stays in touch via Webcam, e-mail
Just because Angela Dudek is not physically at Byte Studios located at 338 N. Milwaukee St. in Milwaukee’s Third Ward doesn’t mean she isn’t a constant presence there.
From her corner desk on the 10th floor of Byte Studios’ new office in Manhattan, Dudek is beamed via Webcam at one frame per two seconds through a DSL line, and her image reconstructed in a two-inch-square presentation on her co-workers’ computer screens here in Milwaukee.
In the telecom age of business, she is living proof that you can, in fact, be in two places at the same time, as long as you have the proper links.
"I’ve gotten to the point where it’s almost the same as working in Milwaukee," says Dudek. "As long as you are doing your best work in your field, you can pretty much work anywhere."
Dudek, Bytes’ director of technology and a Milwaukee native, started working in the Web and multi-media development company’s Milwaukee-based headquarters in February of last year, and made the move to New York when Byte Studios branched out from its main office in September. Since then, both Dudek and Michael Diedrick, president of the company, have been learning that the distance between the two offices is easily spanned through constant contact.
In addition to e-mail and Webcam, Dudek connects with Diedrick several times per hour through traditional phone lines.
Milwaukee and New York projects are thus completed collaboratively from the two locations; conversations between them are a mix of "how are you" banter and long-distance problem-solving.
"We are on the phone a lot and using e-mail all the time," explains Dudek. "If I am working on something and I need to see what they are doing in Milwaukee, I’ll have them send me the file and I’ll send them the design. If they are doing graphic design, I need to see what it looks like. I’d say it’s a pretty standard way of doing business except that I’m halfway across the country."
Using FTP (File Transfer Protocol) software to send her own files as well as work on files located on the company’s own server housed in its Milwaukee office, Dudek admits that her telecom work does have its share of frustrations. "It’s slower than actually working off the servers in Milwaukee; and it’s kind of a pain sometimes," she says. "DSL is slower than T-1. And there’s not as many people around – a situation which I don’t like as much."
For his part, Diedrick, who founded Byte Studios four years ago, also confesses that while things generally run fairly smoothly, glitches can and sometimes do happen in the system.
"It’s really easy at this point but, honestly, it took a while to make sure our equipment did what it was supposed to do," notes Diedrick. "We had a weekend where I was in New York and our DSL went down. Somebody cut the wire. And so there we were, just talking on the phone saying, ‘I can’t see anything, but I’m sure it’s there!’ It’s when the connection between two places goes down, that’s where things fall apart."
Although most of the company’s clients are in Milwaukee, including the Polachek Co. and Lakefront Brewery, Diedrick describes his recent expansion into New York as an attempt to reach the world market. With a vastly different business community in Manhattan, though, the company is still making the adjustment to its new environment, and Diedrick describes things as having been a little slow getting started. However, when he discusses the prospects for his New York branch, Diedrick is undaunted and excited by the opportunities.
Diedrick owns a house in Wisconsin and has an apartment in New York. He’s able to monitor schedules and check on the billable hours to his clients through the use of an intranet.
