“Change is inevitable. Change is constant”

By Mark Annett

Benjamin Disraeli once said ‘Change is inevitable. Change is constant’.  You can’t escape change and resisting the inevitable generally leads to disaster. In this instance I am referring to cloud-based computing which has become pervasive as a technology and business tool. In particular cloud-based CRM which encompasses the all-important sales, marketing and service functions in your organisation, allowing your staff to be in touch 24/7 from any location. Cloud computing drastically altered the business landscape in that more organisations are allowing staff to work remotely. Office space requirements in companies are shrinking as offices essentially become virtualised. I believe that this makes people more efficient and more productive for numerous reasons, i.e. no commute, cost savings on fuel more hours in the day etc. And of course the working environment becomes more enjoyable. There are of course some potential downsides, the most obvious being that there is less interaction with co-workers but this can be solved by having regular meetings at a convenient location such a s a rented boardroom or coffee shop for more informal meetings of only a couple of people. Not all people are suited to a virtual office environment either, such as receptionists in organisations that receive visitors and showroom staff and the like. Some people are also not disciplined or responsible enough to work remotely without someone monitoring that they do actually work. The glue that holds the virtual office concept together though is a cloud-based CRM solution whereby workers have everything they need at their fingertips and managers can monitor what work is actually being done to appropriate levels of productivity.