Entrepreneur? Check Out These Awesome Benefits to Having a Virtual Phone System

Labels: business anywhere, professional call handling, small business, toll free 800 numbers, virtual phone system

Transitioning to a Virtual Office in 5 Easy Steps

By now you’ve probably heard all the benefits of moving from traditional brick and mortar to a more virtual business environment (cost effective, better for the environment, improved employee morale, etc.). But actually making the transition isn’t necessarily simple. In fact, many business owners put it off because the mere thought of it can be, well, overwhelming. It really doesn’t have to be, though - as long as you plan ahead and follow these five steps.

1. Think/Plan/Draw It Out – Seems like a given, but actually sitting down and considering all of the details (and writing them down) will help put the process into perspective and give you the opportunity to develop an organized plan. List all of the challenges and obstacles you believe you will face when transitioning to a virtual office environment, and then develop solutions for each one.
2. Select Your Tools – If you’re going to implement a virtual office you’ll need to first decide what tools you’ll need. There are a number of virtual office software products on the market that will help you and your team stay organized and focused and your virtual phone system will keep everyone connected. Do some research and find the ones that you believe will work best for your business.
3. Test the Waters – We’ve already explained the benefits of cloud technology - well now’s your chance to start using it. Before you jump into a full-blown virtual office, try it out a little. Let a few employees work from home one or two days a week to start. This will give you the opportunity to identify and address any issues that you hadn’t considered so that your official transition can go more smoothly.
4. Embrace the “Results Only” Concept – One of the hardest things that many business owners face when moving to a virtual work environment is the fact that they won’t be able to “track” their employees and see what they’re up to during the work day. If you’re going to embrace remote work then you’ll need to change your mindset. Understand that in the virtual office it’s all about results, not necessarily the hour to hour work. As long as the work is being performed and goals are being met to your satisfaction, that’s the most important thing.
5. Establish Trust and Accountability – The only way a virtual office can be successful is if everyone involved takes it seriously. As a business owner you must be able to trust your team and likewise they must be accountable for their duties and tasks. Whether it’s scheduling a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly meeting (either virtually through group calling or at a physical location), making sure that everyone understands their ongoing role and remains committed is critical to keeping the business on track and running smoothly.

Once everything is set in motion, chances are you will probably uncover additional concerns or issues that need to be overcome, but these five steps will at least get you started and help you put the framework in place to make the challenging (but highly rewarding) transition into the virtual business world. Trust us – it’s worth it!

Labels: business anywhere, virtual office, virtual phone system

What’s ‘Your Business, Anywhere’ Anyway?

So you’ve seen our motto. Nice eh?

Now you want to know what the heck we mean, so let’s roll up our sleeves and delve in to uncover poetic intentions:

What is Your Business?

What makes your business YOUR business? What defines it and gives it an identity?

If you think of it, a business is really a system of managing resources to deliver a certain service or product.

This gives us three classes of constituents—Resources, Method, and Product.

Resources are the elements you use or manipulate to deliver/produce your service or product. These include Staff, Funds, Equipment, Raw Materials, Real-estate, etc.

Method is the way you go about delivering or producing said service or product. Here you have the back-end stuff (which includes everything from the manufacturing or creative processes to boring old accounting) and the front-end stuff—the last mile that comes in contact with your customers. Your front-end includes sales, support, customer-service, etc, which are inspired by your corporate values and philosophy.

Product/Service is the end value you have to offer.

While all three make up your business, it is the method that shapes out who you are as a corporate entity. And if the back-end is responsible for shaping the tangible aspect of who you are—the ‘what’ you’ll have to offer—the front-end is responsible for the ‘personal’ aspect of who you are—or for ‘how’ you will offer it.

Together, they make up your identity.

So where’s ‘Anywhere’, how do I get there, and how can I bring my business along?

Now that we’ve established what defines your business, let’s examine the second part.

Anywhere is short for any place, any time, any way... let's just call it 'Freedom'.

If your business is defined by your method, taking your business anywhere means maintaining your method no matter where you are and providing the same level of experience to your customers and to your employees regardless of your geographical location.

Traditionally, service-oriented businesses were tied to a physical office primarily because employees had to access the necessary equipment, stay interconnected, and maintain a uniformed front—all to provide a consistent level of productivity and service.

Today, however, much of this has changed. Personal computers have grown robust enough to process the most demanding tasks and affordable enough to become a staple in every purse (this includes male-purses).

So, perhaps with the exception of manufacturing , equipment today no longer poses a problem to mobility. This leaves us with maintaining uniformity and inter-connectivity: letting employees that work from different geographical locations plug into a single hub and collaborate as if they were in the same room.

Cloud technology enables just that.

Many different software programs have emerged to take your back-end up to the cloud—anything from documents (Google Docs, Dropbox) to CRM applications.

A virtual PBX does the same for your front-end, becoming the digital hub your employees can plug into for all their communication needs.

A single toll-free number becomes your uniformed professional front, and all calls are subsequently routed in accordance with your custom call rules to reach the designated person(s).

In an office environment, you sometimes have to transfer a customer to another department, or to put them on hold while you dial a different extension. A cloud-based system lets you do exactly the same thing, no matter if the other person happens to be across the hall, across the road, or across the ocean. Your customers and employees will enjoy exactly the same experience as if he was sitting in the next room using a traditional system.

And because all tools and data are up there in the cloud, you don’t even have to carry around any fancy equipment—just a single device that can get you online.

This not only frees your regular employees to work from home or to stay connected while on the road, it also means you can think bigger and in certain cases outsource tasks overseas, creating your very own transatlantic team that will beat with your core values and philosophy.

Conclusion

Technology is finally ready to unshackle us from old constructs and break the bonds of physical locality. The globe has become a tiny little ball really; snap your fingers, and you'll almost as easily land anywhere you like. Now, your business can follow.

We’ll give you the tools. Just add your personal touch and take Your Business, Anywhere.

Related Articles:

1. Beat the Traffic—Forever: A Virtual PBX Phone System Can Help You Migrate Your Office to the Cloud

2. Anatomy of a Virtual Phone System: What’s in it, and why you need it?

3. Why Your Business Needs a Toll-Free Phone Number

4. The Benefits of Visual Voicemail: Seeing is the New Hearing

5. 5 Reasons Virtual Systems are taking over the Physical World

Labels: business anywhere, business cloud, business in the cloud, cloud business, cloud computing, crm, dropbox, google docs, hosted pbx, virtual PBX