Reimagining Remote Teams Solutions in Technology – 2024

The future is not just around the corner; it’s right here, right now. And unsurprisingly, it’s remote.

The tech industry is known for pioneering change. It is once again at the helm, this time, leading the charge in reimagining the workplace through remote teams – even as the year of 2024 approaches.

According to Forbes, the Computer and IT industry takes the crown as the top industry for remote teams solutions as of 2023. Vox pointed out that smaller tech companies are using remote work as a draw for top talent. This was leading them to be able to compete with industry giants. Meanwhile, larger tech companies have shifted to a hybrid work model for better communication. Era Biz Solutions is a company that mostly follows a remote work approach. Therefore we wanted to explore the opportunities and challenges of remote work as of 2024.

What is Remote Work?

Remote work is defined as “situations where the work is fully or partly carried out on an alternative worksite other than the default place of work”.

International Labour Organization (ILO)

ILO also points out that there are four similar sub concepts of mobile working:

1. Remote working which does not necessarily have to be from home given it is not at the main workplace.
2. Teleworking which involves remote team members working with the use of ICT (information and communications technology) or even a landline telephone.
3. Work-from-home where the remote worker considers their home the default workspace and has a home office of sorts.
4. Home-based which is mostly works-from-home with a mixture of alternative locations as well.

However, all these sub concepts are called ‘remote work’ as an overall umbrella term in general. In most countries like Sri Lanka though, remote work is limited to Work-from-home.

The Rise of Remote Teams

The classic 9-to-5 workday, with its hour-long commutes and office banter, is undergoing a transformation. Today, technology has blurred the boundary between professional responsibilities and personal leisure. Many companies such as Era Biz Solutions are able to operate on a flexible schedule. This is in terms of working hours, based on client requirements and employee needs.

• The Pandemic Front: COVID-19 was not just a health crisis but a revolution in the making. When lockdowns became the norm, companies had two options: adapt or perish. According to a Gartner survey taken in 2020 during the peak of the pandemic, 88% of global organizations encouraged or mandated their employees to work from home during the pandemic. This was the initial drive that caused the growth of remote work around the world. Interestingly, statistics by Zeppia state that before the pandemic 6% of the American workforce was working remotely. This is notable in comparison to the solid 27% in 2023 following the pandemic.

• Improved Flexibility: With remote work comes unparalleled freedom with great work-life balance and a better sense of productivity. According to a survey done by Forbes, a shocking 98% of employees from around the world responded that they would prefer to work remotely even if partially. 16% of companies around the world are already operating fully remotely without the need for a physical office.
• Globalized Talent Pool: The changes towards remote work extend to employers too. Over 93% stated that they conduct remote hiring practices that have helped them immensely in reaching a wider talent pool. The geographical constraints that once restricted hiring are no more. In addition, employees with accessibility limitations (such as disabilities) that prevent them from traveling are more able to share their talents and skills through remote work. At Era Biz Solutions, the remote working and occasional hybrid work policy has improved accessibility. This enabling many talented people with disabilities to benefit the society and the organization.

According to the findings by Forbes, remote work played a large role in employee retention in 2022-2023. Over 57% of the workers stated that they would look to leave their company and switch jobs if they were not allowed to work remotely. 

• Employee Savings: Employers began to encourage remote work after observing a financial benefit. According to research, each remote employee could reduce up to $11,000 in infrastructure costs such as office space, utility bills, hiring costs, etc. Nonetheless, employees who work entirely or partially remotely were paid more than their coworkers who work from an office, earning an additional US $19,000 per year. This could be because many typically worked extra hours (which they would have spent traveling anyhow) for extra cash, while also taking on new responsibilities more productively. Remote work has been a critical advantage for employees in Era Biz Solutions in the last two years. During this time we faced transport difficulties (due to fuel limitations) and expenses rose in Sri Lanka from COVID-19 and the Ukraine War.

The IT Industry’s Remote Advantage

While many industries scrambled to find their footing in a remote environment as the pandemic hit, the tech sector was primed and ready.

