Anyway, who needs an office?

Anyway, who needs an office? Can you use a mobile office?

Offices are needed in order to:
a. enable people to work on the documents delivered to or created in the office
b. house filing cabinets for files, documents and other papers
c. provide a demonstration or showcase of products for potential clients to see and touch (where it is impossible to take them to the prospective client)
d. facilitate the movement of papers and files between all the staff
e. facilitate exchange of information and ideas between members of staff
f. enable delegation of work and subsequent monitoring and motivation of staff
g. monitor the timeliness of staff attendance
h. provide a central focus for the telephone switchboard
i. provide meeting rooms for both internal and external meetings
j. house the office computer network
k. show to potential clients the commitment to providing a service to them locally
l. enable the production process for the finished goods to be supplied to the customer eg a workshop or surgery need
So the question is do we really NEED our office or can we organise to work without one?

Let's take each one in turn.
a. 'enable people to work on the documents delivered to or created in the office,' so if we could eliminate physical documents by receiving them electronically we wouldn't need a permanent office as the electronic documents (or scanned images) could be made available anywhere

b. 'house filing cabinets for files, documents and other papers,' similarly if the documents are held electronically then the actual paper documents can be archived in a safe location, which can be any good storage facility so we wouldn't need an office

c. 'provide a demonstration or showcase of products for potential clients to see and touch (where it is impossible or difficult to take them to the prospective client or to a remote location)' Yes we may need a showroom office, though it could be mobile or temporary

d. 'facilitate the movement of papers and files between all the staff,' if the documents are all held electronically then staff do not need to come into the office to work on them as they can access them wherever they are

e. 'facilitate exchange of information and ideas between members of staff,' crucially important, electronic communication may be beneficial, 'eye' contact is important, meetings are necessary and can be held wherever is convenient for the people involved, and they can be held in 'the office' or anywhere else

f. 'enable delegation of work and subsequent monitoring and motivation of staff,' monitoring is usually based on management information which can be gathered electronically, so the delegation of work, training and motivation will probably need personal contact and that can be done either in 'the office' or elsewhere

g. 'monitor the timeliness of staff attendance' may not be so important because the management role moves from being in part a time-based activity to one of measuring achievement, that is ' has the work been done, is it good quality etc' and this may not need an office

h. 'provide a central focus for the telephone switchboard,' previous technology has required telephone lines to be physical cables or wiring whereas with the latest technology telephone calls can be delivered via 'WiFi' to a computer, similarly the switchboard operator could be a virtual-assistant service based anywhere, running your telephone 'network' through thin air,

i. 'provide meeting rooms for both internal and external meetings,' these do not necessarily have to be at a permanent office

j. 'house the office computer network' this will still be the case where there is an office though the network should be much simpler because the primary network is the Internet rather than an in-house network

k. 'show to potential clients the commitment to providing a service to them locally,' this will depend on the type of services provided and how they are provided, the crucial element is to demonstrate personal and corporate commitment to the potential customer and this may be possible without having a 'local' office.

l. 'enable the production process for the finished goods to be supplied to the customer', this is closer to being a manufacturing process save that for creative activities the working environment is an 'office' style rather than a factory and therefore an 'office' is important.

In summary therefore:
a. enable people to work on the documents delivered to or created in the office - No office needed
b. house filing cabinets for files, documents and other papers - No office needed
c. provide a demonstration or showcase of products for potential clients to see and touch (where it is impossible to take them to the prospective client) - Yes office needed
d. facilitate the movement of papers and files between all the staff - No office needed
e. facilitate exchange of information and ideas between members of staff - No office needed
f. enable delegation of work and subsequent monitoring and motivation of staff - No office needed
g. monitor the timeliness of staff attendance - No office needed
h. provide a central focus for the telephone switchboard - No office needed
i. provide meeting rooms for both internal and external meetings - No office needed
j. house the office computer network - No office needed
k. show to potential clients the commitment to providing a service to them locally - Yes possibly needed
l. enable the production process for the finished goods to be supplied to the customer - Yes office needed

So the core needs for having an office are to:
 provide a facility for the demonstration or showcase of products for potential clients to see and touch, where it is impossible to take them to the prospective client
 show to potential clients the commitment to providing a service to them locally - Yes possibly
 enable the production process for the finished goods to be supplied to the customer(Note this only affects the people directly involved in these particular functions.)

The conclusion must be that we each need to review in detail every individual element of how we run our businesses as to precisely why each function needs to be carried out in an office.

So it's back to the traditional 'Who, what, why, when, where and how", this time the first question is where. It may be possible nowadays for the business to be run without an office or with a much smaller one.

The benefits which I think may be attainable are:
- lower costs
- no commuting or less commuting for staff, leading to reduced travel costs and providing a better quality of life
- convenience of not having to go into the office all the time to get the information you need, leading to a better quality of life
- information readily to hand and thus better customer service, better cashflow control and improved productivity
- freedom to work from anywhere, anytime with a broadband link, leading to a better quality of life

What am I missing, will it work for you, what do you need, what are the downsides. Best regards, Cliff

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