Technology made the world smaller. Convergence of technology shrunk it further and IT revolution not lags behind.
IT defined newer ways to work and carry the business. But what lies in the future? SOHO – acronym for Small Office Home Office. It is a business that involves about five to ten people working. The world is moving to virtualization and the people are getting diverted more to the concept of liberalization. In this league SOHO has defined new rule set for the business. It has made its presence strongly felt and has shown its power to be a driver in the economy.
SOHO many a times is also known as Virtual Office. It is the future of workplace and is steaming up. The technology contributions can be rewarded for this positive advent. The factors like Internet bust, concept of working from anywhere, flexibility and freedom has further added to this concept. With the world moving to virtualization, it is self evident that offices will also be virtual in coming few years.
The terms like Telecommuting, Unified Communications, Telepresence and Second Life are touted as the next big things in the future workplaces. The routine office hours and imagining one into a cubicle with word office will be the gone by things. The people will get more freedom and liberty while in touch with work for the maximum time hours. They will be introduced to the concept of flexibility. The HR managers and the organizations also love this culture. According to them it will reduce the cost of overheads spent for every new employee and also will reduce the attrition rate which is the most irritating problem faced by the organizations.
The concept of SOHO has reached to new heights. It has gained the confidence of employers and almost every job related to IT is being outsourced these days. The biggies like IBM, Dell or Oracle are further promoting this concept. They are outsourcing the projects and also coming up with software solutions or the devices that are best suited for this type of work environment. Now the distance is not the limiting factor to hire a potential employee. The advents of innovative technologies have made it possible to work with same efficiency and productivity as if sitting on desk at home. The very basic reasons for the success of such virtual offices can be accounted to the
Reduction of costs of infrastructure
Focus on core activities
Low cost of HR maintenance
Promotion to concept of Work-Life balance and many others like saving of work hours otherwise lost in commuting.
The trend is really steaming up with the involvement of many large companies and their bent to form virtual teams for the work to be done. It is estimated that by 2010 many companies will find their work done by virtual teams. With this the concept of SOLO enterprises also beefs up. In crux, it can be said that Future belongs to Virtual Workplaces.
