efficiency and ernold same
We think that commuting should be minimised. It cannot always be avoided, but with the phenomenal reduction in communication costs, increases in broadband speed and ways to interact, the world is shrinking. Commuting places undue levels of stress on people (you start to feel like Ernold Same in the Blur song, "...same train at the same station, Sat in the same seat with the same nasty stain next to same old what's his name, On his way to the same place to do the same thing again and again and again")

It also places stress on the transport infrastructure, and is a significant percentage of an individual’s carbon footprint. We work from a fully equiped home office, and we are proud of it. This means:

• We keep our overheads low
• We pass on these savings in the form of lower costs to our clients
• We tend to be more responsive
• You don’t need to worry about how close we are to you geographically, as we are experts in distance working
• We maintain an incredibly low carbon footprint

So how does this virtual office work in practice? Some clients are worried about communication and project management. These are understandable concerns and we have worked hard to ensure our internal communication is better than many traditional offices. We use Skype, which allows fully interactive meetings with clients directly with no costs. Using a webcam, virtual face to face meetings can take place instantly (a robust webcam can be purchased for less than a single train ticket from Leicester to London these days). More recently we are experimenting with Adobe ConnectNow. Where the product is destined to be available online (e.g. websites) then they are developed in an online ‘sandpit’ zone, which means that the client can access and view latest developments at any time of day. Project documents, such as project plans, reports and so on, can be placed in a secure online area and accessed at all time.

by-products
In fact, one of the by-products of our work is that we have had many clients thank us for introducing them to new communication methods, helping them to reduce their costs and hopefully their carbon footprint. Everyone stands to win.

face to face meetings
However, since a lot of our clients are London based, Steve is regularly in London and recognises that face to face meetings and traditional forms of communication are still an important part of any project.

travelling without moving
In the future, we feel that "Traveling without moving" will become an economic and environmental imperative. Matter is more expensive than energy; energy is more expensive than information; it is cheaper to move information than people or things. Worth thinking about if you want to stay ahead of the competition, save costs and do your bit to for the environment!