Make the Transition to Home-Based Business as Smooth as Possible

Something that some business owners are doing is moving away from offices and back into their homes to work remotely. This sounds like a counterintuitive move, but there are many benefits to this such as being able to cut the costs of operation and being agiler as a company. However, making the transition from office-based business to a home-based one can be tougher than you might imagine.

To make things easier, here are a few ways that can help you to make the transition much smoother. So whether you’re an SMB or a new startup, you’ll find this advice great if you want to switch to a remote workflow.

Devise a plan to equip your staff

Let’s face it, most of us don’t have the money or capital to afford to hand out laptops to our staff. If you want a truly remote workflow then this does mean that you can’t really afford to hand out equipment because where will your staff return it when they leave the company? As a result, you need to ensure that your staff are equipped not with physical tools and hardware, but cloud-based tools that they can use at home.

Think about remote desktop cloud applications, collaborative software such as Google Docs and handing out virtual licenses for applications such as Adobe’s Creative Cloud. This will be a different approach to what you’re used to, but it’s important to learn how you can equip your staff using computers they already own.

Planning the transition to a home-based business

In order to transition to a home-based business, you’ll need to change a lot of things such as your business address, phone number and so on. To help manage this transition, it’s a good idea to hire a receptionist, one such as Virtual Headquarters who can help manage your call volume and other concerns before you start the move. This will ensure that your business stays productive while you make the change.

You’ll also need to think about selling certain assets such as existing computers, office supplies and so on. With any luck, you’ll be able to make a considerable chunk of money that can be reinvested into your business. This money should ideally be used to equip your employees with software to make remote working easier.

Dealing with employee differences

Not every employee is going to enjoy the idea of working from home. In fact, many of your staff might consider leaving your company because they aren’t able to work efficiently from home. You can’t appeal to every member of staff, but luckily, you can at least hire from a larger pool of talent now that you aren’t limited to hiring locally.

However, it’s always a good idea to try and keep as many staff as possible. You may need to let your staff get used to working from home instead of making a sudden and drastic switch. Assist them in every way possible to ensure that they can cope with the changes in your workflow and still be as productive as they are in the office (or even more productive!).

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