A lot of firms start out as virtual companies, but as they grow, they move into office space. It turns out there are advantages to staying virtual, however. We explain some of them.
Modern technology has enabled more working professionals to telecommute, whether they’re working for traditional companies or progressive companies. Their employers may maintain dedicated office space for each employee nevertheless. Alternatively, there may be shared workspaces that are not assigned to any one employee.
Over the past couple of decades, technology and societal changes have enabled the rise of virtual companies. Those that succeed have some kind of “secret sauce,” which differs from organization to organization.
“If you’re a virtual company, you have to work differently than if you were in an office,” said Bjorn Freeman-Benson, CTO at product design platform provider InVision. “We have to deliberately coordinate our work. And because we’re deliberate, we scale more easily. We’ve got 250 – 300 employees now.”
Worldwide talent pool
Virtual companies tend to be distributed by default because the talent is spread out over several geographic locations. As they grow, one of two things happens: They either move into office space because they’re unable to operate efficiently, or they stay virtual by placing more emphasis on talent than where that talent resides. New York-based InVision has employees in Montana, Argentina, and other locations, for example.
Results trump time
Managing a virtual workforce can be challenging, especially if it’s done in a traditional context, not only meaning 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, but scenarios where an employee might work 40 hours one week and many more or fewer the following week.
His company uses Slack for collaboration. Within Slack, the company has set up different channels so that salespeople can go to a virtual “deal desk” before extending an offer. Similarly, if a customer wants to know what InVision’s security policies are, a salesperson can tap into the security channel.
Some structure is good
Virtual companies often have less formal reporting structures, but not always. For example, Disney-focused MickeyTravels has a two-founder husband-and-wife team and 115 contract travel agents. Some of those travel agents have additional responsibilities, such as managing a group of contract agents or training agents.
Apparently, the business model is working well because MickeyTravels is one of the most successful Disney travel agencies in the world, being among only 12 Disney Platinum agencies.
