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Offices without walls - how technology is changing the way the property professional works.

The role of those in the property sector has, by definition, always involved a great deal of work outside the office - think of surveyors, estate agents and inventory clerks: they all need to visit houses and business premises to conduct their trade. But now there is no need to return to or even have an office thanks to developments in mobile phone technology and internet outsourcing.

Outsourcing of typing has been around for at least 8 years since the rollout of Broadband in the UK. Various companies have sprung up to meet demand for this, one such being OutSec (www.outsec.co.uk) , a UK-based company with a long history in the property sector. OutSec work for estate agents, surveyors and many within the inventory market, from sole practioners to large multi-nationals. OutSec supplement or replace existing in-house typing facilities.

It is quite practical now to use something as commonplace as a phone to dictate, record and send a digital sound file to a secretary in a remote location. The internet typist will use the company templates to produce work identical to any created by in-house staff. This is nothing short of revolutionary in its application and it is slowly changing the way we all work. Various key factors need to be in place for successful working outside an office. The right equipment is essential. Digital recording devices used to be limited to handheld recorders but now the mobile phone is mutating into a multi-functional voice recorder. The pace of change in this area is huge and led, in the main, by Apple and its iPhone. With the iPhone now available on other networks, there is sure to be big switch in users away from Blackberry and Nokia phones.

OutSec have a software app called Dictamus that can be downloaded directly from iTunes or iStore direct to an iPhone which converts it into a fully functioning recorder. It also allows the files to be saved and sent from the phone via a wifi or mobile phone network direct to OutSec's team of UK-based secretaries. And it costs just £5.99 compared to the £100plus required for a normal digital recorder.

OutSec Operations Director Richard Phillips makes the observation that " whereas 3 years ago, outsourcing was an alternative and slightly off-the-wall option for companies and individuals, it has become recently, and as a result of the economic downtown, a mainstream business choice. We are finding that more and more people in the property sector are seeing the value of using a flexible off-site British typing resource allied to their company mobile phones. A pay-as-you go service with no fixed costs that matches the ebbs and flows of their own businesses is much more attractive than the fixed costs of permanent staff". A decent wifi connection allows speedy transfer of files and ensures a smooth integration with an off-site secretarial support company. "Many of our clients pop into Starbucks for a coffee after a job and send the work from there using the café wifi network, whilst sipping on a latte! Then they go straight on to the next assignment. " says Richard Phillips.

A mobile phone, a competent outsourcing support company, a local wifi-enabled coffee shop and a decent client base are all that is needed now to have a successful property business in the brave new world of the second decade of the 21st century.

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