The intangibles are often overlooked, but are important to consider when making technology investments.
Sometimes its good to change your view, even if you stay in touch.
As a small business owner, manager or executive it can be difficult to get away. I’m not talking about a two week vacation to Hawaii. Sometimes it can be difficult to get away long enough to make it to your child’s ballgames or activities. You don’t want to miss that call. You can’t miss a meeting. What if that prospect tries to reach out to you and your not “at work.” Fortunately, times have changed. You don’t always have to go to the office, because now you can bring the office with you.
Being “At Work”
Unified communications is allowing businesses of all sizes to take advantage of the ability to work from anywhere. Being “at work” is more of a state of mind than a geographical location. High bandwidth connectivity, cloud-based applications and mobile telephony are bringing your office to you. Whether you choose to implement teleworking and allow employees to work from home full time, or you create flexible policies that enable such work on an as needed basis, you now have more options than ever to manage your business with more flexibility.
Increase Productivity, Employee Satisfaction
Being tied to the office can be stressful. And never getting out of the office, missing family events, etc only compounds the stress of running a business. Getting away helps relieve some of your stress, promotes creativity and ultimately increases productivity. This is certainly beneficial as a business owner or executive, but is also a benefit for your employees. Creating a culture where your employees don’t stress as much when their child gets sick, because they know their employer will allow them to work remotely increases employee satisfaction and retention.
These are the intangible benefits that many decision makers don’t think about when implementing technology solutions. Yes, there are many features that allow for improved call routing, customer service response, etc. However, the real human benefits that are associated with these technologies are far greater than you may ever realize.
