Advantages of Building Your Extended Tech Office

High-tech extended office spaces eliminate distractions and are designed to meet the evolving needs of remote work requirements. Unlike home workspaces, an extended tech office can be just what you need to invite collaboration and foster the exchange of ideas. Designed extended tech offices are equipped with modern technologies and various amenities that may not be readily available in traditional work environments. Co-working spaces involve people who are like-minded professionals, and they can add structure to work-life balance.   

The demand for shared office spaces is increasing in all metropolitan cities. Here is everything you need to know about the advantages of building your extended tech office. 

What are the benefits of building an extended tech office?

It's about taking control of your work environment and empowering your team to perform at their best.

Here is a list of the benefits of building an extended tech office for startups, SMEs, and companies:

• Improved Health and Hygiene

  Smart offices or extended-tech office solutions have emerged as catalysts of innovation. They have eliminated the need for physical contact with high-touch surfaces. From touchless interfaces that activate air conditioning panels, light switches, humidity controls, and more, extended-tech offices are revolutionizing the future of workplace health and wellbeing.

• Great Cost-Efficiency

  Despite the initial significant investment, automated energy optimization systems, intelligent lighting, and virtual office spaces can contribute to great cost-efficiency and savings. Extended tech office solutions can significantly reduce operational and maintenance costs, making them a preferred choice for optimizing resource utilization.

• Better Team Performance

  Modern startups these days struggle with resource allocation and management. In the case of project outsourcing, organizations have no clue about who is working on what project and their shared responsibilities. Building an extended tech office will unify views and bring fresh insights into the virtual office space. It puts everyone on the same page, helps track overall team performance, and holds members of the remote work team accountable. It also helps establish trust via transparent communications, helps meet deadlines, and increases real-time project management visibility. With enhanced team productivity and improved project performance, you can share ample real-world examples, highlight measurable outcomes, and showcase positive results. During VE presentations, you can display client testimonials and significantly impact teams and prospects.

• Scalability and Adaptability

  One of the best benefits of building distributed teams is that you can scale up or down your office as needed. There is no pressure, and you get 100% flexibility in choosing the right resources and members for your projects. Distributed team members are known to be adaptable and can work in various scenarios. Startups and SMEs can save significant costs in finding and hiring talent. You get broad access to a global skill base without commitment or resource lock-in issues. It's a modern way of ensuring innovation and helps businesses gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

• Data Security

  Data security is a top priority for companies, and extended tech offices provide a secure environment where data is protected and access is controlled. This instills a sense of security and control in your remote work culture.

Strategies for building a solid remote work culture

1. Define your company’s core values - Clearly articulate them and ensure they are being communicated and applied to every aspect of remote work management. From onboarding, training, employee recognition, performance optimization, and more, your company's core values must be instilled in your remote work strategies.
   
   
2. Stay connected - Provide the tools, resources, and support needed to ensure consistent and clear lines of communication. Mobile workers should have hotspots available to them, and it's advisable to get them dedicated devices like the Verizon Wireless Jetpack MiFi, FreedomPop Overdrive Pro, and others. Communication and collaboration tools like WorkflowMax help with all-in-one project management. You can use Creately for visual communication and reap remote work advantages using Google Drive and Slack integrations with your current workflows. Some of the best virtual communication and collaboration tools are free, but you can access premium features by paying for subscriptions. 
   
   
3. Migrate data storage to the cloud - Cloud-based file storage systems will become your best friend and give remote workers secure access to their data and applications. Online services like Dropbox, OneDrive, and Mega allow for the easy storage, sharing, saving, and editing of files. However, a few security risks are associated with using cloud storage, so it's essential to address them before investing in any of these services since security is a shared responsibility between the vendor and the user. We also suggest addressing compatibility issues with the existing server infrastructure that is known to host many legacy applications. 
   
   
4. Get organized - Missed deadlines, forgotten appointments, and lost work opportunities can cost your organization. You must be able to manage your time effectively and get things done. Many apps can fulfill your organizational requirements, including MyLife Organized, Organizer Pro, and MyOrganizer Ultimate. Apps like Google Calendar, Evernote, Trello, and Toodledo can help you take notes, set reminders, make appointments, and sync information across devices so you never miss out on them.
    

How do I manage a distributed team effectively?

