. It also reduces a company's overall "carbon footprint". For lawyers with full travel schedules, multiple employees and computers everywhere you turn, virtualization may offer solutions to greening up your workplace and your pocketbook!
A segment of NetworkWorld Magazine's article "Going green, virtually speaking" is below. Follow the article link for the full text at their site.
One really great way for an organization to reduce its carbon footprint is to increase its use of virtual-workplace technologies: videoconferencing, Web conferencing, unified communications and collaboration, presence, and mobility. These technologies reduce or eliminate the need for physical proximity, so employees don't need to travel (and in particular, commute) as much. (Is it a coincidence that Cisco makes telepresence gear? You tell me. . . .)
It's often possible to reduce reimbursed travel and facilities costs by using virtual-workplace technologies. If, for instance, a company holds a telepresence meeting instead of a paid business trip (as the folks at Cisco increasingly do) the result is direct travel savings. And if virtual-workplace technology enables a company to house employees in less-expensive suburban locations rather than expensive downtown offices, the facilities savings can be considerable (it costs upwards of $20,000 per employee, per year to provide office space in major metropolitan areas — more than many companies' total per-employee IT budget).