Is your organization ready for the future of workspace virtualization?  With real estate costs representing a company’s second largest expenditure and mobile workforce numbers rising  (according to IDC, 75 percent of the U.S. workforce will be involved is some type of remote work by 2012), enterprises are exploring alternative workspaces for employees, opening the door for Virtual Campuses and Virtual Offices.

As PGi’s VP of Global Strategic Sales, I hear similar pains from our world’s leading global enterprises as it relates to this issue:

• How can I reduce my capital expenditure investments in corporate real estate?
• How can I compensate for the lack of office space and conference rooms within my company?
• How do I leverage technology for the needs of the virtual office worker?
• How do I maintain or increase productivity within my organization with a large proportion of my workforce being virtual office workers?
• How are other large global enterprises addressing these pains?

Luckily, the rise of mobile collaboration technologies have made these challenges easier to address.  Global enterprises need virtual meeting tools that allow for meetings anytime, anywhere and with anyone.  The IT organization along with executives want one solution that meets the needs of their employees and is easy to manage.  End users want simple and intuitive solutions that allow them to get their job done well and make meaningful connections globally.  With these tools you can have a virtual office anywhere in the world.

Here at PGi we have dedicated 20 years to improving people’s virtual meeting experiences and today we host over four million meetings every month for businesses around the world, including 75 percent of the Fortune 100.  Our industry leading iMeet^® and GlobalMeet^® products allow organizations to conduct business from anywhere in the world so that they can focus on the job at hand, and not on the technology.

The benefits of reducing an enterprise’s real estate footprint and employing a mobile workforce strategy are many:

• Cost savings – Gartner estimates the cost of workspace for one employee at $8,000 – $14,000 annually.  That means organizations can save $1 million annually just by eliminating 100 workspaces.
• Greater worker productivity – According to a survey commissioned by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), 67 percent of survey respondents said their organization has experienced greater worker productivity as a result of allowing employees to telecommute, either full- or part-time.
• Increased job satisfaction – On average, teleworking generates a 20 percent decrease in employee turnover according to the International Telework Association and Council.
• Decreased commute time – According to the Telework Exchange, Americans commuting to and from work results in 3.7 billion hours of lost productivity costing the U.S. $63.1 billion in wasted time and fuel annually.
• Improved carbon footprint – Reduction in an organization’s office space combined with an increase in teleworkers not only reduces the energy consumed by the physical office space, but also decreases the carbon emissions from the cars during the commute.

What is your organization doing to address and support the rising virtual office worker?

Thanks to Deloitte and International Facility Management Association (IFMA)  for information used in this post. Photo courtesy of greggmorris.com

Jan Correll is a proven sales leader with over 20 years’ experience helping build solid sales strategies.  For the last 12 years she has held a Senior Sales leadership role at PGi assisting large global enterprises with their communication and collaboration strategies.