final blogspot #3

TOPIC: THE VIRTUAL OFFICE (VO)

Question # 3

1. Describe or define VO.

-Virtual office is a term for shared office services, which normally includes business address, mail & courier services,phone services, fax services, answering services, web-hosting services, and meeting & conference facilities.

2. Distinguish VO from MIS.

-Certain providers of virtual office services will provide other in-house or outsourced services such as corporate secretarial services, accounting services, or legal services. Professional firms such as law firms and accounting firms often provide registered address services as part of their service offerings.

-While the MIS programme at Surrey has two important benefits that distinguish it from similar programmes elsewhere. Firstly, we offer you training in the SAP system, the world-leading enterprise software suite. SAP experience is in high demand but very difficult to get at the graduate level. Our alliance with SAP ensures that you will be thoroughly acquainted with this important software application. Secondly, this programme offers more business and management-orientated modules than any other MIS programme, to make sure you are fully aware of the core management functions: marketing, strategy and financial management.

3. Illustrate (give examples) how VO can improve company's competitive advantage and organizational performance.

Examples:

* transcription services
* desktop publishing
* internet research and marketing
* e-mail marketing
* event planning
* data entry
* telemarketing
* word processing
* editing/proofreading
* resume writing
* spreadsheets
* invoicing
* bookkeeping
* project management

Advantage:

-Human Communication. People in a hallway are collocated so they can easily interact one-on-one or in groups, just by walking next door, down the hall, or going out to lunch together (gratuitous communication). Sometimes, chance hallway interactions lead to main directions. Still, proximity is no substitute for communicating directions and deciding how to partition work. People on another floor, hallway, or in the same office but in another project or division can all be too far away to communicate with. Similarly, people are only one sort of information source; journals and now the web are increasingly excellent links to others with similar interests no matter the distance. There is no substitute for excellent people, careful planning, and good communication, whether in a centralized or virtual office.

Organizational Performance

-Recruitement and retension organizations adopt work-family practices to recruit and retain superior employees.Individual productivity is rarely measured directly but rather inferred from changes in employee attitudes and behaviors, such as organizational commitment, organizational citizenship behavior, and job satisfaction.Process efficiency is increased when employers are able to match demand for the organization's products or services to the hours that people work, thus allowing for variations in work intensity over the course of the day.

References:

1. ^ Holusha, John. "Commercial Property/Business Centers; Modern Office for Rent: Daily Rates Available." The New York Times. May 20, 2001.
2. ^ China Business Guide 2005 By Graham Earnshaw, Michael Pennington, Page 164.
3. ^ Telecommuting and Virtual Offices: Issues and Opportunities, By Nancy J. Johnson, Page 80, ISBN 1878289799
4. ^ http://www.chriskern.net/history/myWord.html