Taking Your Business into the Virtual World

Magis Events is a professional events management and professional fundraising company that was established in 2001 by a few college friends from the state of West Virginia. The company owner and office was located in Northern West Virginia while the key staff members had moved to neighboring states, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The team worked together to put together and host weddings, corporate meetings, travel, seminars, educational and sports related programs across the country. The clients for this company varied from private families to Fortune 500 organizations.

The organization was effected by excessive costs and falling sales as the economic times were starting to take effect. The business owner developed a plan to reorganize how the business was going to operate with the hopes to reduce costs, improve sales, and increase employee morale. The plan includes using the Internet as a platform to conduct their business. It is this writer's belief that the use of this newly perfected platform will not only benefit this business, but be seen as a method to improve the way business is done all over the world.The Problem

The physical office for this company was located in the West Virginia University area in a small 750 square foot meeting space. The key staff members each lived more than an hour from the office after they graduated from college. Meetings for this group were only being held on a once a month basis due to the distance that had to be travelled and the costs of travel associated with having these meetings. Some of the costs that were of concern to the business owner included: the cost of gas to travel to and from the office at more than three dollars per gallon and trips averaging one hundred miles each way for

a two hour meeting. The cost of personal and business time taken up by the two hours each way spent by staff members just to travel to the meeting. Also noted was the cost of insurance for these people having to travel so far in inclement weather during winter months in the northeast.

The small two room office itself was also a concern when thought came to how the space was only being used for occasional meetings amongst the key players. In this business meetings with clients typically took place at hotels near to the location of the event being planned. For a two hour per month use, the business owner was paying nine hundred dollars each month for rent not including utilities, internet, phones, electricity and insurance within the unit. All totaled, this barely used physical location was costing the company around $1800 per month!

With the economy being in the poor state it was and sales starting to slip slightly as costs continue to rise, the business was in need of a drastic remodel in order to remain cost effective. As the winter months approach, the business owner develops a new plan.The Change Needed

Being concerned about the costs of the office in West Virginia, the costs of the employees having to travel so far for a short meeting and the suffering of sales due to decreased effective response times, the owner decided that it was time to rethink how his business was being run. While he was surfing the Internet one night, he came across a site called Second Life. The site claimed that it was a worldwide virtual platform for real people to conduct real business online via the Internet. After playing with this virtual platform for a few days, the Magis Events business owner, found the solution to his problems.What is Second Life?

Second Life is an Internet based virtual platform that sells users virtual islands known as 'Sims' where they can build almost anything with 'Prims' (building blocks for computer people). The prims create everything from cars to homes and objects that can sell real life and virtual items. Many business professionals have found that they can close the gap of holding meetings with clients and employees by creating an avatar (virtual representation of themselves) and logging into Second Life and meeting on the company's Sim at any hour of the day from anywhere in the world.

The benefits this type of organizational change (taking the business office to the virtual platform) includes the financial savings associated with closing the physical office that could cost well over $5000 a month in some cities and pay just $295 a month for a fully accessible virtual office (http://www.secondlife.com). Another benefit is the savings in the cost of travel for clients and employees across the country and around the world to get to these companies offices to have a sales meeting. Thanks to these virtual platforms, anyone in the world can be in the same place at the same time and chat via text or voice in real time!Benefits of Change - Employees

From an employee's standpoint at Magis Events, these staff members can now essentially work from home and still get their jobs done. They also have a lower out of pocket travel cost by not having to make multiple trips across the country for meetings. Time saved from not having to travel also enables these people to spend more time with their families which will ultimately increase the crew morale level.Benefits of Change - Business

From a business point of view, this platform of doing business online has a lot of benefits. The morale of the staff will be improved from all of the benefits that are

receiving as a result of the changes. This will enable more focus on the work to be done making for a more productive work session and better cost per hour on labor for office staff. The lower operating costs by eliminating the costs associated with having a physical office is another financial improvement. Finally, the ability to communicate online within a moment's notice is another great benefit of using the virtual office platform. This will enable more frequent communication between employees, clients, and the owner.Benefits of Change - Clients

From a client's perception, they can make important decisions about planning their events without having to ever leave their home or office. They can also reach the events staff beyond typical business hours by accessing them online when they are at home. One other thought on doing events planning from the Internet meeting space is that key members involved in the event from the clients side can also be located anywhere at any time and also be able to get into this platform and meet with the events planning team all at the same time and get the same information that would have previously required expensive travel to the physical offices of the business owner.Change Management Approach

In order to make this transition from a physical office to that of a virtual office as smooth and painless as possible for all those affected by the change, the business owner has created the following plan to handle the change:

1. Give a two month notice to employees, suppliers, and current clients via phone, mail, and email that such a change is going to take effect. This gives everyone plenty of time to contact the business to ask questions and get prepared for the change to be finalized without leaving anyone behind.

2. Update all advertising media to inform potential future clients that the business has changed its primary meeting venue. This will ensure a continued stream of business without losing potential clients to outdated information.

3. Finally, have an open meeting with staff at the physical office location as typically done. However, use the computers to connect to Second Life from the office in order to help staff create avatars and get comfortable with using the platform so that future meetings from home will be productive and not confusing regarding the use of the program.

The organization was effected by excessive costs and falling sales as the economic times were starting to take effect. The business owner developed a plan to reorganize how the business was going to operate with the hopes to reduce costs, improve sales, and increase employee morale. The plan includes using the Internet as a platform to conduct their business. It is this writer's belief that the use of this newly perfected platform will not only benefit this business, but be seen as a method to improve the way business is done all over the world.

The staff took to the organization's location change rather well. The ability to work from home the majority of the time and be home with their families during the day was a huge morale booster and improved the dedication and production of work and communication with the use of the new virtual platform. The clients were at first a little concerned about the concept. However, after a short time and meeting with the program and seeing the quality of events actually improved, there was no complaints. Using the marketing of the Second Life and Internet platforms, the business's client roster actually grew by twenty five percent within the first six months of this change. The most surprising result from this change was the fact that the company was asked to and successfully managed events that were taking place within Second Life!