10/25/2010

Who Needs an Office? A Virtual Office Will Do.

Name: Davinci Virtual Office
Rating: 4.3

Cisco just released an intriguing international workplace study. The tech industry giant reveals three of five workers around the world believe that they do not need to be in the office anymore to be productive.

In fact, their desire to be mobile and flexible in accessing corporate information is so strong that the same percentage of workers would choose jobs that were lower-paying but had leniency in accessing information outside of the office over higher salaried jobs that lacked flexibility.

According to Cisco, these and numerous other findings provide real-life insight into the expectations, demands, and behavior of the global workforce that is influencing the way information is accessed and how business communications are changing.

The stage is set for the continued rise of the virtual office. Here are some key findings from The Cisco Connected World Report:

The study, which involved surveys of 2,600 workers and IT professionals in 13 countries, revealed that three of every five employees (60 percent) believed it was unnecessary to be in the office to be productive. This was especially the case in Asia and Latin America. More than nine of 10 employees in India (93 percent) said they did not need to be in the office to be productive. This sentiment was extremely prevalent in China (81 percent) and Brazil (76 percent) as well.

Two of every three employees surveyed (66 percent) expect IT to allow them to use any device—personal or company-issued—to access corporate networks, applications, and information anywhere at any time, and they expect the types of devices to continue diversifying. In the future, employees expect their choice of network-connected endpoints to broaden to non-traditional work devices like televisions and navigation screens in cars.

It may be unnecessary to be in the office to be productive, but you still need some sort of connection with the office. That’s where the virtual office comes in. Virtual office space is part and parcel of the alternative workplace strategies of many companies around the world. From New York to Los Angeles to Chicago and beyond, companies are turning to virtual office space to allow employees the freedom to telecommute or work remotely.