Having a company with low overhead, happy employees, increased productivity, satisfied customers and higher profits doesn’t have to be a dream if you’re willing to make a few adjustments.
Recent technological advances combined with environmental and economic factors have made this an ideal time to contemplate telecommuting or virtual office solutions.
You can continue to maintain a brick and mortar main office and allow your employees to telecommute or you can become completely virtual. Either will result in greatly reduced overhead costs.
Running a traditional brick and mortar business has always been a challenge and the current uncertainty surrounding our economy makes it even worse.
Our customers are strapped with high mortgages and less disposable income, forcing them to do more with less. Running around town for errands and shopping now requires careful consideration due to high fuel prices.
All of this affects our bottom line.
Your company can be more profitable with increased productivity and worker satisfaction – statistics show that your odds of hiring and retaining high quality employees will increase by offering telecommuting positions.
Affordable technology
In the past, working off-site was an expensive proposition, with phone and computer networking creating major barriers.
Phone systems were site-based and telecommuters had no way to tie in without great expense. With the advent of Voice Over Internet Protocol it is now easy and affordable to connect everyone within your organization, regardless of location. Call transfers between a worker in Hillsboro and one in Battle Ground are as seamless as two offices across a hallway.
When done properly, a VoIP system can improve your customer service capabilities.
Business software used to consist of legacy systems not set up for outside access. If you could afford a secure line to each of your workers, you had additional costs for Information Technology staff to load and monitor the computers. The machines required similar configuration so applications could be loaded on each machine and data would synchronize with the main office computer.
Computer software has come a long way and Software as a Service systems are gaining popularity. The business application is hosted on a server accessible on the Internet. There is no software to be loaded locally on each machine, which results in greatly reduced costs for hardware, maintenance and support.
The only requirement is a browser such as Firefox or Internet Explorer, and connected computers can run Windows, Mac or Linux operating systems. The only real requirement is a broadband connection, which most of us already have at home.
Big corporations and financial institutions use the Internet to run their companies and so can you. Business owners should be wary of putting their data on the Internet, but it is possible to secure the storage and transmission of the data. Take the time to understand your options and know your provider.
Adapting to a telecommuting or virtual environment will not be an easy thing to do, but it can be a positive change for you and your employees. You’ll probably miss the long commutes, traffic congestion, parking, high overhead and fuel prices, but eventually you’ll adjust.
Lori Griffiths is chief finance officer of Wild Web Works, which specializes in application design and programming. Call 360-882-9005 or visit www.wildwebworks.com for more information.
