“Virtually There?”
presented by
Three’s Company
Werner Sauer
Graham Myers
Kyle Davis
Agenda
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Introduction
Introduction/Problems
How can virtual team help?
Who is participating on this project?
The new procedure
Vocabulary
Virtual Advantages
Virtual Disadvantages
Typical Implementations
Virtual Tools
Risks
Recommendations
Summary
Introduction
“Virtually There” by Alison Overholt
• Dr. Esserman (Stanford-trained surgeon and
MBA) advocate for the use of virtual teams in
medicine
• Envision how cancer patients will interact with
doctors
• Currently patient
• Have to sit and memorize treatment
instructions
• One 1 doctor
• Little options for treatment
Introduction/Problems
• Problems with current system
• Doctors recommend a treatment that they are
most familiar with, not necessarily what works
best for that patient’s condition
• Each procedure involves serious risks and tradeoffs that may affect the patient both physically
and emotionally
Which one is the best?
How can Virtual team help
Doctors/patient
• Real-time diagnosis, treatments
• Data from thousands of cases like their own.
• To be able to meet with more than one doctor.
• These doctors will be able to work on their case from the
other side of the hospital, or even from across the world.
• Some of the goal are:
• better informed patients
• Finding the right treatments for their medical conditions
• Cheaper to get a 2nd , 3rd opinions
Who is participating on this project?
• Colleagues at the University of California
San Francisco’s Carol Franc Buck Breast
Care Center
• Oracle, silicon valley database giant
• MAYA Viz (company developing the
software)
The New Procedure
1. Patient arrive
2. Handed a printout
• Diagnosis,
• Patient-specific data (size, spread, and date discovered
of the tumor, treating doctor, and others)
• Statistical information (number of similar cases,
survival rates)
• Set of treatment options (risks/benefits)
3. Patient can follow along as doctors explain
4. Patient can voice concerns
Vocabulary
• Virtual Teams
• Groups of people in an organization that uses technology
to collaborate
• Virtual Organizations
• A company that uses technology that allows members to
live from anywhere
• Virtual Tools
• Software and hardware that allow virtual collaboration
and knowledgebase access
Advantages
• Expand Knowledgebase
• Many members can contribute to an issue, and then the
answers can be stored for others to read
• Cuts travel times
• No more traffic jams
• Expands job market
• Recruit from anywhere
• Makes employees happy
• I can work in my underwear
• Time Zones
• “Follow the sun”
Disadvantages
• Lack of face-to-face interaction
• Can cause confusion of emphasis
• Time differences
• Team members may have to be awake and working at
awkward times
• Supervision of employees can be difficult
• Employees and team members are out of reach at all
times and their activities are hard to monitor
• Lack of team camaraderie
• Team building can be very hard when members don’t
have any social interaction
Typical Implementations
• Instant Messenger
• Online real time text talk
• E-mail
• Messages and file attachments sent to wait for recipient
to respond
• Microsoft Meeting
• Can use several tools created by Microsoft for
communications
• Lotus Notes
• Online database of files that can be accessed by members
of the team or organization
Virtual Tools
Innovative tools that help virtual teams
• PlaceWare's "Question Manager" feature
• Users can ask questions to a panel of experts
during the meeting without interrupting
everyone else
• WebEx's desktop control-sharing capability
• Allow someone other than the meeting host to take
control over desktop and annotate a document
Virtual Tools (Cont.)
• Centra's flexible configurations
• Allows users to customize views for meetings.
• Tandberg 1000 wireless videoconferencing unit
• First videoconferencing product capable of
running on a wireless LAN.
Risks
• Miscommunication between members
• Members may purposely withhold
information from each other
• Weak sense of loyalty to each other
• Members may not be comfortable with
technology used
Recommendations
• Supplement virtual meetings with faceto-face interactions
• Build a bond of trust between members
• Assign a moderator
• Give all members a chance to speak
• Establish policies and procedures on
how members should work together
• Proper etiquette when responding to e-mail,
phone, or videoconferencing
Summary
• How Virtual tools can help inform patients on
their medical conditions
• Advantages and Disadvantages
• Implementations
• Risks
• Recommendations for companies using Virtual
teams
Sources
• “Virtually There” Fast Company 56 (March 2002)
by Alison Overholt
• Managing and Using Information Systems – A
Strategic Approach by Keri E. Pearlson and Carol
S. Saunders
• http://www.fastcompany.com/online/56/virtual.html
• www.placeware.com
• www.webex.com
• www.centra.com
• www.tandberg.net
Questions?
Comments?