Ever been in a long distance relationship? They're not easy...or at least they weren't when I was in college in the late 80's. Lack of communication made it tough. There was no IM, no Facebook, and no MySpace. There were no pocket-size cell phones and e-mail was a novelty. The tool of choice was the dorm room telephone and, with the genesis of 'unlimited night and weekend minutes' a decade away, you could amass a pretty decent monthly phone bill if you weren't careful.

It's different for folks in relationships today. They can wake up with a call via skype, send a few IMs around noon, see each other's updates on Facebook in the afternoon, and finish the day with an e-mail and a video chat. While the ability to be in near constant contact might help keep the flame alive in relationships, staccato like interaction can quickly morph a productive day in the office into an interrupt-driven funk.

Should teams be concerned about the growing prominence of virtual workplaces and digital (as opposed to in person) communication? Absolutely. Numerous studies have shown that workers are challenged with staying on course as they are inundated with interruptions stemming from e-mail, phone, and IM. However, rather than overreacting, as some have, by proclaiming certain days 'digital-free’, we should understand and embrace the merits of working virtually and tracking information in the cloud. While in person communication may be on the other end of the spectrum to digital chatter, it is far from being the holy grail of productive interaction.

How often have you attended a meeting where the organizer invited seven too many people and had the attitude of 'I can afford to not document things in advance of the meeting because we'll just hammer it out when we get together.' Been there, seen that a few too many times in my career.

Virtual workspaces can force meeting organizers to clearly present their thoughts and questions in written form...black on white...and doesn't give them the easy out of deferring the responsibility to the meeting attendees. The participants can selectively view, update, and propose next steps across time – not just at group checkpoints.

Like relationships, collaboration and teamwork of any kind require work to be effective. Our philosophy from the start has been to deliver a solution that doesn’t drive team leads to mandate ‘digital-free Fridays’. We wish to play a complimentary role in assisting teams to decrease the actual need for in person meetings while providing those involved with a clear sense of what is expected, who is responsible, and where things stand.