How to manage communications effectively in virtual offices

With the advent of the century of entrepreneurship, there has been an ever growing demand for the latest and the most modern office management systems. In today’s multidimensional business environment, it is perfectly possible for a startup to hire employees at different locations and set up a virtual office to run the business as usual. This new trend is because of many good reasons; first of all, a startup cannot afford to have a fully functional office and secondly the scarcity of talent sometimes requires such businesses to find talent in some far located places and eventually they need reliable software and IT solutions to connect with their employees.

Managing teams might be tricky when your choice is virtual teams. Virtual offices

are not run in the same fashion as physical offices. However, all the latest

software and IT tools can replicate a real office environment, interaction,

guidance and thus the results. By applying common sense, latest IT solutions and

Managing teams

at least a few free tools like Skype, Google drive etc. you can easily manage

your mobile workforce. All you need is a strong work philosophy and total

integration of your workforce. All employees connected to each other with smart

IT solutions and webcams, can work just as amazingly as in a physical office.

Although, virtual teams have their own problems and there is a lot of gray area

between white and black, hypothetically speaking, it should not make any

difference whether you have a mobile workforce or you have all your employees

in a physical office, as long as the quality of work, communication and desired

results are just as expected. You should remember that no success can be

achieved without teamwork and team spirit, and although you work at avirtual

office, you may easily stir some team emotions and spirit among your working

force. Managing teams only becomes a headache when there is a lack of trust

between employees and the employer; we believe that with a reliable

infrastructure and result oriented business practices, trust can easily be

maintained between a boss and his virtual team.

An online business or virtual office can be run successfully using virtual tools and

solutions. One thing that should not be ignored about a business is the way

ofmanaging teams. A business is all about infrastructure, organization and

discipline. A mobile workforce can still be made subject to stern discipline, rules

and supervision.

For instance, John a rising entrepreneur in the niche of app development, has

made it obligatory for his far located employees to ping through Skype sharp at 9

AM to let John know that they are at work. He uses FreeConferenceCall to get in

Virtual teams and their problems

Handing mobile workforce with ease

touch with his virtual teams and a very well integrated system of video chat, IT

infrastructure, software and file transfer keeps him connected with his

employees.

Here is how a virtual team can be made as good as real team:

Making employees available at work hours, through phone or skype

Using smart entrepreneurial tools like Dropbox

Synchronizing all computers in order to ensure smooth, fast and safe

transfer of data

Smart use of cloud computing to connect distanced employees with

employer and each other

A virtual office is only limited by an entrepreneur’s own imagination. If your

imagination is rich and you have the curiosity to reshape a new business model,

you can go from free tools to highly paid IT solutions and handle your business

virtually.