Has Domestic Interior Design Strategy Caught Up With The Internet Organisation Expansion?
posted in Bricks and Mortar Business |It’s not exactly a new idea this, arguably common decision, to work from home. As such, one would expect that seeing an opportunity, residential products, services, design and even houses would have begun to adapt to the ever increasing requests of a growing body of potential customers who would like to work from home. These people who are working in an Internet Business through online jobs have a requirement for an setting that suits their lifestyle and their work needs too.
It’s true, there are a number of products on the market that are produced for those people who Work From Home but it’s fair to say that the offer is scrappy and it takes a level of skill in construction, IT and ergonomics to generate a suitable domestic setting from which one could run an internet business. Most people only manage to offer a small amount of the facilities needed to be comfortable and dynamic.
The brief for a home office set up should be largely similar to that of a normal office or corporate workspace. A resident staff member needs power, data and a place to sit and a surface to work on as a bare minimum. Add into that the necessity for social interaction, ad hoc meetings, team work and areas for focussed working and the brief starts to look very similar.
The easy and least productive answer to meeting these requirements is to provide a desk, seat, laptop, telephone and data cable. On the face of it these items of kit will provide the necessary vehicle in (or on, or through) which people can deliver their output. The real question is how does one provide for the rest of the criteria and how do we use developments in construction and technology to support the requirements for people who work in Online Jobs?
Firstly, let’s handle the workplace itself. Does it need to be a desk? In a normal domestic situation would a desk be a suitable piece of furniture ? Technology gives us laptops and telephone headsets and the ability to work anywhere on any fittings. Add to that wireless printing and a web cam and really the office, as was, is now built entirely around the person as opposed to a location.
Of course, in these days of corporate responsibility, the idea of using a laptop for long periods of time would give Personnel and Insurance teams a problem, but the truth is that what we have through technology is a new concept and what we would expect to see is new furniture solutions to solve the ergonomic issues.
Secondly, there is the issue of privacy, noise and environmental comfort. A voice conference in a apartment full of playing children is not conducive to productive work. Will we begin to see new houses provided with separate space for working? Possibly provided as an extension, a loft or even a stand alone unit outside.
Whatever the answers the market is there already and the design industry has yet to react to it.