Building a Virtual Community or Workforce needs to be done carefully and with planning. If you are an existing company the question of “who?” would be the best candidates to participate in a remote office program is a primary concern. If you are a new business and just beginning to build your team, your main concern is “who?” do you partner with?
Over the years we have learned that it is critical to find individuals in either case that work well independently. Those that have the mentality of a business owner – thinking of new ways to accomplish the task while saving time, money AND delivering more than expected, fair the best in a virtual role. Individuals that require close supervision (eyeballs on their work) or in person human contact are least likely to be successful in a remote team.
Focus in the Virtual World is on deliverables and accomplishments, with an eye on the quality of the work performed as well as high customer satisfaction. A question we often hear is “What types of positions are best suited for remote work?” Each company has unique needs but may consider the following roles as candidates to be outside of the brick and mortar, physical space (Note these may be outsourced positions or company individuals who work remotely):
• Administrative Support
• Marketing Services
• Human Resources
• Customer Service
• Financial Services
• Application Support (general or unique software – i.e. financial apps, sales apps, etc.)
• Server and Network Support (on premise or hosted environments)
• Desktop Support (these services can remote in to your machine)
• Voice Communications (Skype, VoIP)
• Database Administration
• Data Entry
• Programming Services
• Testing Services
• Web Design and Implementation
The possibilities of creating the virtual organization via your own employees or partnerships brings an opportunity to increase productivity and effectiveness. If you have the right team members you will exceed expectations and raise customer satisfaction. Stay tuned for the final article in this series covering measuring success – the key to trust.
Linda Amaro
Linda Amaro is a featured columnist for Women Taking Charge, the official blog of Connected Women of Influence, where she covers topics, tips and tricks surrounding The Virtual Office and using Microsoft SharePoint to improve collaboration. Linda Amaro, has been in the Information Technology (IT) industry for over 30 years and has risen to the position of CIO in the corporate arena managing multiple departments with over 150 staff members and projects for tier one customers ranging from $2.5 million to $20 million. In 2010, she started Klarinet Solutions, a SharePoint consulting firm that provides SharePoint Design, Site Branding, Workflow Automation, On-Line Forms Development, Document Management, Custom Development and Business Intelligence.
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