Workspaces: On My Laptop

With home building operations all over southeastern Michigan, as well as in California and Florida, Bernie Glieberman, like most builders, is always on the move.

Even with the proliferation of high-tech gadgets, the Novi, Mich.-based, 43-year veteran of the business relies the most on his trusty laptop. More than merely a computer, he says, it’s his traveling office.

"I can’t do business without it," says Glieberman, president and CEO of Crosswinds Communities. "People say a computer is cold, but it’s warm. It has made business easier and faster, and it’s made business executives much more thoughtful because it’s so much easier to keep in touch."

1) On the road, high-speed hook-ups in hotels let Glieberman quickly access e-mail and the Internet. The biggest plus? Rather than attending a bunch of meetings, he gets e-mails of the minutes and action items and conference calls in when he’s needed. He can even view new ads on the Internet and send his yea or nay via e-mail.

2) Working in concert with his desktop computer, Palm Pilot, cell phone and old fashioned tape recorder for dictation, his laptop allows him to do work from anywhere and at anytime. Says Glieberman of all the connectivity it gives him, "It’s like a dream."

3) The portability of his laptop - which he just plugs into his desktop computer to share information - allows Glieberman to "do 10 times what I could do 20 years ago."