These days, more and more businesses are working virtually in some way or another, whether that be in a hybrid manner or completely remote. The most obvious benefit to having a remote business is from a financial aspect- if you don’t need to pay for a physical office, supplies, and utilities, why would you? Until recently, it was necessary to be in the same place as your employees and coworkers to run a business smoothly. However, we are in a new day and age with technology that allows for effective communication between people who are not in the same vicinity. More specifically, virtual offices are evolving and becoming readily available to the masses. 

A virtual office is an office space that enables employees to work from home (or any other location, depending on company policy). Not only does a virtual office save your company money, but it can allow for easy scalability for your operations. This is especially useful for new businesses that do not have the money to invest in a physical space. Flexibility is also a huge advantage. Being able to work anywhere that the WiFi can connect will put your company openings at the top of the list for job-seekers.

Here at Liquid Screen Design, we utilize a completely custom virtual office (powered by Gather) for our day-to-day work. Employees and guests can navigate through our office and communicate with each other using just their computer or mobile device. Each employee gets their own personal space that they can personalize to their liking and we are able to add things like arcade games, go-karts, and a pet park that features our employees’ furry friends! This space allows for office-like communication, and creative individuality.  

Now, let’s address some of the former hurdles to remote work and why they are no longer a problem with our virtual office technology. First, communication. It’s not a question that being face-to-face is most effective for human interaction. However, a video call is very close to the same thing. In the very recent “old days”, we had to send a link to invite someone to a video chat. But, what if the link got broken during the copy and paste? What if the attendee needs to change the meeting time and you have to regenerate your invite? It just wasn’t ideal for a quick chat or question. 

Another complaint about remote work is the extent of company culture that it allows for. Our custom virtual office allows for employee individuality through virtual space decoration, avatar personalization and as much (or as little) communication that you would want with each other. We hold company-wide team building exercises in our virtual office and encourage active participation in our staff group chat games. Despite being physically separated from each other, our employees actually feel quite comfortable with each other in the virtual workplace we’ve created. 

The last hurdle of remote work we’ve eliminated is the ease of accessibility of remote software. Our virtual office sits in its own internet tab on any computer - laptop, PC, tablet or smartphone. No app download necessary. You can keep your remote office bookmarked on your browser and join with the click of a button. Whether you are a new company, a currently-remote company looking to amp up your productivity, or an in-office looking to move to the digital world, we can help you build a custom workspace designed with your needs in mind.