Over the past 6 months, COVID-19 has totally turned life as we knew it upside down. Some businesses have been forced to close their doors and others have elected to allow their staff to work from home where they can.
Now the government is encouraging people to return to the office, do we really need to or has the time away made us question the need for an office altogether?
Effective Communication
With the transition from everyone working in the office to everyone working remotely happening almost overnight, the pressure was really put on our digital communication systems to handle the huge increase in traffic. During the first few months these systems, and the way they were used within business’, evolved and developed into a much more efficient communication network that now, could be argued, is more productive than face to face. Before COVID it was more often than not, felt that having a dedicated office big enough for everyone was necessary. This was mainly due to the fact that it adds some form of validity to a company when scrutinized by prospective clients and that it allows the team to work collaboratively on projects and tasks. What this forced separation has done, however, is made everyone aware that with the right tools, IT systems, and effective communication you do not need a large physical space to deliver a high-quality service to your customers.
Digital Consultancies
Zeit as a business takes pride in the fact that it can offer the same level of service to a client 1 mile away as it can to a client 1000 miles away and has shown that, with customers spread all around the country, it is able to do this. 85% of the communication between Zeit and its clients is done via phone, email, or video conference and I’m sure they consider the location of Zeit and its team to be irrelevant, provided the communication is effective and they receive the support they need.
Going forward it will be interesting to see what happens to the marketplace for small business premises and if there is an increase in demand for managed offices that are more flexible and require less of a commitment than leased premises.
Perhaps going forwards, we will see more acceptance of de-centralised engineering service providers?
