Mine is a WiFi world

Funny how we come to rely on things without realising, isn't it? Case in point - internet access.

Regular readers and subscribers will have noticed that the GBP Blog has been somewhat quiet in recent weeks; there is a very good reason for this. Well, several really. But most importantly is the fact that, due to an impressively disruptive combined-effort cock-up on the part of our phone line and broadband suppliers (let's not mention names, eh?), we have been without internet access for the best part of a month. I won't go into the messy details here, but if you see me around and really want to know, you might want to buy us a coffee because the story is a long one!

Getting back to the point, then... Without this service in the office, we have been lost and our productivity has dropped noticeably. Don't get me wrong - we've not been sat twiddling our thumbs, but not having internet (by default creating the need to venture forth from the office) has meant that our days have certainly been longer and more tiring. Clearly, we multi-task more than we know, conducting web-based activities whilst waiting for imaging processes to run their course - simply put, saving time and energy.

In this tech world, it is no stretch of the imagination to say that we cannot make do without the internet in our business - certainly, 95% of GBP's marketing endeavours are web based, for example the website, YouTube , Twitter and LinkedIn.

So when we get no connection, this spells potential disaster... or, rather it would do, were it not for the WiFi service available in many hotels, restaurants and cafés. If you have received any communications from us in recent weeks, including our newsletter, then these will have reached you thanks to this technology. The above picture shows my all-too-familiar coffee house 'workstation' set-up - an Asus Eee PC, BlackBerry and a nice cup of tea (well, you have to make the most of what's on offer!).

But this inconvenient need to use other people's facilities rather than our own is not all bad. There is an expression, something along the lines of 'out of necessity comes... something-or-other...' (answers on a post card please), which alludes to the fact that a change of circumstances generates fresh ideas, insights and positive developments. I have certainly found this to be true and as a result of my 'location office', I am now seriously considering making regular use of my net book (the Asus), a mobile broadband dongle and online cloud facilities to control such things as email, calendar and general marketing activities.

It's all food for thought.