One of the advantages in setting up my new business, RFM Associates is that I now have the opportunity to practice what I have been preaching about setting up a virtual office.

Events have proceeded much quicker than I had originally anticipated and I now have Uzma Fatima working with me and running our ever growing outsourcing operation.

One of the challenges has been how we can easily work together and communicate, given that we are at separate locations. Fortunately the answer to this, as with many things, is in the Cloud.

There were a number of different aspects we had to address – email, file sharing, telephone were the main ones and we dealt with them as follows:

1. Email

As I have written elsewhere, Google Apps is gaining considerable ground as an alternative to the ubiquitous Microsoft Exchange. Set up was straight forward and well documented so even the slightly more technical aspects – such as changing MX records – were well explained and easy to follow. As it is designed primarily for a web interface (it can be used with Outlook if you want to) it requires no separate software installation – and. of course, can be easily accessed from any location.

2. File sharing

I have been using Dropbox for some time as a Cloud based drive for my files. Accessable via the web it is an excellent method for working on files when on the move. New files and amendments are synched to a Dropbox drive on the PC – in both directions – and works well for accessing via the IPad and IPhone. Folders can be shared with other users so using it as our “virtual” server seemed an obvious choice. We now have access to the same files and collaboration is easy.

Incidentally, files can also be shared using the Google Apps features.

3.Telephone

I wanted to ensure that I had a central phone number for RFM Associates but I did not want to get involved with expensive phone installations via BT. There is a wealth of Virtual Phone providers available via the web and I went with The Telephone Number Company where I was able to acquire a phone number and a virtual switchboard process.

The above are merely my particular preferences and there are many other solutions available which will work just as well – I would be interested to hear from you as to any other suggestions you might have.

The point of all this is that the Cloud provides a plethora of relatively low cost solutions – making Virtual the reality.