FMYI | For My Innovation

I’ve been working remotely for FMYI over the past six years. With team members in Portland, Seattle, Austin, New Orleans and Orlando, it can be challenging to stay on the same page. I’ve used GoToMeeting for screen-sharing with clients and when they released their new video conferencing solution for a team meeting, I was eager to give it a shot.

We’ve experimented with so many providers: Skype, Google+, iChat, iMeet, and others. Each lacked in some significant area for team meetings – dropped connections, out of sync audio/video, echo without headset, and not enough spots to include everyone. Cost was also a factor that ruled out some providers. So when GotoMeeting video suddenly gave us our best video conference experience ever, I was ready to shout it from the mountaintops!

GoToMeeting allows six people on video at once, plus the ability to simultaneously share a computer screen (including sharing a presentation). The quality was impeccable – the images were large and there were no technical issues. We’ve learned to set five minutes aside at the start of team meeting to address any challenges of getting connected to so many locations, but usually we’re up and running quickly, giving more time to bond with fun personal interactions. (Continued below the jump)

So what’s missing from GoToMeeting?  Most remote workers in our company work from home (I used to until I moved into a small office). We can’t have face to face time too often, but we do need to interact in small conversations frequently – picking up the phone or setting up a meeting each time can be overkill so we use instant messaging for the quick one-on-one conversations.

The other big aspect missing from GoToMeeting is to fill in all the gaps between meetings. It’s important for a team split across multiple time zones to stay organized, efficient, and secure – for that we use our own collaboration tool, FMYI. It’s our shared drive, intranet, contact tracking/CRM system, project manager, resource library, shared calendar, task manager, and social tool all-in-one. Security for a decentralized workforce also requires a remote hub for documents and notes, leaving minimal data on computers. For under $50 a month (try it free for a month, or use our free version forever), FMYI can help a team operate like a well-oiled machine, regardless of location. We’ve honed our service thanks to feedback from our clients at small, medium and large Fortune 500 companies.

So there you have it – GoToMeeting for immediate face-to-face interactions and screen sharing, instant messenger for small talk, and FMYI to manage the asynchronous aspects of communication and organization. Now you’re productive wherever your team is!

Take care,
-Seth

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