For the naysayers who are still out there saying you have to work face to face with your co-workers and team members to be productive I ask this…. Have you ever worked on a remote or virtual team project and was it successful? Was it unsuccessful? If so, why? Have you ever even tried it?
By now many do actually consider it archaic and old school to completely ignore the benefits of employing remote individuals in your organization. And when your organization’s plan is to lead projects and support a global customer base, then utilizing the potentials and positives of a mostly remote work force may just make it that much easier to actively support these kinds of clients. It may actually make it easier to win over these types of clients. Here are a few reasons why remote employees, remote teams, and remote project management can work in your organization’s favor when faced with clients all across the country and around the world…
You can…
Have the best resources. If you don’t care where your employees or project team members are because your delivery model supports remote management and virtual teams, then you can always go out and acquire the best resources regardless of where they are living and let them work from home with no need to relocate. Win-win.
Use mobile devices. You can take full advantage of laptops, notebooks, tablets, iPads, smartphones – every convenient device - and allow your remote and mobile workforce to use them at their home offices or in the field, when necessary. And it’s up to you whether you issues new mobile devices to these individuals or allow them to use their own…more and more IT shops are finding ways to safely allow workers to connect to the company’s network with their own personal devices.
Utilize the best cloud-based software. Cloud-based software for full team collaboration makes remote project management, remote management of a workforce, and the allowance for virtual teams a no-brainer reality. Mobile apps abound for some of the best software options for team collaboration and business applications to do just about anything anyone would need to do in the business and project management world.
React quickly. Finally, a remote workforce allows you to react quickly. Likely, you’ll have someone close to a customer site that could be there in an hour or two flight time. As long as you make all of your customers comfortable with the remote work force, then it’s a major win for you and a very affordable way to do business.
Summary
The bottom line is this…I’m in favor of it. I do it, it works, and I always figured it would. It isn’t for everyone. Some customers need the face to face…from time to time. But rarely do any of them need it 24/7. Likewise, the conversations at the water cooler that everyone touts as being so productive are usually about last night’s sitcom…not about what issues are on the team’s plate today. I look back at so many times prior to going remote where I could have been far more productive in a remote setting. I had an office…and that means I had a place for anyone to come in and sit down and chat about anything. Sometimes it was productive. Sometimes it sucked all the productivity right out of the day.
By now many do actually consider it archaic and old school to completely ignore the benefits of employing remote individuals in your organization. And when your organization’s plan is to lead projects and support a global customer base, then utilizing the potentials and positives of a mostly remote work force may just make it that much easier to actively support these kinds of clients. It may actually make it easier to win over these types of clients. Here are a few reasons why remote employees, remote teams, and remote project management can work in your organization’s favor when faced with clients all across the country and around the world…
You can…
Have the best resources. If you don’t care where your employees or project team members are because your delivery model supports remote management and virtual teams, then you can always go out and acquire the best resources regardless of where they are living and let them work from home with no need to relocate. Win-win.
Use mobile devices. You can take full advantage of laptops, notebooks, tablets, iPads, smartphones – every convenient device - and allow your remote and mobile workforce to use them at their home offices or in the field, when necessary. And it’s up to you whether you issues new mobile devices to these individuals or allow them to use their own…more and more IT shops are finding ways to safely allow workers to connect to the company’s network with their own personal devices.
Utilize the best cloud-based software. Cloud-based software for full team collaboration makes remote project management, remote management of a workforce, and the allowance for virtual teams a no-brainer reality. Mobile apps abound for some of the best software options for team collaboration and business applications to do just about anything anyone would need to do in the business and project management world.
React quickly. Finally, a remote workforce allows you to react quickly. Likely, you’ll have someone close to a customer site that could be there in an hour or two flight time. As long as you make all of your customers comfortable with the remote work force, then it’s a major win for you and a very affordable way to do business.
Summary
The bottom line is this…I’m in favor of it. I do it, it works, and I always figured it would. It isn’t for everyone. Some customers need the face to face…from time to time. But rarely do any of them need it 24/7. Likewise, the conversations at the water cooler that everyone touts as being so productive are usually about last night’s sitcom…not about what issues are on the team’s plate today. I look back at so many times prior to going remote where I could have been far more productive in a remote setting. I had an office…and that means I had a place for anyone to come in and sit down and chat about anything. Sometimes it was productive. Sometimes it sucked all the productivity right out of the day.
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