4-Virtual Office Essentials

The economic downturn has send many designers looking for ways to save on business expenses. For many it has lead to a wonderful new discovery – the virtual office.

In this post we cover the things that can make a virtual office environment a successful one. One of our assumptions going into this post is that many virtual offices environments are the result of several home-based offices connected via phone and internet. So in many respects when we say virtual office we mean home-based offices.

First, to give credit where it is due, the virtual office idea was fist promoted by Jay Chiat of famed Ad agency Chait/Day (what is known today as TBWA/ChaitDay). Although this idea was first promoted as a “no one has his own office, but everyone is in the building” idea, it was revolutionary for it’s day and time.

Today things are a bit more simple. The internet and fast wireless connectivity have made going virtual easy. and there are actually established companies ditching their offices and going virtual. But are the things you need to watch out for, in order to go virtual without going a-wall, or crazy?

Communications

As in any office environment communication is key, and since you can not peak into you’re colleague’s office your communications machines should be the easiest and simplest to corporate.
Amongst the best communications tools around is Skype. The ability to chat or talk both in typing  and visually are essential to the collaborative effort. Of course you can use other tools like the ones offered by Google, and if you’re Email goes there, even better, but somehow Skype seems to have a better hold on that market, possibly because it was first in the market.

Another communication essential is the phone. It is essential to have a reliable cellular provider as well as some sort of LAN-type line even if it is VOIP based. It is also important to have these varying services talk to one another. Call forwarding and other such features are essential. A sub category of call forwarding has to do with having a local number in each of the countries you serve clients in. Americans residing in the US are notorious for not wanting to call numbers that are not familiar to them, so if you have clients in the US but you reside elsewhere it is important to give them the ability to “just call” a “regular” or “local” number. These issues are, of course, not as prominent in parts of Western Europe but not the less have to be addressed and planed for.

Finally and from a more technical stand point, it is important that your various communications devices have long battery life and great Bluetooth capabilities so you are not spending your days connecting cables.

Assets and File Management

In a regular office you share files with you co-workers over shared servers, and that is one of the pluses of having everyone in the same location. If you want to keep this same feeling of cooperation going you don’t have to turn your den into a server room at a great expense. Cloud based computing has arrived and it offers the ability to set up shared drives just lke you are used to somewhere on the cloud. One of this services is Dropbox which we have been using for a bit with great success. Dropbox offers you up to 2GB for free, the prices past that climb rather steeply but the easy set up is well worth it. Of course Dropbox is not the only vendor, there are many to choose from, but the point is to choose and use these services, which clients can access to drop you files as well.

While on the topic it’s worth mentioning that using FTP servers is also an option, but these do require a higher level of technical knowledge that not everyone is interested in having.

Which ever path you choose to go on, managing and storing your files effectively can be the difference between calm seas, and perfect storms, not to mention clients that walk away.

Time management

Time management in a virtual office can become and issue both form a billing and time tracking stand points. First, you want to make sure that you bill for all you billable time, but not for the time you load the dishware or unload the laundry machine. Time tracking software and widgets are a dime a dozen it is essential to pick the ones that do the best job for you, and if they can generate invoices on the fly, even better.

At the same time, all the peace and quiet you have in a stress/commute free environment might make your time fly without you feeling it, thus it is important to set alarms and various reminders in order not to miss calls or meeting. Smart Phones makers as well as cell phone makers have done a great job at integrating these devices into our lives, you just have to USE THEM.

The other, less mentioned issue with time management is the ever-present issue of work/life balance. Conceivably, because you don’t have to commute as much, you should have more time to do the things you want to do, but many designers fall into the pit of using that time to do even more work ( in the hope of being more productive). NEWS FLASH – that plan simply does not work!!

Ergonomics

Since many office spaces in the virtual office categories are based at home it is often true that they are not ergonomically sound. In order to keep productive it is essential to make sure that  the same rules that apply in the office will also apply in the virtual office.

oh, and one last thing, if you are about to start a video chat, make sure that you are “dressed for success” which is  code word for dressed at all.

Summery

To sum it all up, for those not used to virtual offices, the experience can be daunting at first, but after a while you might discover that with Facebook, Twitter, and alike much of your life is already virtual.