As a manager, you are responsible for the well-being of your remote team members. Building a virtual team requires careful planning, and you will need to be available for feedback and receive remote direct reports. Consider having frequent 1:1 sessions with individual members to discuss their challenges. It is essential to hear from them, primarily if you haven't proactively engaged with them for a while. 

Make time for informal bonding outside your regular remote meetings. Many conversations don't happen organically inside the office, so it's crucial to be a bit more intentional about making them happen. All these efforts will later translate to improved remote work productivity, which will show in your upcoming milestones and projects. 

You can use apps like Discord or Slack to pair team members up for weekend coffee chats randomly. Create distributed workspace channels, schedule events, and send reminders about upcoming activities. Remote workers are known to work in different time zones, so it's essential to connect with them. Events like organizing charitable causes, baby showers, holiday parties, and yearly getaways can be a great way to meet up in person and engage with the whole team. Your employees will also learn that you appreciate them and feel valued. 

Take the time to send unexpected thank you emails and recognize accomplished work that is being done. Lastly, hold short meetings for big projects to blow off steam and share insights about what went right and wrong in them. This will give you a template to replicate and define better strategies for future project management. 

What our VE model recommends: You can use Excel Sheets to manage all your inventories and use a comprehensive CRM solution. Migrating remote workers to JIRA to manage projects at an advanced level is recommended. Monthly and quarterly business review meetings with customers are essential, and you can produce graphical charts to highlight success rates of project deliverables and team members' domain experiences.  

What are the challenges of building an extended tech office? 

1. Lack of software and security updates — Cross-border remote work challenges include a lack of regular software and security updates. Outdated technologies, workflows, and a lack of good maintenance standards can introduce serious data breaches. Using old software and equipment can lead to many vulnerabilities. 
   
   
2. Legal and tax compliance — Building a remote work team from different time zones and geographical locations can add legal compliance and taxation challenges. Different countries have different rules for navigating their compliance requirements. Non-compliance can tarnish a brand's reputation, invite lawsuits, and have legal repercussions. 
   
   
3. Legal and tax compliance — Building a remote work team from different time zones and geographical locations can add legal compliance and taxation challenges. Different countries have different rules for navigating their compliance requirements. Non-compliance can tarnish a brand's reputation, invite lawsuits, and have legal repercussions. 
   
   

How Clarion Can Help 

Clarion's insourcing model is unique and delivers the cost benefits of offshore pricing with high in-house development standards. Our VE management model helps you develop software without compromising quality or performance. It seamlessly integrates with your business operations, and our team will operate as an extension of your company. Our model ensures a tremendous cultural fit and leads to team cohesion, which is crucial for successfully completing long-term projects. Clarion's insourcing model creates an environment where talent thrives and delivers innovation. We have forged a strategic partnership with Microsoft AWS and Google Cloud, which means our clients get access to broad support that is not readily available. 

When you build an extended tech office with us, you hire a programmer who works with you full-time, like an employee working from your office. They double as a quality auditor and dedicate up to 40 hours per week minimum. We use multiple productivity tools to monitor their commitment to the project and ensure they stay on track. Clarion uses top-grading metrics to find the best quality people for your projects and offers a competitive advantage. We are known for our low turnover rates, and we can help you ramp up or down your extended tech office team with just two weeks of notice. We ensure 24/7 productivity and real-time communication and are adaptive to different time zones globally. You will receive daily timesheets, and we will leverage the latest project management technology to update you on recent developments. With over 400 skilled engineers available to build your extended tech office team, you get access to a diverse pool of talent, skill sets, and support. All our programmers are evaluated on KRAs and KPIs, and we assure a 40% weightage in terms of client satisfaction. We follow an Agile methodology and are happy to announce that we've incorporated Sonarcube, which helps continuously inspect code quality and automated bug reviews. We haven't had a single IP breach since 2000, and we also offer a full money-back guarantee for the first two weeks when you start using our services. 

Conclusion 

Managing hybrid remote work teams can be challenging but rewarding if done right. There are many remote work benefits; however, good communication and collaboration are the cornerstones for great remote team building. Just optimize your systems and follow up with team members regularly.  

You can contact us for more useful remote work management tips. We can help you build offshore development teams and hire remote workers for your upcoming projects. Contact Clarion Technologies now to learn more.