The 21 st Century Virtual Office

Transcription

1 The 21 st Century Virtual Office What is it? How to do it? And why it will help your company. Presented by: Woody Bibens & Associates Sarah Woody Bibens Emily Woody Bibens Lisa Kliethermes

2 Sarah Woody Bibens Chicago Marathon Finisher

3 Lisa Kliethermes Enjoys Theatre, Gardening, and Running

4 Emily Woody Bibens Showing All-Around at AQHA Shows with Cowboy

5 Where is our office?

6 Our Office is Virtual

7 Our Office Buddies Cambridge

8 Our Office Buddies Roomba Scooba

9 Our Office Buddies Dougal and Peppy

10 What We Do

11 Management

12 Design

13 Consulting

14 How did we become virtual?

15 To Keep Our Great Staff. We Went Virtual!

16 How it Works for Us schedules Daily phone calls Quarterly meetings Structured Hours Paperless Office

17 Back Office Website Features

18 Second Staff Member Became Virtual Daily Phone Calls Monthly Meetings

19 Team Work Very Important Difficult in Virtual Setting

20 Third Staff Member Became Virtual Structured Hours Discuss Background Noise

21 Kansas City

22 It s a Mindset Requires Flexibility Fun! Creative Thinking

23 Communication with Staff is Key Trust Staff Daily Phone Calls Know What is Going On

24 Lonely? Active in the KC Chamber Starbucks Office Classes and Activities

25 Academic vs. Practical

26 Professor Geoff Walsham Professor Helen Haugh

27 Popularity of the virtual organization For more reasons than you might think!

28 Shades of Virtual It s not an all or nothing structure

29 Benefits Reduce Costs Increase Company Adaptability Increase Employee Motivation Increase Environmental Sustainability

30 Benefits More Qualified Workers Easier Outsourcing Easier to Up-Scale and Down-Scale

31 Balance is Key It s not an all or nothing structure

32 Tele-commuting On Occasion Inclement weather Sick child Once a Week Sustainability Office Space

33 Not Size Limited Works for small and large companies and geographic scope

34 Implications for Managers Employees

35 Employees Self-motivation Accountability Flexibility Lifestyle

36 Managers Accountability Inputs vs Outputs Schedule Standards

37 Work-life Balance Working more vs working less Establishing Boundaries

38 How We Made the Transition

39 Create a timeline and plan What staff will be involved? One or two employees or the entire staff? When will it happen? 6 months, 1 year, 5 years? Equipment needed? How will it work?

40 Don t compromise the ability to communicate effectively. Set up effective internal and external communication tools. Test all communication tools BEFORE going virtual.

41 Business Address 1. PO Box Requires you to go somewhere else to get your mail. You can NOT receive packages. Couriers will not deliver to PO Box Address

42 Business Address 2. Commercial Mail Receiving Agency Gives your business a suite number, so you can receive packages. You can request notification when a package has arrived.

43 Choose an provider that allows your address to be customized Web Based in addition to using software like Outlook Consistent Signatures

44 Phone System Grasshopper Virtual Phone System

45 Faxing Receiving Faxes Sending Faxes Printing Scanning

46 Laptops Traveling is easy Client Meetings: All Files are together in one place Too many files for a laptop s hard drive? Get an external hard drive.

47 Client Meetings: Person-Person Meeting Lease an executive suite Hotel lobbies, restaurants, golf courses, coffee shops

48 Client Meetings: Video Conferencing

49 Client Meetings: Teleconferencing Talk to more than one person at a time on the phone.

50 Instant Messaging Yahoo Instant Messenger GoogleTalk

51 Going Paperless takes ORGANIZATION Electronic files: How and where are they stored? Are they being backed up? Weekly, Monthly? What happens if an employee quits, a computer crash, natural disaster? Store all files in a different location

52 Money Processing Steps Bookkeeping Writing, Receiving, Depositing Checks Credit Card Processing Terminal Machines Web Based system (example Linkpoint Central) Staff Business Purchases Reimbursement Checks, Purchase Orders, Petty Cash

53 GoTo Meeting and GoTo Webinar

54

55 Information Systems Knowledge Management Systems Integrating locations and departments

56 Take the First Step Go Paperless Start with Occasional Telecommuting Get the Technology

57 Web 2.0 Technologies Follow Us on Connect with Us on LinkedIn:

58 To view a copy of our PowerPoint presentation go to our website: