There is no guarantee that your location would promise appropriate talent and resources for your business goals. A virtual workplace is designed to promise cost-effectiveness, optimal and effective use of resources, creation of diverse mix of talent. Considering virtual office as an option to establish your organization needs deep thinking and validation.

Building a virtual workplace
In the context of a virtual workplace, the organizational structure penetrates across linear communication lines and limited hierarchical structure.
The idea of building a virtual workplace is catching up as a way to do business and cut costs, for diverse resource organizations that need complementing skills sets. Fewer managers with higher supervisory skills focus less on time and more on results. This model brings liberty to communicate, share ideas and collaborate with your virtual team from wherever you are.

Why are Virtual Workplaces Emerging?
Most companies are instituting virtual workplaces to reap multifarious benefits like:

Savings on real estate: Estimated at $2000 per employee per annum based on rent on workspace saved, most companies are cutting down the rent cost of the office space or other equipment cost, by soliciting the services of a virtual team.

Increased Productivity: You are your environment. You have greater control over the kind of work atmosphere that surrounds you. Working in a stress-free environment in a virtual workplace will provide increase in productivity by 40% .

Higher Profits: Some companies reported a 100% increase in profits in the virtual workplace model because of increased productivity, reduced costs and result – driven processes.

Better Customer Service: A virtual office saves time on face-to-face meetings the clients have to conduct from time to time with improved connectivity. This helps in quicker service turnaround.

Global Market Access: The virtual office model is designed to facilitate easier market access and help businesses transverse national boundaries. Geographies do not limit virtual office model in establishing a business.

Environmental Savings: Establishment of virtual workplaces ushers in tremendous savings in terms of petro miles. The carbon footprint is encouraging for virtual offices.

What Does it Actually Take to Build a Virtual Workplace?
Notwithstanding the foregoing, businessmen and entrepreneurs, remember that you can reap the benefit of the virtual world only if it is properly managed. Some of the factors that influence a successful virtual workplace are:

• Powerful leadership to control the geographically dispersed team members and measure and control their output
• Team work – Many big corporate giants like IBM, Lotus and Hewlett-Packard have developed new technologies to make the virtual workplace more employee-centric.
• Adoption and use of new technology in the virtual workplace promotes quick access to information and faster decision making process.
• Steep learning curve

Tools to build a virtual corporate culture

To make up for the absence of behavior norms, physical proximity and social content, virtual team managers must maintain a positive, open disposition, relegate proper responsibilities and educate their employees in a result-oriented style, using effective communication skills. Be a part of the team and reap the benefits of this interaction.

Use the exciting employee–oriented tools developed by industry leaders like Hewlett-Packard, Lotus and IBM to encourage the conversion to the virtual from the real world. Some of these tools are:

Faultlessly crafted guidelines for the virtual workplace, with details of those who are eligible to participate, issues concerning household and family, the intricacies of operating from a remote office and the various administrative processes that form part of this endeavor go a long way in your education.

Tools for virtual collaboration, amicably help to exchange ideas about activities and deadlines by precluding arguments in the process.
Being adept at using tools that can organize audio-visual meetings, and generally create an ambience equivalent to a face-to-face communication.
Punctuality tools ensure timely meetings and help to schedule virtual meetings on time.
Building a virtual workplace, with super innovations in the technology, day by day will transform the virtual world into a user friendly office in the corporate sector.