The benefits & challenges of a virtual office

The shift to the remote workplace has helped many business owners continue their operations during these uncertain times. As some companies begin to reopen their traditional workplaces, others are rethinking what the future of work will look like.

Every business is different and while a virtual office might increase productivity in one industry, it could significantly reduce productivity in another. To help you decide if a virtual office is right for your business, let's take a closer look at the benefits and challenges of operating a virtual office space.

What is a virtual office, and what are its benefits?

The right team members can increase operations while simultaneously reducing some of the costs associated with a traditional office. A virtual office address exists in the cloud — meaning that, in most cases, hardware costs are also significantly reduced.

Before the pandemic, many businesses didn't have a clear understanding of what a virtual office is. Now, unified communications as a service (UCaaS) application has helped businesses streamline their communication efforts and increase day-to-day efficiency.

State-of-the-art videoconferencing has eliminated the need for many in-person meetings. These systems give businesses more freedom, utilizing cloud-based technology that's accessible from anywhere there's a reliable internet connection.

For industries where employees are used to working alone, a virtual office can be beneficial by reducing travel time to and from the office. It also allows employees to work in environments that they find the most productive. In industries that rely heavily on individual output such as sales or customer service, the virtual office can greatly improve efficiency. Team meetings can be held via cloud-based conferencing without the need to show up to the office.

Employees have embraced a flexible work schedule and found that it's helped improve their work-life balance, even if they're working from home. Employee morale is important to overall output. Even if there's a return to the office after COVID-19, the ability to work in a virtual office space is something many employees would like to continue.

Challenges of a virtual office space

There's a certain magic that only exists when people are in the same room together. In-person collaboration allows for ideas to be clearly communicated, even though UCaaS applications allow for virtual conferencing.

Virtual offices are only efficient with a reliable internet connection. If certain team members don't have a stable connection or reliable electronic devices, meetings can be filled with blurry video and unsynced audio, making it hard to focus and innovate. The return to the office after COVID-19 is beneficial because it eliminates any problems with audio and video connections.

The water cooler moments that encourage team bonding are also missing from the virtual office. While there are opportunities to have virtual networking and hang-out sessions, it's hard to replicate the benefits of in-person bonding. Team building helps build trust and establish collaborative work patterns, both of which are important to sustainable productivity.

If you're looking to learn how to create a virtual office, we can help. We've helped to redefine what a virtual office is, creating systems that help solve real-world problems. If you're using a hybrid model or returning to in-person operations, we can help there too.

At 8x8, we're an industry leader in unified communications and have created business solutions to help companies thrive despite the pandemic. Contact us today and learn how to create a model that works for your business.