1. Tools & Platforms: Remote collaboration platforms and project management tools such as Slack, Time Doctor and Microsoft Teams fought over the usage of millions of employees. Their remote working tools experienced a major surge of users in 2020 with the COVID pandemic according to the Financial Times. Meanwhile, Zoom’s 2021 blog article reflected on the pandemic surge that brought them 30x the business. They went from 10 million daily meeting participants in December 2019 to over 200 million in March 2020 and the 300 million in April 2020. Today, their growth continues as the world’s most popular video meeting platform.
2. Continuous Learning: Platforms like Coursera, Udemy, and LinkedIn Learning also saw exponential growth. The appeal? Any tech professional, irrespective of location, could now upskill from the world’s best educators. In addition, working from home with less chances to waste time saw many workers spending their free time more productively by improving their skill sets.
3. Security Upgrade: According to a 2023 report by Alliance Virtual Offices, which provides remote office spaces, cyber attacks rose by a record 238% since the pandemic from 2019 – 2022, with home-based workers being the most common target. They pointed out that this was because many remote home workers were using their personal devices for work. As a result, from 2022, the IT industry got alert and armored up for security. 

The primary focus moved from enabling home offices to securing it, says Statista. Businesses intensified their security protocols, with VPNs and end-to-end encryption becoming essential tools. They handed out office computers and laptops with enhanced security to their workers. They also had monitoring tools installed to ensure that employees were managed remotely, maintained security protocols and with no misuse of client information. 

According to Forbes 60% companies have monitoring tools installed to track remote employees. Most IT companies, including Era Biz, are putting their remote employees through rigorous training on security procedures. This ensures that they have full awareness of security risks (such as email-based phishing, malware and wi-fi security) and know how to protect themselves.

They also employ other methods for data security. One key method is maintaining complete segregation of key client data at a secretive location. This location is protected by many layers of access rights such that there are no security loopholes.

Partnering with Remote Working IT Companies

In most cases, whether the developers work remotely or not has no impact on the client. In terms of the client’s view all work will be done remotely by the tech companies, such as Era Biz Solutions, anyway.

What does make a difference is whether the company is reliable, whether it has secure working practices, and how good the employee remote environment is (as happier employees usually mean more productivity and creativity). Without a face-to-face connection, staying connected through team meetings, video calls, and video conferencing becomes important. This is especially so in distributed teams working in different time zones.

Regardless of front-end development, back-end development or full-stack development; working fully remotely is highly suitable for tech companies.

Benefits of working remotely in IT

 Remote working or hybrid IT companies offer a variety of benefits, including:

• Cost savings: Outsourcing can save businesses additional money on labor costs, office space, and other overhead expenses.
• Access to specialized skills: Remote working IT companies often have access to a pool of specialized skills that may not be available to in-house IT companies due to developer preferences to work remotely.
• Increased flexibility: Remote working IT companies can be more flexible in terms of scheduling and meeting deadlines.

Working Models Offered by Remote Working IT Companies

Tech companies with remote working models have many easy options for their clients to work with. 

1. Dedicated Developers Model

Outsourcing your IT staff is the most efficient practice in the current world where the economy is in flux. In such a situation choosing the best remote dedicated developers from a reliable IT company provides a guarantee that the IT company will oversee the development work they do. This guarantee is not available for any freelancer, and the risk involved can be considered to cancel out any financial advantage that would be obtained by hiring a freelance developer.

The dedicated developers model that Era Biz Solutions uses allows you to work with us as an IT company to hire a team of developers who are dedicated to your project. This means that you only pay for the time and resources you use. You can scale the team up or down as needed as your requirements change at no additional costs except the base cost.

Dedicated developers can also help you reduce the risk of hiring the wrong person. You can test out different developers before making a long-term commitment.

