Virtual Offices
Having a Look See at Meetsee.com
Published January 23rd, 2009 by Jennifer LeClaire
Meetsee.com. It’s got a catchy name, but is this virtual office any different than the scores of other virtual offices out on the market today? Indeed it is.
Halcyon Worlds launched Meetsee.com in November 2008. It’s yet another solution that seems prepared to leverage the down economy with low-cost alternatives to office space.
Meetsee.com claims to bring a “water-cooler effect” online with its “new virtual world” for business. That language got my attention (see what clever marketing will do) and I decided to check into it a little deeper.
As Halcyon describes it, Meetsee.com brings together elements of virtual worlds and productivity tools to address issues facing teleworkers and digital nomads. What are those issues?
As it turns out, it’s not all about technology. It’s about feeling connected despite the distance. While business communication and collaboration tools have progressed over the past few years, Halycon Worlds says they have yet to address the human side of the virtual workplace.
The Water Cooler Effect
The Meetsee virtual office solutions and meeting rooms aim to make collaboration fun and easy with “a user experience that mirrors real life and interactive tools that can be integrated with existing services.” Sounds like jargon to me. What does that mean? How does the user experience mirror real life?
This virtual office was designed with an understanding that people are inherently social and need direct contact with co-workers, direct reports, and managers. Well, co-workers can communicate, share files, collaborate on documents, and get to know each other in virtual offices and meeting rooms. The virtual offices are customizable and offer features like avatars. The idea is for co-workers to start building trust through common interests and connections.
Sound like a waste of time? Don’t we want employees to be more productive instead of hanging out at the virtual water cooler all day? Meetsee is offering a balance.
On the productivity side, for example, Meetsee’s features look to address common problems associated a distributed workforce. Every virtual room comes equipped with interactive tools like a filing cabinet that gives workers one place to go to look for the files they need. Co-workers can also view presence and metadata about each other. That means they can find exactly who they are looking for and know when and how to contact them.
Free and Clear
Want to know the best part? The Meetsee Virtual Office is free. Upgraded plans that provide additional functionality and user accounts are also available. While the product is still in beta testing, you can try out the upgraded plans for free as well.
I always like to know who’s behind a new offering. I mentioned Meetsee.com was rolled out by Halcyon Worlds. Halcyon Worlds is a privately funded company based in Atlanta, Georgia. Halcyon Worlds is dedicated to providing the industry’s most flexible and comprehensive interactive platform for isometric virtual worlds.
Related posts:
- Messaging, Collaboration and the Virtual Office If you are running a virtual office, then keeping the...
- xPert Office offers virtual collaboration tools It’s been said teamwork makes the dream work. Indeed, collaboration...
- Officescape Launches New Telework Solution Officescape is getting off to a busy start in 2009,...
- GoVirtual Launches Virtual Office in D.C. Metro GoVirtual. It’s yet another new virtual office upstart. When I...
- Managing Virtual Workers in Virtual Offices I read an article from Entrepreneur.com about virtual office management...
- IBM Launches LotusLive for Online Collaboration I didn’t cover IBM’s announcement today for my traditional technology...
- Software for your office From time to time, aBetterOffice will write about topics that...
- A Real Estate Franchise’s Spin on Virtual Offices I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. It...
About the Author
Maggie Correta January 26th, 2009 at 10:56 am
I like this idea. The ‘water cooler effect’ is something that is definitely inherently lacking in virtual office solutions. There is still a need to build trust and relationships — even if you never see or barely talk to your coworkers. With Meetsee’s virtual office being free, there’s no reason not to give it a go. Has anybody tried it?
Marcus Hester January 26th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
This is a unique take on the virtual office concept. It’s not unlike some of IBM’s products in terms of making things more social. But this is more affordable than an IBM collaboration solution. In fact, the beta is free. I haven’t tried it either, but it seems worthy of a run.
Melanie Jones January 26th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
Free is always good. But I wonder if you get what you pay for with this virtual office provider. The technology promises a lot. Then again, you could mimic a lot of this social interaction through other technologies like wikis, blogs, LinkedIn groups, etc.
Still, I like the way Halcyon is positioning this. They seem to “get it” when it comes to virtual workers, telecommuters, digital nomads, et. al.
Rob Zeus January 26th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
With so many virtual office companies coming online, eventually there has to be a shake out. I mean, the real estate side of the serviced office industry is growing but it’s a real estate play. The virtual office and virtual technologies space is a different market. There’s room here for one of these virtual office technology platforms to get snapped up by an executive office suite player as a competitive advantage. MeetSee could be a good candidate.
Bill Brookshire January 28th, 2009 at 6:10 am
It looks like Meetsee has brought together a lot of social media, presence and online storage functions in one virtual office solution.
What stood out to me is that every virtual room comes equipped with a virtual filing cabinet that gives workers one place to go to look for the files they need. That reminds me of Dropbox, which has really served me well in that regard.
Laughlin Associates Opens Alternative Office Space in Carson City, Nevada | aBetterOffice February 3rd, 2009 at 1:13 pm
[...] Unique Virtual Office Twist Laughlin has an interesting angle on the virtual office industry, though. The company’s long-time bread and butter is not renting office space but [...]