If people can't collaborate virtually, then training needs to happen. I have been in many different roles at Wells Fargo. I can't think of a single one that would have had a better outcome if people were together in person versus communicating through Skype. I remember in a certain role, they had a mandatory in-person session. We hated it. The person speaking had no respect for our time, and was more interested in promoting herself. Sessions went from 8am-5:30. There was less than an hour back at the hotel, before needing to head back out to meet everyone for dinner. That is not an experience I care to repeat.
When I worked a job that required me to be in office, and required me to hit a pause button on a timer every time I got up from desk, there were the workers, and there were the people who cared more about gossip and chatting with each other. There wasn't a lot of effective collaboration with that one either.
Let's see. Then there was the job where I worked with other people in the office, and meetings were on the phone. If someone had a question, it would mostly be asked through Skype.
Hmm, there must be something. Well, I do remember a job where we had regular team meetings. Those kind of remind me of town halls. There wasn't a lot of collaboration there. Then there were the daily team huddles. I never walked away from those feeling like they were a good use of my time.