This is an interesting report just released by the CBI suggesting that over the next 10 years there will be a significant change in the structure of the UK workforce brought about by a whole variety of factors from recession through to environmental considerations.
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) predicts a significant increase in the number of freelance workers in the UK as a result of changes to the way businesses operate over the next ten years. In its recent 'The Shape of Business: The Next 10 Years' report the CBI claims that flexible working will become the norm for many firms, which will lead to businesses employing a smaller core of permanent staff and a larger number of freelancers.
Actually the Internet is at the route of the changes which are afoot here. The internet and Cloud Computing gives rise to a much more flexible way of working. Individuals are now able to offer their talents and services to a wide audience through the Internet. Social Media sites provide the communication highway where people can hook up from literally anywhere across the globe.
People wishing to escape the corporate rate race or exchange a lifestyle, for example in London suburbia can uproot clear off to Cornwall and obtain a much higher quality of life and work collaboratively through the Internet. People are waking up to the possibilities of working where and when they want and there has been a vast increase in the availability of freelancers for just about any service or product that you could want for.
As Cloud computing takes hold within the Small and Medium sized business sector the ability to outsource tasks (via web based systems) will accelerate the process of hiring independent qualified freelancers rather than hiring staff. Debt collecting, Bookkeeping, Data cleansing and Business Administration will all be performed virtually over the web, reducing costs and improving efficiency. Whereas improved communications will mean Training, Graphic Design, Legal work, translation services and copywriting to name but a few can all be done from just about anywhere.
Small and Medium sized businesses will hungrily adopt this flexibility as a sensible way to manage staff levels (and costs) whilst retaining growth and profit potential and many tasks will be undertaken by people never met before, save on Social Networking sites such as Facebook or Linked-In. The importance of Social Networking and the availability of information will enable people to evaluate the suitability of new business partners in ways never seen before... but beware this is a double edged sword... lack of information of worse still 'bad information' could be highly damaging too!
Secondary factors like environmental considerations, reductions in journeys, less CO2, less wasted time in traffic hold ups, will push the use of new communication techniques such as Video conferencing and even simple free products such as Skype.
The Business world is definately changing, slowly at the moment but over the next 10 years a significant number of Small and Medium sized business owners will have made the switch to Cloud Computing and will be enjoying the Location Independent lifestlye that goes with 21st century business management.
Click here for the full CBI - Report on the shape of Business in the next 10 years
As a virtual assistant this is a very interesting article. So much can be done over the net now that actually travelling to a place of work is not always necessary.
www.onlineva.co.uk
Posted by: Clare Axon-Saunders | December 01, 2009 at 08:22 PM