Flexible Working and Collaboration
One of the dilemmas that small companies face is how to bid effectively for work from the large organisations that might deliver a baseload of business.
One approach is to form consortia. This allows companies to share the costs and time of preparing and submitting bids. We have worked extensively like this ourselves and we can show you how to do the same.
Once the business is secured it's useful to be able to communicate from your work space rather than travel so much.
You may wish to share work in process - with the team and with the client. Nothing builds trust like joint working.
Most of the tools you need are free or only require a modest monthly outlay. We have researched what the early adopters do and have produced a collaborative working e-book and flexible working workshop. And the MD's guide that we wrote for the DTI is still available here as Succeeding in the Networked Economy
Remote and flexible working toolkit
To work in this way you need a means of storing documents and keeping the communication emails in one place where you can easily review the relevant conversations. Its also useful if you have a place for keeping track of milestones and progress towards results where they can be shared. We use Basecamp and have successfully managed several projects using it. We pay about £6 per month for this.
You also need to be able to chat and communicate via voice over IP (or VOIP) or video conferencing. 2 tools that we routinely use are Skype and MegaMeetings. Skype is a free service. It allows you to communicate free, either by voice or by 1 video conference connection. In addition it supports a chat facility which will allow up to 100 people to take part in an ongoing conversation and it supports real time transfer of files.
If you need a more powerful facility, Megameetings is a good tool. It will support multiple video conferencing and has useful facilities for passing control of desktop or of showing the others what you have. You can also take notes on the fly and share links if you want to let someone else in the conversation see a web page that's relevant to the conversation.
We took it on because it allows us to carry out interviews at a distance for our market research projects. However it's also become the basis of our video consultancy and small group training programme. If you want to know more about Megameetings look at the Video Support tab at the top of the page or phone us 0845 094 0407 to organise a test conference.
How to manage remote work
Setting up the technology toolkit is relatively straightforward. It's clear that there is a real time advantage of working collaboratively with people who don't have to travel and with the current real energy based pressures to more sustainable working there are really good reasons for moving towards remote and flexible working. We are accredited workwise advisers who are able to help managers choose solutions, justify their decisions and manage the implementation.
There is still a lot of resistance - mainly from managers who like to see people working. As always - it's the people issues that hold back the potential of IT. But if BT can do it - so can you.
In practice you need to be able to set clear targets of what you expect them to do, and make sure that you keep in contact with them. The tools are readily available, but it needs discipline on the side of the manager to work at engaging the remote staff by phone, video conference and extranet. The traditional "broadcast" approach of tools like Microsoft Sharepoint has been supplemented by online communities such as Ning which allow purpose built communities for mutual support and discussion. We use it to support our alumni of the Punch Above Your Weight programme.
If you need help with setting up or managing a distance or flexible working programme we may be able to help. Please call us to discuss your needs.
Why we can help you
Unusually for a consultancy company we practice what we preach. We have 25 years experience of running growth businesses in IT, Business Training, Internet trading and horticulture. Currently we run a £0.5 Million internet trading company - Plants4Presents - and a 10 employee Organic Vegetable Business. These give us a real-life basis for our consultancy and training business that underpins our research into how companies actually use IT to promote themselves and improve performance as they grow.
As part of this experience Alan set up and ran the Executive Studio - a purpose built flexible and knowledge based working environment in West London which ran from 1997 to 2006. We worked flexibly using laptops and docking stations. He says "I used to work standing at a high level desk although I never cracked the trick of working without paper."
Currently we work in association with a number of other companies using these remote collaboration tools of skype, Basecamp, MegaMeetings and Ning to carry out research, content development and consultancy projects. You can read some of the ideas from these early adopters at our collaborative blog DrBollocks.com.
Contact - To discuss how we can help with your business growth or marketing ring 0845 094 0407
