- Businesses Large and Small can Operate Virtually - Linda Pophal
While many virtual companies are IT or communication-based (e.g. computer programming, data management and marketing/PR firms), just about any company where a face-to-face interaction with a customer in a specific location is not a requirement can operate virtually.
Three Firms That Have Achieved Virtual Success
Andy Abramson is the founder of Comunicano, a virtual communications, public relations and marketing strategy consultancy based in Del Mar, Calif. He built the firm from a one-person operation to a full-service firm with dozens of technology clients in VoIP, wireless and telephone-related applications. Nearly two dozen staffers work from home, providing services to clients from Sydney to San Francisco.
A big part of the value of a virtual structure, for him and his employees, is quality of life, says Abramson. He was able to buy a house close to the beach where, he says: “I’m able to work in comfort – I don’t have to punch a clock, walk through a security gate or worry about what somebody else is doing in the next office or the next cubicle.” And, he adds, when you have to have a stressful call you can go upstairs and lay on the couch knowing the person you’re talking to is likely sitting behind a desk in a coat and tie or even in a cube with a lot of other people around while you’re sitting there on your couch looking at the ocean.”
Laura Schoppe is president of Fuentek, a technology consulting firm. Schoppe chose a virtual structure not only to offer employees an excellent work-life balance, but also to save money. She recognized that with all of the technology options available today, there was no need for a traditional bricks-and-mortar organization.
Staff members are primarily engineers and scientists, all are independent contractors and they are chosen for various jobs based on the unique requirements of the job. This flexibility, says Schoppe, is a key benefit of the structure she chose. “In standard brick-and-mortar organizations, if you had an engineer sitting on the bench who wasn’t assigned to a client there was a lot of pressure to put them on the next contract that came in whether they were the right fit or not.
“The way we’re structured, I get to pick the right fit for every job. That makes everybody happier – us because our clients get a better product, the staff because they’re working on things in their comfort zone and obviously the client.”
Alpine Access is a call center provider with 7500 employees working from their homes as customer service and tech support reps for companies like J. Crew, Office Depot, EDS and other financial services companies. The company was built around the philosophy that by casting a wide net – recruiting employees from across the country, rather than just those who live within commuting distance – would allow for opportunities to attract a more qualified workforce. According to Christopher Carrington, CEO, the philosophy has worked.
“We started as a 100 percent virtual company and we’ve just started our twelfth year in business,” says Carrington.
A Structure That Works, Despite Challenges
The concept is growing, fueled not only by technological innovations and availability, but by growing concerns over environmental impacts from vehicle emissions and the concern over sustainability of operations for traditional organizations in the event of a crisis (e.g. World Trade Center bombing), natural disaster (e.g. New Orleans flooding) or disease outbreak (e.g. H1N1). The ability to address work-life preferences among employees, recruit from a broader pool of candidates and reduce capital costs are also drivers.
There are some challenges, however; chief among them being communication and accountability. But these can readily be overcome, say Abramson, Carrington and Schoppe.
When you do not operate in a face-to-face environment, says Schoppe, “you have to be that much more diligent about reaching out and talking to people and not getting into your own little hole and losing touch.”
Schoppe pulls people together for meetings, hold training seminars and webinars and provides opportunities for interaction and sharing of best practices on a regular basis. These activities need to be planned and not impromptu, she stresses.
Carrinington notes that the virtual world offers multiple tools that allow for greater connectivity. “Each of the call center professionals is connected to their supervisor via instant messaging and to their peers via chat rooms. At any point in time if they run into a challenge or have a question they can immediately access anywhere from 50 to 100 helpers to respond.”
But, notes Carrington, just because you have the technology to allow distant work, doesn’t mean that distant work will work. “The real secret sauce is the underlying business processes. It’s not about the technology.” Those processes involve choosing the right people, providing effective training and support, and monitoring performance.
Hiring the right people – as in any work environment – is critical, he says. “It’s quite frankly a very different kind of employee that you’d hire for an at-home job versus a job in a call center,” he says. “In a home office environment you really have to have very self-motivated, very disciplined employees who can get up each morning, make their way to the coffee pot, put on their slippers and sign in.”
Technology allows for ready monitoring of performance once systems are in place. And, say Carrington and others, the challenges pale when compared to the big benefits that virtual companies can realize.
For companies like Comunicano, Fuentek, Amanda Vega Consulting and countless others, it is a no-brainer. Virtual companies are no longer the wave of the future – they’re here to stay.
Managing Off-Site Staff for Small Business, by Lin Grensing-Pophal (Self-Counsel Press, 2010).
Linda Pophal - Linda Pophal, owner/CEO of Strategic Communications, LLC, is a marketing and communication strategist with 20+ years experience. Pophal ...