• Cost-effectiveness: Hiring based on a dedicated developers model can save you a lot of money. Specifically related to hiring costs, training costs, IT resource and setup costs, employee benefits and other auxiliary expenses. This can be especially beneficial for businesses with fluctuating workloads or those that need to scale their IT resources quickly.
• Flexibility: You can scale the team up or down as needed, so you can adapt to changing project requirements. This can be helpful if you need to add or remove developers during the course of a project, or if your project’s scope changes.
• Access to specialized skills: Dedicated developers often have access to a pool of specialized skills that may not be available in-house. This can be helpful for businesses that need to work with developers with specific expertise. For instance, when projects need artificial intelligence or machine learning development.
• Reduced risk: You can test out different developers before making a long-term commitment. This can help you ensure that you are getting the best possible developers for your project.
• Peace of mind: You can rest assured that your project is in good hands. The IT company will take care of all the details, so you can focus on your core business.

Here are some additional benefits that are unique to the dedicated developers model:

• Improved communication: As you will only be selecting just a few dedicated developers managing communication and collaboration will be much easier.
• Increased productivity: Dedicated developers are focused on your project full-time, which can lead to increased productivity.
• Better quality: Dedicated developers are typically more experienced. They have a higher level of expertise than freelancers. This can lead to better quality code and a higher-quality product overall.

Dedicated developers model is a cost-effective, flexible, and reliable way to get the IT skills you need. Be sure to do your research and choose a reputable company with a good track record.

2. Dedicated Teams Model

Dedicated teams are a great way to outsource an entire team for a long-term software development project, web development project, or mobile app development project. This model is ideal for projects that require a high level of expertise and experience, as well as a consistent level of output.

When you work with a dedicated team, you are essentially hiring a full team of developers. This also includes the necessary project managers, DevOps experts, and quality assurance experts. When you hire a dedicated team with Era Biz Solutions we will help you find the right people for your team. Help you with the hiring. Set up offshore software development centers (ODCs) on request. Manage your team to work from on a hybrid basis.

This model offers a number of benefits, including all the benefits of the Dedicated Developers model on a team scale, but also:

• Expertise: Dedicated teams are staffed with experienced developers who have a proven track record of success. 
• Collaboration: Most dedicated teams are already established and work well together, reducing the time to build up teamwork.

3. IT Staff Augmentation

This is one of the other remote working engagement models we offer for clients at Era Biz Solutions. IT Staff augmentation is a way to fill in any gaps in your existing IT team for any short-term requirements. Such requirements may only last for a few weeks or months. If the requirement is for a longer period, such as a year, it is best to go for a dedicated developer model.

Staff augmentation allows you to obtain the necessary developers with little to no risk and increased scalability. Especially in cases where specialized IT skill sets are required for only part of the project.

Here are some of the benefits of staff augmentation:

• Cost-effectiveness: Staff augmentation can be a cost-effective way to get the skills you need when you need them. You only pay for the time and resources you use, so you don’t have to commit to a long-term contract.
• Flexibility: Staff augmentation gives you the flexibility to scale your team up or down as needed. This can be helpful if your workload fluctuates or if you need to bring in specialized skills for a specific project.
• Access to specialized skills: Staff augmentation companies often have access to a pool of specialized skills that may not be available in-house. This can be helpful if you need to bring in skills that are not commonly found in your region or industry.
• Reduced risk: Staff augmentation can help you reduce the risk of hiring the wrong person. You can test out different developers before making a long-term commitment.

If you are considering staff augmentation, be sure to do your research and choose a reputable company (such as Era Biz) with a good track record. You should also carefully define your requirements so that you get the right fit for your team.

4. Full Project Outsourcing

Full project outsourcing is the practice of hiring a third-party company to manage an entire IT project from start to finish. This can be a great option for businesses that lack the time, resources, or expertise to manage an IT project in-house.

Full project outsourcing offers a number of benefits, including:

• Cost savings: Outsourcing can save businesses money on labor costs, office space, and other overhead expenses.
• Access to specialized skills: Outsourcing companies often have access to a pool of specialized skills that may not be available in-house.
• Increased flexibility: Outsourcing companies can be more flexible in terms of scheduling and meeting deadlines.
• Improved quality: Outsourcing companies often have a proven track record of delivering high-quality work.

However, full project outsourcing is not for those who want to have absolute control over their project as this option is mostly hands-off. You give your requirements, wait for the given time, and get your final product. Some IT companies may have several projects being done by the same team, which means that you may not get your project delivered in the shortest possible period. 

