Embracing Remote Working

As CEO at Incognito Worldwide, a subsidiary of Inicia Incorporated, I’ve been working remotely since 2000. So, when COVID-19 hit the USA and companies scrambled, we’d been prepared for years. Here are some tips.

No doubt, working remotely vs. in-office working both have benefits and drawbacks. For twenty years, I had to work from a central location while in the logistics business. Coordinating freight transportation nationwide for clients required centralized information and spur-of-the-moment adjustments. This was before the Internet changed life as we know it, and we were also managing 250,000 SF of warehousing simultaneously. So we had to be there. Our team benefited from being in the same place and able to communicate at a moment’s notice. At the same time, being indoors with fluorescent lighting drained me.

When I began building software and marketing teams and offering digital-based services to clients, we had to rethink our approach.

My business partner Mario and I established our technology team in Buenos Aires, Argentina. But then, while in India for a project, I also set up a marketing agency in Bangalore. And even in Bangalore, while most of our team worked out of a 5,000-square-foot office, a few of us often worked out of the cafe on the corner.

Because I worked remotely, while Mario, Kiran, and others preferred the office, you might envision me always in jeans and T-shirts. I am, most of the time. But it doesn’t mean I never wear a jacket when attending business functions.

It took years of trial and error for me to be able to operate completely remote, oversee our teams on three different continents, and accommodate clients around the world. Clearly, communication and management technology would be a core foundation we needed to develop to operate effectively.

So our shortlist of platform tools would have to include:

• Billing and accounting
• Project management
• Subscription management
• Sales and marketing campaigns
• Video conferencing, and
• Team management — planning, scheduling, and progress management

Working remotely allowed us to enjoy a flexible schedule. The office is mentally better for some, while being free to sit where one chooses is better for others. Some days, I’d work from a cafe, and other days, from the beach. Flexibility also meant that people could work around their daily lives rather than living around their work lives.

Our India team would take a company working vacation every year to Goa, India, where we’d work three hours a day, and then enjoy free time the rest of the day, relaxing on the Arabian Sea. View images

During COVID-19, many companies were ‘forced’ to adopt a remote workplace. There are mental health implications that may affect some. Working remotely can be less social, as you don’t get to start your day with colleagues. Not going out to lunch, or taking a coffee break together, and catching up on personal lives. Still, while in Cancun, Mexico, I’ve met a few foreigners with whom I’ve since established friendships. I suspect those friendships will last long after COVID-19 is gone and I move to my next nesting spot.

However, be aware that embracing remote working also means defining schedules and setting goals and priorities. You’re no longer together to communicate new thoughts, questions, or suggestions, so you need to hone a structured pipeline to manage work and ideas.

If you’d like to retool your company to be more effective as a remote-based company, we can help. Reach out, and let’s discuss. We can steer you to the best-of-breed online tools and can assist in setting up and deploying them.