THE WIRED EXECUTIVE MOVING INTO THE VIRTUAL OFFICE High tech helps a consultant keep company with his clients and save money for his employer by doing without permanent digs
By ALISON L. SPROUT Peter Firestone

(FORTUNE Magazine) – Peter Firestone, a senior manager in Ernst & Young's information technology consulting division, believes in getting close to his clients. So close, in fact, that he has no permanent office. Instead, he relies on clients such as Intel and Hewlett-Packard to provide him with a desk for the duration of each project. He stays linked to his employer by computer and voice mail. When Firestone, 34, does make it back to his company's San Francisco office, he picks up his belongings from a locker and checks into a cubicle. He told FORTUNE how this "hoteling" program saves the firm money and affects the way he does his job.

How does hoteling work? I'm usually with my clients four or five days a week. When I need to go into Ernst & Young to attend meetings or concentrate on getting new business, I call our "concierge," the hoteling administrator, and let him know when I'm coming and how long I'll be there. He checks his computer to see which offices are free, assigns me a space, puts my name on the door, and programs the phone for my extension. When I arrive, I get any papers I need from my locker and plug my notebook computer into the network, and I'm ready to start working.

What's the advantage? Our consultants and auditors spend 50% to 80% of their time outside the office, and it doesn't make sense for everyone to have his or her own permanent space. After testing hoteling in San Francisco for almost a year, we recently put about half our local staff in the program. We have one office for every three consultants, and we've reduced office space by about 25%. That saves a lot of rent. Ernst & Young has already started hoteling in Chicago and New York, and we expect to save about $40 million a year once the program is in place nationwide. It also makes it easier to increase or reduce our staff without having to worry about where people are going to sit.

What gear do you need to be this mobile? A companywide computer network and a nationwide voice-mail system are what really make hoteling possible. I carry a Compaq LTE Lite 4/33C notebook with a built-in Megahertz modem. The machine is loaded with Microsoft Office, a software bundle that includes Microsoft Word for word processing, Excel for spreadsheets, and PowerPoint for making presentations.

How do you use your firm's computer network? I never carry much paper. I can dial in from wherever I am via modem and access my E-mail or download sample reports or even software from other projects that might be useful. We keep a database of best practices that helps clients define their goals. Of course, I have to be really diligent about checking my voice mail to make sure I don't miss anything. Sometimes I get 15 messages in an hour.

What do your clients think of hoteling? They really like it because they appreciate that we're working to reduce costs, and this cuts what we charge as overhead. It makes them feel as though we're more likely to be working with them than sitting in our own offices, although we were really doing that already. Right now, for example, I have a desk at Hewlett-Packard's Santa Clara office. I sit near H-P employees who are working with me to develop a three-year information systems and technology plan. I have a picture of my wife and child there, and copies of all the files and reports I need. We're on-site because that's where the client wants us.

Are there any drawbacks? Well, I barely know some of the people at Ernst & Young because most of us aren't in the office much. But that's a function of this business, not the hoteling program. The camaraderie and the relationships we build are more on a project-by-project basis, and with the client. I do miss having a place that's mine to store things in or to come to when I work on the weekend. There have been a few times when I've ended up working in a conference room or a partner's office because it's too crowded, but that doesn't happen very often.

BOX: WHAT HE USES

-- COMPAQ LTE LITE 4/33C This 6.5-pound notebook has a powerful 33-megahertz 486SL processor and a 8.4- inch active-matrix color display, a good combination for delivering fast, vivid on-screen presentations. Recent street price, with a 209-megabyte hard drive: $4,399.

-- MICROSOFT OFFICE A software bundle that lets users do word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations, and link into an office network equipped with Microsoft Mail software. Includes Word, Excel, and PowerPoint programs. Recent promo price: $480.