VR(&)Working
Office alternatives and VR
If you could be working anywhere, where would you?
In the age of digital nomads, there is almost absolute freedom as to where to work: a beach, your bedroom, the nearest coffeehouse, a library, the park….or virtual reality?! It usually takes a (portable) wifi connection and you’re good to go.
However, with all these options open to you, which is the best for you? There are just a few factors to consider, for example costs, communication possibilities, networking opportunities, flexibility and scalability……
Keep reading for a short overview of office alternatives — and where a VR office fits in.
Traditional office — The standard.
The image is that of stuffy meeting rooms and small cubicles. The traditional office is ill-reputed, but still the most common option for an office. While meetings can be held quite flexibly and privately and the design can be adapted easily, high establishment and maintenance costs as well as limited scalability, networking and communication opportunities are difficult to ignore. Considering this, one might ask why traditional offices are still a thing…
Co-working spaces — The new normal.
Sharing an office with other people, teams, even firms has become the new standard. The merits are obvious: flexibility regarding your office location and costs depending on your needs, plus great networking opportunities on a daily basis to top it off. However, since the space is not yours, privacy, adaptability and scalability are restricted and communication might be hampered by the daily commotion a common working space entails.
Café — The hip alternative.
Soft music in the background, a fresh brew whenever you desire it — cafés have become a viable and quite popular alternative to traditional offices. For the price of a cup of coffee, you get access to a casual network and wifi access — on a daily basis, sometimes even 24/7. However, your seat is not secure and, given the usual commotion level, the restrictions to privacy and expansion, there is only so much you can do in a café…
TV conferencing — A screen is enough.
A meeting on the go? No problem — just have a TV conference! No restrictions to space and easy multi-member meetings at minimal costs are the main benefits for this office alternative. However, if you would like an actual space to meet face-to-face at some point, or network, better look elsewhere.
Virtual Reality —The future(?).
Put on your headset and off you go. Anywhere, anytime. Low establishment and maintenance costs, communication on your terms, networking on a global level, spatial flexibility and unlimited expansion, no issues with privacy… — do you need any more reasons?
Certainly, for each user, convenience, comfort and circumstances are different.
Freelancers might be attracted by the funkiness and flexibility of co-working spaces or cafes, large enterprises might be drawn to traditional offices that protect their privacy and that they can furnish with their brand imagery.
However, whether it’s IT ventures that want to change their way of working, freelancers who want to connect with people but don’t have the budget to rent co-working spaces or even large enterprises that want to cut down on office space — all of them can be serviced by a VR office.
With this immense potential, we are looking forward to seeing how far we can take our COMN! Stay tuned for more updates and information!
