With the forecasted 72% of teleworking by 2020, it was only natural to discuss the phenomenon at the Management Café in MIM. Olha Svyrydenko, the head of the Microsoft training programs in CEE countries, the keynote speaker of the meeting was covering the cutting edge remote workplace management tools whereas Prof. Vyacheslav Pokotylo, MIM’s VP voiced common sense reservations by saying “Savings on the brick-and-mortar offices will be spent on the new cloud technologies, software, communication tools, you mention it. It doesn’t come for free”.

Regardless of all fears, virtual teams are here. In Ukraine 1 teleworking position is matched by 2 – 4 traditional positions. The trend for reducing actual presence is here as 35% of businesses with less than 10 employees prefer teleworking.

Olha shared her experience of managing international virtual teams. According to her, it should be based on the simple but unbreakable rules: clear goals, frequent communications, and celebrating the wins. “Managing virtual teams is rather risky. Things that work in real-life mode may fail. If something does not work, it usually gets worse in virtual reality.” Olha paid special attention to the fact that trust is critical for teleworking. All virtual team members have to be extremely disciplined and organized.