There was a time when having an office was considered a pre-requisite for running a business. An office or a physical space where people from your team could be housed and they would carry out business activities from there.
You as an entrepreneur would of course visit from time to time to check on how everything was going. That seemed an ideal way to run a business at least back in the 20th century when almost every serious business had an office.
However in the 20th century today, the concept of a physical office and physical teams is up for disruption. Thanks to the advancement in technology, you don’t need to have a physical office space. You can hire remote workers, communicate virtually using digital means.
Sounds too good to be true? Well…it is! All you need is an active internet connection, a fully functional modern laptop or computer and some tools in place to make it easier. That’s it!
Working with remote team spells multiple benefits for the company:-
Office Expenses are lower – The most obvious but the most significant. The costs of an office do add up to a considerable amount. Rent/lease, cost of office equipment, furniture and other infrastructure, not to mention the office maintenance costs etc all amount to significant portion of operating costs. Working with a remote team would mean escaping all the above costs and therefore real savings!
Access to a greater talent pool – If you are hiring physical employees you would be normally be restricting yourself to your local area or city. Location is not a barrier when you decide to work with a remote team. With the help of an employer of record, You can hire remote workers from any part of the country or abroad. You naturally have access to a larger pool of resources and therefore chances of hiring a highly skilled labor at good prices is definitely higher. Moreover you can use the savings from your office expenses to pay to virtual staff which will help you attract even better talent.
Flexibility of Work to Employees – Most of us hate the 9 to 5 job routine and add to it the cost and time of commute and hate it even more! Remote working gives people the flexibility to work from anywhere they feel like and still get paid! They can work from the comfort of their homes without worrying about long commutes by bus or train. Most employees would love something like this. Therefore chances are your remote team will be happy to work for you and would even be loyal without complaining about long work hours etc. Thus employee retention will go up and so would employee productivity.
Cheaper Resources – Hiring a physical employee is certainly more expensive than hiring virtual employees. For instance, there are labor intensive countries where resources are available for a much lower cost. Since geographical location is not a barrier, an employer from New York can hire somebody from India to at a fraction of the cost of hiring a resource from within the U.S.
Access Multiple Markets – What’s more you can build a virtual international sales team across countries without the need to open an office in those locations. This gives you ability to scale new markets without incurring significant costs.
24/7 Work culture –
With a global remote working team you can run multiple shifts as per the time zones of different countries. This will not only offer flexibility to your employees but will speed up your implementation and customer service.
While working with virtual teams offers your business unparalleled flexibility, there are ever-evolving challenges as well when it comes to dealing with virtual teams. A well-thought out plan, proper communication channels and an SOP for all employees is all you need to put together a highly motivated team that will not just meet but exceed your expectations. And with the right team success won’t be too far away!
Anupam Rajey, a seasoned marketer and sales expert. He is the CEO of Acelerar Tech, a leading KPO that offers virtual assistant services for social media, Internet research, email & chat support, and more.