That said, if you consider partnering with a very reliable company such as Era Biz, full project outsourcing is a great option as we do all projects on a dedicated basis (there are no project overlaps), give you regular updates with some flexibility for changes while the project is ongoing, and deliver it at the shortest time possible through Agile Software development methodologies. Our development process is also highly secure with absolute care for your intellectual property, unlike many other full-project outsourcing companies.

Looking for reliable remote software developers? Contact Era Biz Solutions to hire remote dedicated developers right now

Challenges of working remotely in IT and their Solutions

Despite the numerous advantages, the road to remote work is not devoid of bumps. However, these bumps are solvable.

• Communication: The absence of face-to-face interactions has been a great cause of communication breakdowns observed during remote work. According to Pew Research, 53% of remote workers feel a lack of connection when working from home, while 37% have no opinion on the subject.
  • Solution: This is why it is important to have online team meetings and online team chat rooms. Using task management tools with options to communicate with team members keep them in touch as well. Occasional get-togethers or a hybrid office environment can help prevent communication breakdowns. Era Biz Solutions makes sure to keep regular meetings for the different project teams and have online communication channels open for enhanced collaboration.
• Loneliness: Many also felt the isolation heavily with some even falling into depression. To combat this, some companies initiated virtual coffee breaks and game nights to keep camaraderie alive. GitLab, in particular, points out the need to combat isolation through regular meetings and online social interactions in their “2023 Remote Playbook”. According to Zeppia, 48% of employees who work remotely feel a lack of support from employers.  
  • Solution: Higher management should have regular direct / skip level meetings to resolve employee concerns and provide direct support in a way that direct managers may not be able to. This disconnect may not be a problem in smaller companies, but there may not be as many support options available. Notably at Era Biz Solutions, where possible our CEO attends the daily meetings and maintains a close relationship with each employee in order to solve challenges and resolve concerns.

• Boundaries and Burnout: Burnout has become a very real risk, same as in-office workers, with remote work as many workers don’t realize how much time they start spending on their work. While on one hand remote work can provide better work-life balance, it being easier to spend more time on personal life, the truth remains that the work can get out of balance if they don’t make a focused effort to set boundaries on when and where work begins and ends. Zeppia found that only 30% of the remote workers avoided working on weekends completely. Cal Newport, a renowned author, emphasized the importance of deep work and having distinct cutoffs to ensure productivity while working remotely. Forbes discovered that 69% remote employees have more burnout from the high use of digital communication tools. 
  • Solution: Setting boundaries becomes crucial when working from home as it is very easy to overwork. In addition, while the use of digital communication tools is inevitable, it is important to be grounded in the physical world with offline hobbies, healthy exercise, and other physical and mental well-being activities. This is where remote time management tools become an essential resource.

Maintaining a Healthy Work-Life Balance with Remote Work: The Hybrid Model

The hybrid work model is a combination of remote work and in-office work. It offers the best of both worlds, allowing employees to enjoy the flexibility of working from home while also maintaining a connection to their team and the company culture. Many of the younger employees have been in support of this as they don’t want to stay at home all day. According to CNN, 76% of workers aged between 20-29 and 71% of workers ages 30-39 say they do not want full-time remote work.

Flex Days

One popular way to implement a hybrid work model is to give employees flex days. This means that employees can choose which days they want to work from home and which days they want to come into the office. This gives employees the flexibility to work when and where they are most productive.

• According to Zeppia, 74% of U.S. companies are using or plan to implement a permanent hybrid work model. Meanwhile, 44% of U.S. employees stated that they preferred a hybrid work model.

Onsite Meeting Days

• Another way to implement a hybrid work model is to designate certain days as “onsite” days. This means that all employees are required to come into the office on these days for team meetings and collaboration. This can help to maintain a sense of community and ensure that everyone is on the same page.
• A study by the students of Harvard Business School found that hybrid workers working intermediate periods WFH (work-from-home) are more productive and creative than fully remote or fully work-from-office workers. They are also less likely to experience burnout.

