Take Your Technology to Work Day, Part 1: Podcasting

Great article in the Personal Journal section of The Wall Street Journal today: The Boss Puts the iPod to Work (free access until 11/2/06).

Evidently, some managers have come to embrace the iPod as an enabling technology that goes beyond listening to music or watching TV episodes. Some business uses of the iPod include:

• Language classes for employees
• CEO announcements
• Sales seminars
• Audio and video training files
  

Siemens discovered that it could cut down on the $125,000 it spent on each sales seminar (there are typically 4 per year) by purchasing 100 iPods for its staff at a total cost of $30,000. And companies are discovering the joys of productivity, as employees can listen to company podcasts while commuting or doing other work.

It's encouraging to see that this "new" technology (well, not completely new - the iPod just turned 5) is being brought into the mainstream. As the market continues to mature, I'm sure we'll see other great examples of business uses of blogs and iPods, among others. Have you got any examples? Let me know.

Stay tuned for Part 2 in this series, where I'll talk about a unique new use of blogs that we're trying at my agency.