Public Vote Redefines Today’s Remote Worker
Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE: PLT) today announced that “cloudworker” won the
nationwide Plantronics TeleWho? contest. The contest was created to coin
a new, more accurate and relevant term for professionals who work beyond
the office.
According to the winning submission, “a cloudworker is somebody who uses
on-demand technology and collaboration tools, such as unified
communications, to work anywhere and anytime, and uses the resulting
freedom to enable a my-size-fits-me career path and lifestyle. The
metaphor of the cloud extends well beyond cloud computing and software
as a service applications to include work environments, distributed
teams, and communication tools.”
Today, telecommuting means much more than it did in 1973 when the term
was born. It’s no longer just about replacing a daily office commute
with telecommunication links. Rather, it now involves working from
several locations in one day, including from home; communicating on
multiple devices and with multiple applications; integrating work and
personal life; and providing 24×7, “always on”, service to customers.
For the Plantronics TeleWho? Contest, a panel of telecommuting and
workplace experts – including analysts, media and bloggers – selected 10
finalists from a pool of approximately 500 submissions. These 10 were
selected based on their originality, relevance and lasting impact.
Public online voting took place over a two-week period, and nearly 2,200
votes were cast. Cloudworker won with 27.5% of the vote.
Venkatesh Rao, a blogger at www.ribbonfarm.com
and research scientist at a Fortune 500 company who divides his time
between Rochester, N.Y. and Washington, D.C., submitted the winning
term. For his creativity and ingenuity, he will be receiving
approximately $2,000 in communication and audio entertainment prizes.
“I’ve been blogging about and researching the future of work for a while
now, and personally living the cloudworker lifestyle for years, but I
didn’t think to put a name to it until I saw the Plantronics contest,”
said Rao. “It is amazing how changing a single word can completely
reframe how you think about a big subject. Once I started thinking in
terms of ‘cloudworker,’ so many ideas came flooding into my head that I
ended up starting a series of blog articles, which my readers really
seem to resonate with. I hope the word triggers an equally stimulating
shift in perspective for others.”
Honorable Mentions
The open submission process resulted in a wide variety of terms.
Although they didn’t make the final cut, the panel awarded the title of
“honorable mention” to a few of the most original entries.
The honor of Most Likely to Cause Confusion goes to “Porta-Pro”
submitted by Jillian Grant of Sunnyside, N.Y. Though most immediately
associate “porta” with another hyphenated word, the term submitted is an
abbreviation for portable professional.
Several submissions referred to one of the least mentioned benefits of
working from home, but quite likely one of the most appealing. Thus,
Most Tell-it-like-it-is Truthful goes to “Robe Warrior” submitted by
Faith Zack of Santa Cruz, Calif.
Cloudworking on the Rise
A survey conducted by TNS and released by Plantronics today reveals that
high travel costs are transforming how businesses and their employees
communicate and collaborate. In fact, 52% of survey respondents work
from home at least one day a week and almost half cite “saving money” as
the primary reason. Combined with the current economic climate,
businesses can also reduce real estate and operational costs by
encouraging employees to work outside of the traditional office
environment.
To see the full TeleWho contest results, please visit www.plantronics.com/telewho
To learn more about product solutions for cloudworkers, please check out
Plantronics’ Home Office Solutions at: http://www.plantronics.com/north_america/en_US/products/home
Altec Lansing, Clarity and Plantronics are trademarks or registered
trademarks of Plantronics, Inc.
