Some company executives simply import new technology -- such as desktop computers, fax machines, voice mail -- into the office and let it sit there hoping that people will change their methods to the machines, the software, or the system.

Others see technology as an opportunity to transform the workplace. They are building the office of the future around the machines. The most interesting office concept I've found is described at the advertising agency TBWA Chiat/Day Internet site.

Over a year ago, surfers could have visited the site (www.chiatday.com) and taken a tour of the Venice, California office and had the philosophy behind the design explained.

I've recently checked out the site again, and unfortunately all of the information seems to have been taken off. If anybody finds the actual Web documents I'm talking about, please pass on the address. The Chiat/Day office complex is designed as a sort of pop-art sculpture, with a doorway in the shape of a huge binoculars standing upright.

While the outside is all fun, the inside is all business. But it's business of a different sort. Jay Chiat, one of the founders of the original agency which later merged with TBWA, decided the new metaphor for the office was of a college campus, where students move between classrooms.

"You can't make people work harder and smarter,'' Mr. Chiat states. "You can give them an environment that helps them to work harder and smarter.'' This means most workers are not tied to a desk, or even to a particular department. Instead the company's office concept is based on meeting rooms which circle around the binocular shape.

The meeting rooms contain most of what a team might need to do a presentation, or hash out a advertising campaign. The teams themselves are formed around a particular advertising account, ready built for a purpose.

It sounds pretty formless. What lashes the company together are computers and communications technology.

Staff check out computers and phones at the "company store'' and then meet their team at an assigned meeting room, fitted out with video equoipment, tack space and white board.

If they need privacy, the staff member can go into a private cubicle and lock the world out. Located strategically throughout the offices, near watercoolers, lunch rooms, are computers at which workers on the move can check their e-mail and return messages.

"We don't have geographical departments,'' Mr. Chiat said. "Instead, we cluster people who work on a set of accounts together. When an agency is organised by functions, there's empire-building and departmental loyalties. I think our way helps make people more responsive to the client, not the department head -- and that's the way it should be.'' Does it work? I don't know. However the advertising agency remains one of the most creative in the business. Along with its Absolut Vodka ads, the company's $2 billion worth of accounts include the Energizer battery (remember the bunny), Nissan and Sony.

The thinking that goes on behind the advertising agency can still be found at their Web site, where various employees expound intelligently on such subjects as the relationship between Greek mythology and the Internet.

While the Chiat Day approach might be more suited to a workplace which puts an emphasis on creativity, the concept of transformation is worth considering the next time you chuck a machine on someone's desk.

As described in a previous column, telephone calls on the Internet are fast becoming a real challenge to the traditional telephone company. The prices are right, up to 50 percent less than the cost of a regular telephone call.

For example Bermuda-registered RSL Communications Ltd. has launched Delta Three Inc., a service offering international calling from the US to Hong Kong (29 cents a minute), Israel (48 cents), Cali and Bogota, Colombia (45 cents); and Sao Paolo, Brazil (48 cents).

RSL owns a traditional telephone network and is using this in combination with the Internet method of packaging voice information into data packets and sending it through the system.

According to the Internet Industry Almanac (www.c-i-a.com) about 55 percent of Internet users reside in the US according to estimates for 1997. The next country in the ranking of 15 top countries by Internet use, was Japan, with about eight percent.

"However, the US share is dropping rapidly as other countries are adopting the Internet technolgy,'' the company states. "The US share was nearly 65 percent in 1994, over 80 percent in 1991, and is projected to dip to 40 percent by 2000.'' This is a common trend in the computer industry as the US normally is the pioneer in a new market segment. As the technolgy spreads, the US market share declines and usually drops to less than 30 percent when the technolgoy reaches the mature phase.

There are currently 11 countries with more than 1 million Internet users with nine more expected to surpass that mark during this year.

Tech Tattle is a weekly column which focuses on technological developments and computer industry issues. If you have any topics or a business you'd like to discuss please contact Ahmed at 295-5881, ext. 248, or 238-3854.