How do I identify and justify teams within my organisation that could operate as a remote team?

The two elements of this paper look at simple broad terms that can be applied to help you identify if remote team working has a place within the organisation and justify further investigation.

What is remote team working? Where a team of people can work from different locations and still perform the functions they did when office based.

Identifying teams We would always recommend looking to identify more than one team initially, but no more than four.

The following factors will help:

1. Interaction with other departments or customers/suppliers What information is exchanged both internally and externally, including within the team?

2. Level of physical exchange - What physical information, paper-based or objects are received or sent? (For example; design documents or physical design model).

3. Level of physical team interaction Do the team need to work on a physical object together?

4. Frequency All of the above should be considered as to how often this will happen? Dont plan around the infrequent activities.

5. Other factors Look to see if any other factors need to be considered.

Justification The following factors will need to be considered as justification for any form of remote team deployment.

Present location costs Factors to be considered should include property as well as services costs and also include costs of Utilisation for facilities.

More information on a breakdown of these areas can be found in a seperate article of mine 'Understanding the true cost of corporate office space'

Setup costs

This should include the following:

a. Providing a home office.

b. Maintaining the equipment or service costs.

c. Management additional costs, travel or hours.

d. Training Both management and staff.

e. Procedures changing procedures to work in the new environment.

f. Personnel Adopting new policies and procedures.

g. Meetings Hire of premises or new communal/meeting areas maybe required.

Potential savings a. Office space If desks are no longer required office space can be reduced.

b. Property and service costs Reduction in office space will also reflect in the reduction of service costs.

c. Disaster recovery and business continuity plan Because your team is no longer centralised, the risk of disasters are reduced and should reflect in lower requirements of your recovery plan.

d. Staff turnover Better work life balance and other factors will reduce the loss of key staff.

e. Recruitment Because you are no longer geographically restricted you can hire the right skills for the business.

f. Workforce flexibility - You will have the ability to build your team around the needs of the customer and provide a better service, while keeping costs down.

g. Productivity Statistics show that a remote team, well managed will out perform an office based team.

Conclusion It is recommended that a short study is commissioned to look at potential within any organisation and identify an appropriate project that will bring cost savings and increased productivity.