Availability and responsiveness is often an issue when working with remote teams. Timezone different plays a vital role in the responsiveness of the team. However, other factors like team motivation and attachment with the project also plays an important role. While working with remote team is a vary lucrative business opportunity, a lot of organisation end up not taking that route. This means a lot of missed opportunity and also affects the business and the economics of the project.

We often talk about what we can do to be more responsive and offer high availability to our clients. This makes them enjoy working with the offshore teams. Here are some pointers that help in elevating the responsive nature of our organisation-

Communication is the key

We often come across the importance of communication in working with teams. The first step towards being responsive starts here. Being responsive is not about doing the work on time or taking care of everything. Rather it starts with talking and communicating with the team. And building the confidence that we are there. Knowing that someone’s got their back gives them the confidence to look for more opportunities. We just need to let the client know that we are there for them when needed.

Know your client’s business

Being the development team often comes across as just being concerned about the system and the tasks at hand. Often times people do not look beyond the bare minimum and do nothing towards knowing the business. We must understand that its one thing to know about the technical aspect of the product and other to know the business. Knowing and understanding the business helps in knowing what is important and predict what would be needed in time to come. This helps in being prepared and allows for quick response to any need that might arise.

Take ownership of your area

Taking ownership towards one’s assignment is often an indication of being successful in any area . This is specially important when working remote. Taking ownership pushes one to take decisions themselves rather than deferring them on others. With timezone difference, one deferred decision often ends up causing delays for more than 2 days. These deferred decisions then pile up slowly. This seriously affects the responsiveness of the team.