June 30, 2008

AT&T Moves HQ to Dallas, TX

Last week, AT&T announced that they are going to move the corporate headquarters from San Antonio to Dallas, TX. This seems like it would be big news; a fortune 10 company moving to a new location. Can you imagine Ford moving his Green River plant to Oklahoma or Mr. Walton moving from Bentonville, AR.? Yet, the AT&T move barely made it to the AP. Why?

First, we don't really have "workplaces" anymore. They have been replaced by "workspaces". Does it really matter that the person you are calling on the phone is in the next cube, down the hall, or on the other side of the world? The clear answer is no. The majority of information worker activities are managed electronically with Office products, developed applications, and collaborative software. Distributed teams are the norm while centralized locations are become rare. Work can easily be disassembled and distributed around the world and then reassembled for the customer at the point of purchase.

The second observation is that time and space have been condensed by the advancement of technology. You use to have 20 years to develop products, now you may get 6 months. It now takes only a couple more hours to build a designer handbag as compared to building a car. Personal computers are customized on demand while you can order just about anything 24 hours a day at Amazon.com. We have reached the point where workforces are so distributed that moves like these have very little impact to the customer or employee.

The move itself will have one benefit. I would be remiss not to mention the bragging rights of moving to the beloved home of the Dallas Cowboys.

Posted by Todd at June 30, 2008 6:37 AM

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