According to P.C. Magazine’s definition, a “virtual company” or corporation is an “organization that uses computers and telecommunications technologies to extend its capabilities by working routinely with employees or contractors located through the country or the world.”
Wikipedia says that the advent of computer technology created the opportunity to “build the environment for virtual work in teams, with members who may never meet each other in person. Communicating by telephone and e-mail, with work products shared electronically, virtual teams produce results without being co-located.”
This pretty much defines how we operate at Stony Point Communications, the public relations and marketing firm that my partner, Mark Holoweiko, and I founded in 1993.
Although we don’t routinely work with employees or contractors located throughout the world, in all other aspects we’re a virtual corporation that’s also set up on a network model of operation.
In a nutshell, that means the staff of Stony Point works in home offices on computers that are connected to a central server. We work in teams, communicate by telephone, e-mail and instant message, share work products electronically and produce results without being co-located.
The network model we’ve established enables us to choose from a wide array of highly talented, creative partners for work on large-scale projects for clients. Besides us, these “virtual teams” can include writers, editors, opinion and market researchers, newswire services, graphic designers, illustrators, photographers, web developers, printers, mail houses, media buyers . . . you get the picture.
And while there are some team members in our extended network of talent that we’ve never met in person—but who help us on behalf of clients—our core staff members absolutely know each other. We meet regularly as a staff to strategize on behalf of our clients, keep each other up-to-date, and to simply enjoy some time together.
Quite honestly, 15 years ago we didn’t really promote the virtual aspect of our company.
There was a concern about folks greeting the news with a dismissive, “Oh, you work from home?” as if we weren’t serious public relations professionals with the education, credentials and years of experience to back that claim up.
Or, that we were somehow not quite legitimate unless we did business in an expensive and well-appointed office building.
Yet 15 years, a solid body of work, and countless clients later, no one bats an eye anymore about Stony Point’s set-up. Our clients and peers know we’re for real—not public relations avatars operating in a “Second Life” type of virtual world.
Nowadays, it’s not uncommon for us to encounter a kind of “virtual” envy from those who are new to working with our firm; who wonder aloud how much more productive they might be without the daily distractions that occur in an office setting, and how they might really enjoy it.
The difference between when we started in 1993 and how it is today, is that how we operate isn’t that unusual anymore. Countless others do it, too.
Yet working in a virtual environment isn’t for everyone. And that’s a story for another day.