Rebirth of the Everywhere Office
For years the cycle of opening a brick and mortar, hiring staff, and an IT Tech to keep the machines in-line was all we knew. Drive to work, punch a clock and grind it out. Fast-forward to today’s access of the Internet and Cloud services capabilities, and we begin to witness the end, and beginning of an era.
It is no secret that the goal of every able body citizen should be self-employment or a version of it. With the proliferation of “fake” money that is constantly abused. The need for a version of the bartering based income may make a screaming comeback as the economy goes through recession threat after recession threat Keeping everyone on edge.
We are in the age of the new office now. Where Telecommuting was on an as-needed basis it is now a method that can save a company thousands of dollars a month by removing the need for a lease and equipment for dozens of employee’s. This method also allows a business to tap into a talent pool that it normally would not be able to afford due to relocation costs.
As an IT Professional there are many times I have walked the halls of a company I am about to service and I notice that the primary function of 95% of the staff was computer and phone work with the sprinkling of the occasional meeting. What part of that do you need an office building for now? There are so many layouts for a company utilizing a telecommuting format to count, but here is a simple outline.
Let us use the example of an Architectural Firm. This type of business format typically services a section of a city using satellite offices to service more areas as it grows. It will also require reviews by the city of drawings that are checked and stamped by licensed Architects and Engineers. If you wanted to service Los Angeles you could task a local AIA in the submission region.
- All server services such as File management and Authentication can be hosted in the Cloud.
- All users would get their credentials just like any on-site company.
- Employees and principals can either utilize the BYOD, (Bring your own device), method, assign a system to employees that they are financially responsible for overtime, or use a hybrid BYOD and Virtual Machine in the Cloud environment that would have employees logging into virtual computers created and controlled by the principals giving the end-user the ability to work from anywhere at any time from any device.
- As for those meetings, we can never get enough of. This can be done using the dozens of screen sharing and video conferencing tools that have been perfected over the last 10 years. Utilizing a blackboard screencast like online schools and centralized production tools and calendar services would showcase the deadlines for any project.
- This also ushers in a new age of accountability. No longer will weak employees be able to hide behind their coworkers and collect a check. They will have to advance their skills like everyone else or get left behind because, in a Telecommuting environment, all submissions are virtually signed and dated.
- Even with team projects. Each members contributions are logged. So if in a team of 5 only 3 members are contributing, or meeting their deadlines you can save money by eliminating the dead weight.
This is obviously a truncated overview of a setup that has a lot of moving parts, but I have made this system work repeatedly, and with the rise of fuel cost and so much highway congestion the planet would also get a respite. Salaries can in some cases be reduced since drive time is eliminated, and when it is time for an employee to resign. Access is eliminated with the press of a button.
It is truly an end of an era, but it is also the rise of a more efficient one. While the loss of water cooler gossip would be catastrophic for a select few. Gaining an actual life outside of the office, and giving creators the chance to work flexibility could possibly move the needle ahead several paces for a generation mired in job apathy.
Awesome post! Keep up the great work! 🙂
Great content! Super high-quality! Keep it up! 🙂