In this episode, we delve into the dynamics of a full-remote team, exploring the transition from traditional office structures to virtual collaboration using platforms. The composition of a typical full-remote team includes virtual assistants, customer support teams, web developers, and a digital marketing team. We'll emphasize the challenges and rewards of remote work, highlighting tools that address communication, engagement, and project management.
Hi there! It’s Adam from Outsource HQ again. In today’s episode, we give you the full picture of what a full-remote team looks like. It has its challenges, and it has its perks and rewards.
At the office, your team are at their respective desks and departments. People set meetings at your conference room. They go to each other to deliver documents or to ask questions. Lunch can double as a meeting on peak days, or it’s everyone going to the cafeteria or break area on their own time.
And what happens when your team goes remote?
Desks disappear but the departments remain. Maybe you’re on Slack now, and every team has its own channel. Meetings are set on Zoom, Google Meet, or on Slack’s Huddle. You have a Drive for documents. You have a secure dropzone like Sendsafely to keep things compliant. You get organized with central folders and communication platforms so nothing slips through the cracks.
And while you’re flexible, you stick to a fixed schedule. You standardize clock-in tools and policies on attendance.
Transition from office to remote can be really smooth. We have guides on that, too. And for some businesses, they don’t even establish an in-office team at all. Their startup goes straight to full-remote.
So who is in your full-remote team?
You’d have your VAs and Customer Support team. Customer support has been remote for decades, the major if not the biggest chunk of the offshore BPO industry when it started. For full-remote teams, VAs handle your operations, keeping things organized for the rest of your team. They work both internally by supporting your team, and externally with customer-facing tasks, like your live chat and helpdesk management.
Web developers are practically the backbone of digital. Remote devs keep everything running smoothly on your websites and platforms.
Speaking of websites, your digital marketers, SEO specialists, content writers and graphic designers work together for the content of those sites and your social media.
If you’re a B2B or B2C business, that’s the ideal composition of your full-remote team. To sum up:
Every business is different, of course, and if you’re a law firm or a real estate agency, for example, you’d have people or teams dedicated to certain tasks that still can’t be done remotely. But you can have a full-remote team supporting your office team, and they’d be perfectly capable of keeping your clients happy and helping you stay ahead of your competitors in the digital age.
A full remote team does have challenges
Though platforms meant for remote teams address the challenges instantly. Slack is amazing as a collaboration and communication tool. Every team and every task can have its own channel. Tools like ClickUp and Trello help teams keep track of specific projects and timelines. And within these tools, you can establish culture.
It doesn’t have to be all work and no play. You can have a Slack channel just for hanging out and chatting when the work’s done. Have regular meetings to check in and to keep everyone in the loop, about the business and special achievements you want to acknowledge and reward.
Full-remote teams can and do have a sense of belonging. Isolation and lack of communication are easily resolved before they even happen. The tools we have now are phenomenal in keeping full-remote teams engaged, not just with each other but in their work. We have an entire gamut of time tracking, scheduling, communication, project management, and helpdesk platforms to make remote work streamlined and perhaps even more transparent than for in-office teams.
If you’re on the fence about hiring a full-remote team or transitioning your team to hybrid or a full-remote setup, think of the cons in your head. Chances are, more than one solution for it is already available, just waiting for you to utilize it.