Shared Spaces

• Some companies are also using shared spaces as part of their hybrid work model. These spaces can be used by employees who want to work outside of their home or office. Shared spaces can be found in co-working spaces, libraries, and even coffee shops.
• According to the previous report by CNN there has been a rise in the use of flexible coworking spaces post-COVID. Some real-estate companies reported a rise of 40% in their sales of flexible spaces they stated.
• Era Biz Solutions is currently in the process of creating a shared space for its employees who wish to work at ease away from the distractions at home. The space is located at a town next to a major highway to improve accessibility for our employees who live far from our main offices in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Remote working is here to stay. That said, the hybrid work model is currently the most viable option for many companies. It offers the best of both worlds. Allowing employees to enjoy the flexibility of working from home, while also maintaining a connection to their team and the company culture. With careful planning and execution, the hybrid work model can be a sustainable and successful way of working.

Preparing for the Future – Getting Ready for Remote Work 2024

In order to make remote work sustainable in the upcoming year of 2024, companies need to make some changes at both the organizational and individual levels.

Upgraded Home Offices

Companies need to provide employees with the tools and resources they need to work effectively from home. This includes providing employees with a dedicated workspace, a good internet connection, and the necessary software and hardware. Era Biz Solutions is preparing for better home offices in a greener and meaner future with plans to hand out solar laptop chargers for its employees.

Mental Health Matters

Remote work can also take a toll on mental health. Companies need to offer support to employees who are struggling with isolation, loneliness, or burnout. This can include providing access to mental health resources, such as counseling or therapy.

• SHRM reported that there were slightly higher chances of contracting anxiety or depression while working fully remotely or hybrid in comparison to working from the office, pointing out the need to have proper mental counseling.

Skill Upgradation

The world of work is changing swiftly, and employees need to be prepared for the future even as 2024 rolls around – or they will fail in their objectives. Companies need to invest in training and development programs to help employees upskill and stay ahead of the curve.

• The 2023 Workplace Learning Report by LinkedIn found that 89% of L&D pros agree that proactively building employee skills for today and tomorrow will help navigate the evolving future of work.
• The skills needed for the future are everchanging, especially in the technology world. The only way to keep up is active upskilling. 

A Greener World for Tomorrow

Remote work also has environmental benefits. 

1. Pollution Reduction: By reducing the number of people commuting to work, remote work can help to reduce pollution and traffic congestion. It can also save energy and resources.Global Workplace Analytics calculated that by 50% of the US workforce working remotely, the nation can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by “54 million tons – the equivalent of taking almost 10 million cars (the entire New York State workforce) off the road for a year”. It is also said to save over 640 million barrels of oil annually.
2. Less Commute: The same study also found that remote workers save an equivalent of 2-3 weeks a year that they spend commuting.
3. Reduced Office Waste: A smaller office footprint and lesser access to printing equipment means less waste. This is not even taking into account the reduction in office cleaning supplies, cardboard and plastic cups of coffee, paper for archiving and documentation etc.
4. Digital Transition: Remote work has also led to a digital transition. Companies are moving to paperless systems and using video conferencing and other technologies to collaborate. This can help to reduce the environmental impact of work.

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Remote work is no longer the exception; it’s becoming the norm – which will become increasingly apparent in 2024. As the tech world continues to evolve, so does the paradigm of ‘work’. While challenges persist, the benefits – both for individuals and the planet – are undeniable. Embracing this change isn’t just an option; it’s imperative for a balanced, sustainable, and productive future.

Contact Era Biz Solutions for Remote Working Dedicated Developers who can work wonders on your projects.

About Us

Era Biz Solutions is an offshore software development company in the UK and Sri Lanka that was formed in 2011. The organization focuses on providing custom software development, web development, and mobile app development services to clients in a transparent and reliable manner. It is known for the innovation and creativity of its talented dedicated developers and dedicated teams sourced by its tech hub in Sri Lanka. In addition to the custom development projects offered in the form of full project outsourcing, Era Biz also provides flagship solutions for CRM, ERP, LMS and Logistics that have many loyal users over the years.