IMGCAP(1)]For those of us who work from home or know someone who does, its easy to see why.
Being a remote worker has a lot of benefits little or no commuting time, the ability to time shift when needed, keeping a job when you have to move away, and more. The mobile workforce is expected to grow to 1.2 billion people (one-third of the existing global workforce) by 2013, according to IDC Research.
Yet with this increase in acceptance comes a corresponding increase in expectations for these workers, especially in the accounting and financial industries. Telecommuters are required to display the same level of professionalism as their office-bound colleagues, particularly in their interactions with co-workers, business partners and clients. However, if they are not using effective technology, this can be a seemingly insurmountable task.
Here are some ideas on how you can be sure youre presenting a top-notch, professional image by replacing inadequate consumer technologies with affordable tools designed specifically for those accounting professionals working in a small agency setting or home office.
Portray a big company image with a virtual phone service that routes calls for you. Whether youre using a mobile phone, your home phone or a second landline, having calls come directly to your phone makes your accounting firm appear small and casual. The better choice is a virtual phone service for small business. This type of service, which you can usually find for around $10 per month, offers a number of corporate phone-like features, such as a virtual receptionist that answers calls with a professional greeting, enhanced voicemail, smart call forwarding that allows you to forward calls to any phone you choose (such as your mobile phone or home phone) when youre away from the office, and even the ability to establish regular office hours by switching to an after-hours greeting when its time to shut down.
The virtual phone system lets you give clients and prospects one toll-free or local phone number to call, and then use extensions to reach anyone within the company, whether theyre inside the building, working from their home office or across the country. Either way, youll give the appearance of working in a downtown high rise rather than remotely.
Replace the fax machine with an Internet fax service. While theyre rare in some small business settings, faxes are still a fact of life for those in the accounting and financial industries. But its not efficient for telecommuters to have important faxes tied to a single fax machine. Sending and receiving faxes today is as simple as using a smartphone application.
For roughly $10 per month, an Internet fax service sends and receives faxes online anywhere you have an Internet connection. Theres never a busy signal, and instant notifications allow remote workers to know exactly when a fax arrives. If youre working on a team, faxes can be delivered to multiple e-mail addresses at the same time, or forwarded to multiple recipients.
Documents sent by fax are usually urgent and important. An Internet fax service can help enhance your professional image by staying on top of faxes.
Be present via video. The phrase out of sight, out of mind is one that many remote accountants know. Sure, you can call in to a meeting, but when a lot is happening, or a whiteboard is being used, it can be tough to keep up.
A better way to go is to call in via video. With the right video conferencing application, and a co-worker willing to point a laptop in the right direction, you can establish more of a presence at the meeting, read facial reactions and body language, and participate more fully in conferences. If you need to share information from your computer, many of these applications can help you do that too.
These applications may not have all the video or audio quality or features of the large corporate systems. But theyre available free or for very little cost. And just the effort makes you look more professional.
Move applications and services online. One of the most frustrating parts of being a mobile worker is the need to become an IT expert. Losing time and having your technology crash while you try to troubleshoot hardware or software problems doesnt do much for your image, or for your time management.
Today you can solve that by using Web services that are managed by someone else. Your office suite, storage, security, phone system, faxes, accounting software, and just about anything else are available these days, either free or for a low monthly subscription.
The nice thing about this model is that your entire accounting firm can go with you when youre on the road, eliminating cost and maintenance headaches. As long as you can get an Internet connection, you can access your files, work on documents, share information and more from any PC or smart phone just as though you were in the office.
The expectations for the professionalism of mobile workers have been raised. Make sure youre ready to meet them by using communications tools that provide the level of quality of a large corporation. Without all the downsides of corporate life.
Steve Adams is the vice president of marketing for
