3 Key Elements to Setting up a Virtual Office

Starting up a new company can be tough! Lately, there’s been a big move with businesses running a virtual office and having a remote team, and we wanted to touch on some of the top tips for creating a remote working business model with a virtual office. After all, there has been a lot of information put out over the last few years which talks about the benefits of remote work compared to working in-house. And while it seems that remote working is the new way to go about running a business, not a lot of information has been shared about how to set up and to co-ordinate the remote working place. We think having more information on something is always better than less – because without the right info it makes it harder on you to ensure the success of your team. We wanted to provide as much information as we can about how to set up a remote work model, in the hopes that it helps you with your kiwi business.

We have identified that there are three key elements to making a remote team work: these are the team, the workspace, and the processes.

The Team

This is one of the most critical elements of ensuring the success of your remote work team. You need to remember that not everyone is able to work in a remote work environment, and not everyone is good enough with time management to ensure that they can work unsupervised – much as you’d like them to. For this reason, it is vital that you ensure that you hire people who have demonstrated experience of working unsupervised and in a remote environment, or at least who you can monitor. We have identified some tips to ensure that you are getting the best people. Take a look below.

Hire Go-Getters

When you hire someone who is a go-getter, they are going to get the job done no matter where they are in the world. A go-getter is someone that you don’t have to give tasks to constantly, because they’ll be able to use their initiative to find the right things to do. You are still going to have to give them guidance and direction, but you know that in the absence of your ongoing directions these people will be able to find something to do by themselves.

Hire People You Can Trust

If you’re constantly worried about the people who you have working out of the office, then it’s not working for you. That kind of worry is not the reason you have a remote team, after all. You need to make sure that you have people you can trust, and that you have systems in place to show them that you’re monitoring their work as well. Trust is key to making remote work, work.

Your Workspace

Now we come to the key element of your office – the workspace. Except in this case you won’t have a workspace that functions as a traditional workspace would. A virtual office provides you all of the benefits of a traditional office, without the expense or set up. Investing in a virtual office means that you can be agile, but still use a boardroom or meeting rooms when you need it, because these spaces are available on an as-needed basis. If you have your main, permanent office in one place, but need to have meetings and a base in another place as well, then a virtual office is great for keeping the team together. Once a month you can hire the boardroom space you need, where you need it, and use it to run a team meeting. This is hugely beneficial for your team, and gives you the freedom and flexibility to use your money wisely instead of investing into an unused corporate space. There are a range of providers for virtual offices, and the Servcorp Virtual Office solutions in New Zealand are tasteful and easy to set up. If you’re serious about setting up a remote business model then it makes sense to consider something that gives the right impression to your clients and prospects.

The Processes

These need to be spot on to ensure that everyone knows what they’re doing at all times. Without the right processes it can be a nightmare to coordinate your team. Processes make a huge difference for your remote working team and can be the difference between success and failure.

Good luck with setting up your virtual office, and be sure to keep your finger on the pulse of all things tech and innovation to stay ahead of the pack.