Dos and Don'ts for your Virtual Office

A Virtual office is a solution for companies seeking business growth, without the huge investment involved in setting up their own office. The virtual office service provider will provide infrastructure such as office space, facilities, telecommunication, workstations, software and of course, human resources. Though the infrastructure belongs to the provider and the provider does the recruitment process, the Virtual Office runs in the client company's name. The client business can opt to manage the dedicated virtual employees remotely or hire a dedicated manager to do so. The client business may want to have a virtual office to handle more projects, or for non-core functions or just to increase business presence in more regions

Here's a list of dos and don'ts to keep in mind while setting up and managing your Virtual Office.

Dos

Before you take that first step, plan and develop a business strategy. Be clear about your objectives and expectations from a Virtual office for your business. For more guidelines on selecting a provider, read "Selecting an Outsourcing Provider: A Step-by-Step Guide."

Start with a small project to test the system. Scale up operations when you are satisfied with the results.

Select a variety of electronic communication technologies stay connected and interact with your virtual office, such as email, chat, teleconferencing, and videoconferencing.

Get involved in the recruitment process conducted by your Virtual office service provider. Conduct your own assessment tests and participate in candidate interviews through web cameras, teleconferencing and video-conferencing.

Try to hire candidates who will make good virtual workers - those with good communication skills, self-reliance and experience.

Conduct orientation and training programmes for virtual employees using web casts or e-learning modules.

If possible, hire a virtual manager who can be a co-located point of contact with your virtual team.

Insist on punctuality and predictability of response. If the communication is not regular, then you will lose control over process and schedules. Make sure that regular status updates are sent.

Establish a clear hierarchy for escalating issues.

Hold regular meetings with virtual teams via teleconferencing and video-conferencing.

Develop a sense of trust and cohesion among virtual team members. This will enhance productivity. For more on managing virtual employees, read "Effective Management of Virtual Teams".

Specify the standards that you are looking for in processes and products and ensure compliance by quality checks.

Install centralised project-tracking software and knowledge databases on your company intranet.

Treat your service provider as a value partner by taking advantage of provider domain expertise and best practices.

Don'ts

Don't rush into setting up a virtual office on an ad-hoc basis.

Don't select a provider without checking out the provider infrastructure or looking at referrals.

Don't cut costs on communication technologies and latest software. In a virtual environment, effective communication is crucial.

Don't neglect to carefully negotiate the contract between your company and the service vendor, providing for confidentiality, copyright, and an exit process.

Don't allow managers to discriminate between your virtual employees and your on-site workers.

Don't ignore signs of lack of 'accountability' in virtual employees, such as unresponsiveness and missed deadlines without explanation.

Don't delay solving conflicts within virtual teams, as conflicts tend to become more intense in a virtual environment.

Don't neglect communicating with your virtual employees frequently using media-rich communication technologies such as video-conferencing.

Don't treat virtual office as just a low-cost solution, but aim for operational excellence in processes and products.

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