Who says, you need to spend a fortune to run your office like a Fortune 500 company? The latest trends in office set-ups tend to favour virtual offices that allow you work on the go. Use the Internet to source open-source software and promote your business. Outsource work that is not critical or location sensitive to make the most out of the global economy.
Virtual Virtues: With real-estate costs skyrocketing every year, a virtual office could be your simplest bet to get started. Using a prime local business address and a credible, risk-free base for corresponding with clients, Virtual Office Providers (VOP) such as Regus, ServeCorp offer you everything from hotdesking plans, communication facilities, secretarial and administrative support.
Mobile Advantage: With notebooks outnumbering desktop PC sales, make your work-force mobile by giving them laptops. With WiFi locations or hotspots cropping up everywhere and reliable network access in all major markets, providing a hotdesking space and arming your team with a business notebook and a data transfer plan (3G, GPRS or UMTS) you can free up valuable real estate space and make your business dirhams go further.
Software 2.0: Dubbed Software 2.0, the internet offers a web version of almost every software used in the office. From customer relationship management (Sugar CRM, Sales Force CRM), accounting systems (Fresh Books), collaboration and meeting tools (Webex, Gotomeeting.com) and communication (Project Gizmo, Skype, Meebo) to free databases (MySQL) and even operating systems (Linux), there’s a plethora of open source and web-based tools available on the net. Say good bye to expensive licenses, complex set-up processes, maintenance costs or having to lock up money in software and IT costs.
Outsource: Outsourcing non-critical tasks is no longer just a cost cutting exercise with negative connotations. Outsourcing today provides a competitive advantage. Whether you are looking for a data entry operator or a software developer (elance.com, rentacoder.com), secretarial services (alldaypa.com), content (contentsyndicate.com) or online service suppliers (Tejari.com, Alibaba.com, Globalsources.com) companies both large and small use outsourcing as a viable business tool. This helps them to stay focused on their core business, while the peripheral yet important services are managed cost effectively.
Virtual offices, free software and outsourcing may seem like the ideal solution only for start-ups and SMBs with a few employees but, corporate giants in the global economy are waking up to the the office of tomorrow; designed to save money, improve employee productivity, and reach out to prospective customers, partners & suppliers, the virtual office is looking attractive to a lot of big players.
The internet has a come long way from being a research project for nuclear scientists to being an invaluable tool in the world of business. From corporate blogs and search engines to cutting edge content management systems (CMS) the Internet could finally be the employee who works round the clock for you
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