Because the WWW now contemporaneously places billions of pieces of potentially useful information at everyone's fingertips, the need for business people to "physically" be together in order to work no longer exists in many cases. A virtual team is a collection of individuals operating from many different places, all of whom are working to accomplish a common goal. Governments, universities, and businesses around the world are currently using virtual teams. Any business today that wishes to remain competitive tomorrow should be thinking about utilizing virtual teams. Why? The answer is simple. Virtual teams let you flexibly use the intellectual and skill resources of just about anyone, anywhere--while minimizing the need for costly travel, hosting and meeting expenses. And from a social and cultural perspective, virtual teams permit employees to more smoothly blend their work and family lives--since so much of what they need to do for "work" can now be done virtually anywhere. By the end of this series, you will be equipped with the skills necessary to create, manage and lead virtual teams in your organization.