Strategies for Running a Slick Virtual Office

Remote work has been enjoying a big boom since the start of the pandemic, with Forbes predicting that approximately 25% of all professional jobs in the US will be remote by the end of 2022, and that this type of work model will continue into 2023. The logical partner to this type of working arrangement, virtual offices, are also on the rise, as companies seek to portray a professional image and offer the usual services while keeping much of their staff at home. If you are now running a virtual office, you may wonder how to stay organized. After all, there are many new considerations you have to keep in mind. Read on for key strategies that will help you stay on top of your game.

Keeping Abreast of Your Mailing System

You may have everything set up in your home office, but what happens to your mail? You may have many different staff members and, if each has a separate address, you can lose control over who is receiving specific types of communication. Leaving mail to ad hoc procedures can also affect your company’s image, since staff could have various addresses, some of which may be distant from main city districts. Davinci virtual address service allows you to have a street address in some of the nation’s most prestigious streets. Any mail that gets sent to your virtual office will be forwarded to an address of your choice and you can control which staff member should receive messages that pertain to their departments or specializations. 

Organizing Your Home

Your home should be well organized and tidy if it will be your base for your virtual office. If you have just moved into a new home that doubles up as a home office and it is overrun with boxes, furniture, and other items, a professional organizer will help you get things in order quickly. They will help you improve the functionality of your home and office to boost productivity and efficiency. They can suggest positioning for your work station and ensure that the place where you greet clients is well separated from your personal space.

Relying on a Virtual Filing Cabinet

Think of the cloud as an online filing cabinet—one in which all documents and downloads should be kept using a simple system so you can access it in a matter of seconds when you wish. Google Drive allows you to create various folders, sharing those you wish with staff. The value of this system is that it displays all your recent work on Google Docs, it syncs folders from various computers, and it goes hand in hand with Gmail and other Google apps. When creating your files, start out with creating files for different departments then keep sub-folders by subject and date. File away old or unused files regularly so that you can easily view the folders you are currently using. You can also use Dropbox or other cloud-based systems for this purpose. For inspiration on how to file your items, check out OneHub, which has drag-and-drop uploading, color coding, collaboration, numerical indexing, and share features.

Make Sure Your Staff Installs Dedicated Apps

If you have staff that works from home, make sure they all download a list of apps that are pertinent to your work. These can include Zoom (or Skype), CamCards (which allows them to take photographs of business cards and store them digitally), Quickbooks (a business expense management tool) and WordPress (which is useful for staff working on your business website). If various staff members contribute to your social media content, a tool like HootSuite will help you control what they are uploading and when. HootSuite enables staff to pre-programme content, so you can have a preview of all proposed content before it goes online. Finally, you should get your team signed up to Slack or Microsoft Teams, so you can chat, message, and create dedicated channels where teams working on specific projects or specializing in one or more areas can work. Ensure that the platform you use also enables file sharing.

Organizing a virtual office is actually very similar to running a physical one. Files need to be well stored and your mailing system needs to be slick and professional. As you will be working virtually, you will need to ensure that staff is able to communicate with ease and share files on trusted systems such as Dropbox, Slack, and other cutting-edge tools.

About Jackie Edwards

After taking a career sabbatical to become a mother, Jackie now writes full time on finance, business and managing money She has, in the past battled problems with anxiety and panic, and in her spare time she volunteers for a number of local charities that support people with mental health issues.