The virtual office is one of the most inexpensive methods of funding office space. Especially great for the self-employed and start-ups, this style of work is used by other types of companies whose employees work remotely. The virtual office works for these populations because its flexibility and low overhead add to its fluid structure.
The virtual office works by leasing the use of space and office equipment to businesses at a much lower cost than traditional leasing. While the virtual office trend has been around for a few years, it has transformed the modern workplace, even allowing large businesses to lower costs by managing remote teams. In fact, by moving a physical office into virtual reality, businesses have forever changed the structure of the modern office.
Keep reading to learn more about how the virtual office is changing the modern business structure.
Infrastructure
A major structural change to the business office is how physical space has been transformed into virtual space. Because much office work is done remotely, a business who uses this office format could be located in any place that has Wi-Fi or a connection to the internet. While the company has a permanent business address and dedicated phone number, the traditional office becomes more fluid in the virtual office. Check out the virtual office and sign up today, to see how this format works in today’s business landscape and sign up today to get more information.
More significantly, your business’s structure is primarily made up the IT technologies, and the IT technician becomes an integral part of the team. In essence, the structural elements that usually make up an office like offices and conference rooms are eliminated and space becomes fluid. For example, information that would typically be stored in file cabinets and storage rooms in a conventional office is transferred to electronic files.
Furthermore, the chatroom and other communication technologies take the place of meetings in private offices, and video-conferencing transforms the traditional office meeting. With the advent of file sharing apps, emailing copies of documents to colleagues becomes passé because these online applications allow for documents to be shared among co-workers. Essentially, the elements that define the structure of conventional offices have been formatted for the online environment.
Hierarchy
Another factor that has been transformed with the advent of the virtual office is the organisational hierarchy that characterised traditional offices. Normally, an organisation would be structured in a top-down manner with upper management at the top and middle management below them. Then, the bottom tier of the organisational chart would list entry-level and non-supervisory positions.
In the virtual office, though, you might see a flattening out of this organisational structure. In fact, many businesses have thrown out the top-down hierarchy in favour of teams that all work together for some purpose. Essentially, what the virtual office has done is changed the way managers supervise employees in that these teams also work with more flexibility. Supervisors have relinquished a lot of control over the daily activities of their employees, and employees have more autonomy over their time, as managers move away from micromanaging every aspect of their work.
Real Business In Virtual Space
The structure of the modern office has been transformed, and some even can argue, streamlined to reflect the ever-changing technologically fuelled society. Where the traditional office is more formal and tiered, the virtual office’s informality and flexibility lend itself to a flatter structure as managers work as team members with their subordinates. As we move closer to a more virtual existence, more and more businesses will adopt this office format in an effort to maximise profits and reduce overhead.
