"I like the idea of encouraging people in the office to, "work as if you're not here." The advantages will add up over time and not just for remote people: you'll have databases and logs of everything! Throw search engines on it, watch trends evolve and use it to be more productive!"
I've been working remotely since 2006. Probably 90% of the decisions I'm involved in happen over the phone, either one on one or in group conversations via Webex. So there are no logs.
I've only been doing it for a few years. Video chats still happen and phone-in meetings but a lot of things are captured somewhere: email, wikis, commit logs, trackers and the like.
Agreed, probably the biggest for us is IM logs actually.
Usefully searching and organising email is an open problem - there is probably considerable scope here for improvement and I'm sure enterprises would pay lots for some kind of meaningful email discussion trend mapping.
This is where the "async" bit comes in. Remoteness is a good excuse to work asynchronously, but people still have to think it's important to leave breadcrumbs.
I've been working remotely since 2006. Probably 90% of the decisions I'm involved in happen over the phone, either one on one or in group conversations via Webex. So there are no logs.