Every year, thousands of businesses across Africa continue to expand their business model by incorporating digital technologies. The creation of a corporate website and hosts of social media page is fast becoming a norm as more African businesses continue to jostle for the opportunities provided in the digital space.
Beyond this impressive trend, coronavirus pandemic which has gotten to over 700,000 infections became the trigger for discourse surrounding remote work, virtual office and work from home.
A look at the Statistics on Remote Work
Prior to the coronavirus era, about 3.4% of people in the United States were working remotely on a full-time basis while 43% of U.S employees have had to work remotely at some point.
Some recent statistics around Africa shows the extent to which remote work, virtual work and work from home is sweeping across Africa.
- More than 50% of South African employees have some remote work experience.
- Over 500 million Africans (including employees) now have access to the internet.
- Remote work has seen a persistent growth of 44% over the last couple of years.
Everything seems to have Improved
Coronavirus has not only made working from home, remote work and virtual business a reality but a new normal.
Businesses are now compelled to optimise their back-end to give employees a nice digital environment to work and this also has its cost-saving benefits. Some organisations may be able to save rent, reduce energy expenses and achieve high productivity.
Remote work, therefore, presents that opportunity for individuals and corporate organisations to “kill multiple birds with one stone”. More employees are opting for remote work because of its flexibility and the huge potentials for managing their time efficiently.
It is apparent that the business environment has changed. Whether it will return to what it used to be prior to the coronavirus remains a subject for extensive debate. However, doing business in the wake of remote work suggests the following:
- Every business needs robust and efficient customer support digital architecture.
- The architecture must provide space for virtual, remote or online work by employees.
- Activities must be able to run seamlessly from start to finish on the digital space.
- Physical infrastructures such as traditional offices must be webbed into the operational flowchart of the remote work.
- The business or organisation must be digitally attentive, active and interactive to exploit opportunities that present.
Is your organisation positioned to lead?
For some business owners, the answer to this question could just be a simple Yes or No but that is a multi-billion dollar question that cannot be toyed with.
Failure to take advantage of the new trend could begin the slow process of market extinction. Technological revolution cannot be stopped, neither will it stop. This means businesses are left with three option, adapt, lead or die.
To position your organisation to lead, you need to have the right digital architecture in place. This includes a mix of software and hardware solution to power remote work. Also, capacity building must be at the forefront of the digital journey.
Processes need to be put in place. Reviewing your current business operations to incorporate protocols for online work is not a bad idea. Very importantly, you must not forget to make smart office adjustment. This is where having a remote office comes in.
With a remote office, you can carry out your business in any location while your remote office service provider handles all your correspondence management. There will be times where you still need a meeting room and these facilities are provided as required by your remote office service provider.
Box Office Hub provides a broad range of support service to power remote work. Subscribers are assigned a registered business address with efficient correspondence management, meeting rooms and loads of business development services. This is one of many innovative remote office service providers you can find in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa.