Ohmni for Telecommuting: Reducing Barriers to Communication

When Namson and his wife decided to move from Southern California to Oregon for his wife’s new job, Namson was sure he’d have to find a new one, too. But to his surprise, Namson’s boss wanted him to continue working and was open to having Namson telecommute. When Namson suggested Ohmni, his boss became excited and shortly thereafter purchased Ohmni for Namson’s use.

“Having Ohmni for telecommuting changed everything about remote work. It made working remotely as seamless as being there in person.”

Namson’s Litigation Style: Proactive Procedure

Namson is a Senior Associate at Kushner Carlson, PC, which focuses on business and real estate litigation. He quickly became a favorite with the firm’s clients who rely upon him for his creative approach to complex problems, vast knowledge of civil procedure, and sound legal advice.

The key to Namson’s success is staying highly-informed about case developments and factoring in up-to-the-minute knowledge to formulate motion strategies. His approach would be impossible if he had to wait for someone to assign him a motion. In other words, if someone else thinks a certain motion is a good idea, it’s probably already too late.

Not satisfied with waiting for things to happen, Namson prefers to aggressively move the case along with creative motion strategies—utilizing motions others haven’t thought of, utilizing common motions in new ways, and utilizing strategic motions to advance the case on his client’s behalf. Namson likes his cases as tight as possible which requires comprehensive knowledge. He can’t achieve that if he has to rely on someone else to relay the facts.

“Picking up a phone to call someone is already too much work. Texting is better but walking by is even better. Keeping an open line is superior.”

Wide Open Communication

How does Namson use Ohmni for telecommuting? For about half the day, Namson logs into Ohmni and docks himself in an open area surrounded by attorney offices. This allows colleagues to seek him out and initiate a discussion with him.

The other half of the day Namson drives Ohmni around the office to listen in on every little snippet of conversation possible. Oftentimes, a little snippet might trigger an idea to bring a certain type of motion. He and his colleagues may then launch into a half our discussion via Ohmni about this new strategy, whether the motion will be successful given the procedural posture and the judge, whether the motion fits within the clients’ overall budgetary goals, etc. The discussion gives Namson the critical details necessary for him to develop appropriate strategies for his client’s case.

Ohmni Eliminates Communicative Inertia

A lot of this teamwork depends on Namson’s ability to maintain a constantly open line of communication. “People underestimate how much communicative inertia exists in an office setting. From a litigation perspective, usually by the time you have to escalate a matter to a video conference call, the situation is already problematic.”

If someone has to initiate a call with Namson, chances are something has become an emergency. “It’s better to not have to get on a call. If a colleague is able to walk by and say, ‘Hey, Namson, what about this?’ we can anticipate and address the issue before it goes too far.”

“There’s a big difference between asking a colleague to pick up the phone and simply rolling into their office with a question. The latter used to only be possible in person. Now, it’s also possible remotely.”

New Features, New Ways of Communicating

Namson loves Ohmni’s screen sharing feature. “When OhmniLabs added screen-sharing functionality, it changed the way we communicated. I no longer had to read out page and line numbers. I could show my coworkers exactly what I was talking about.” As Ohmni continues to evolve, so does the way we communicate.

Ready to explore Ohmni for telecommuting? Click here to learn more and download our guide titled Best Practices: Telepresence for Remote Teams.