As more and more businesses support a mobile way of life, employees are continuing to shift from working in traditional on site offices to virtual distributed office models, according to a new survey.
The survey, by
RingCentral, a San Mateo, Calif.-based provider of Internet phone systems for small businesses, found that 45 percent of employees spend three-quarters of their time conducting business away from the office. And for those organizations that have employees working outside the office, 80 percent of businesses want to give the impression that their workers are in the office when receiving or making business phone calls, the survey said.
One of the driving forces behind the rise in virtual offices is the economy, RingCentral (
News -
Alert) said, a company that offers Internet phone and Internet
fax services. Businesses have searched for new ways to handle increased cost pressures while they remain competitive in the market and respond to customer needs. The virtual model not only reduces office-related rental expenses, but also lets companies expand their talent pool beyond a limited geographical area, RingCentral said.
And the concept of the virtual office is projected to rise. For 2010, nearly two-thirds, or 67 percent, of SMBs plan to hire more employees and more than half, or 57 percent, plan to have new employees work remotely or with mobile capabilities, the survey found.
According to the survey, only 15 percent of SMBs said all of their employees work from a single physical location. While once the mainstay of field staff and freelancers, virtual and mobile work models have expanded into other business groups. Thanks to the dominance of the Internet and mobile phones, more organizations are taking advantage of distributed office solutions, RingCentral said.
As the traditional office transforms and more employees work working from various remote locations, businesses have a difficult time integrating distributed and mobile employees into a single business phone system. This often leads to management problems and inefficient and unprofessional communications.
But RingCentral has the solution. The company delivers cloud-based business phone systems – RingCentral Office –designed for the
mobile business world, at a fraction of the cost of traditional phone systems.
“This survey demonstrates that even with the trend toward a flexible, distributed office model, today’s business is not willing to compromise on the professionalism associated with a traditional office model,” Vlad Shmunis, CEO of RingCentral, said in a statement. “RingCentral Office is designed to meet the needs of the modern mobile business world. RingCentral facilitates the seamless integration of distributed employees into a single business phone system regardless of the employee’s choice of phones -- mobile or fixed line. The best part is that businesses do not need to spend a single dollar in capital expenditure.”
Amy Tierney is a Web editor for TMCnet, covering business communications Her areas of focus include conferencing, SIP, Fax over IP, unified communications and telepresence. Amy also writes about education and healthcare technology, overseeing production of e-Newsletters on those topics as well as communications solutions and UC. To read more of Amy's articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Amy Tierney
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