The Power of Mobility: How Your Business Can Compete and Win in the Next Technology Revolution

Chapter 2. Redefining Communications

This is a scary chapter. If you are old enough to remember what I am about to describe, you will probably nod your head as you read it and wonder at how much the world has changed. If you are too young to remember, you probably won’t believe a word of it. But it’s all true.

Redefining Business Communications

In one of my first jobs, to get to my desk, I had to walk past this open window in an interior wall. Sitting behind the window was a very friendly and helpful coworker. On a sign next to the window were the words “Word Processing.”

After walking past this window and arriving at my desk, I would scan my desk for messages, quickly flip through the inbox tray, and flip on my VT220 text terminal with amber letters on a black background.

This was not that long ago. I’m describing the mid-1980s.

When I think of business communications in that pre-PC era, there are three artifacts that come to mind. The overhead projector, the pink message pad, and the routing slip.

Real-time communications meant one of two things: a face-to-face meeting or a telephone call. A “multi-media presentation” in a meeting meant transparency sheets displayed on a pull-down screen using an overhead projector. The transparencies were mostly black words and were probably typed up from handwritten notes by the word processing department.

Telephone calls were definitely constrained by time and place. My telephone number was tied to the telephone sitting on my desk, but also rang at ...