Answer: Telecommuting, i.e., working and doing business at a distance.

There are hundreds of thousands of people who do, can, and could work at a distance — and the impending doom/gloom scenario of the bird flu could be the push this way of working needs. It requires companies take a different view of work and collaboration but it can be done. Its proven and being done on a daily basis now. It will take some effort for current companies to jump on the bandwagon though not much because most companies have the infrastructure built in already. So the difficulty isn’t in implementing the technology, the issues will arise when people start working in virtual teams. What are the stratgies, tools, and techniques needed to be successful? I read a book several years ago that gives a great overview, Mastering Virtual Teams by Deborah L. Duarte and Nancy Tennant Snyder. Mastering Virtual Teams

Here are a few more links you might find useful –
Virtual Teams
Center for Coordination Science (MIT Sloan)
Center for Collaborative Organizations

And stay tuned for another site I’m developing called CollabConnect.com (yes, I know I have a lot of site ideas but this is one I’m interested in producing myself)