You may have read about the increasing popularity of video conferencing software and video chat solutions with the rise of remote work. In fact, you may have read about it right here on Banty’s blog. Video conferencing whilst working remotely typically happens from a variety of locations, but the most common type of remote work video call typically happens from the same location in your home, or your home study. The next most common type of remote work video call usually happens from your hotel room. There are a few other types of video chats carried out by professionals working remotely, usually to accommodate other things that are going on. For example, calling from your car is covered in another one of our blogs.
But video calling from the road now is more than about sitting outside somewhere quiet, with still wind and good light. And video calling from your car has evolved to a whole new meaning. The video call from the car mentioned in the previously indicated blog covers calls from a regular car as a good solution when one must make a video call in the outdoors. However a video call in a vehicle which also functions as a working space doesn’t necessarily qualify as a video call in the outdoors. That’s right. Once again, the future is here. And it’s name is mobile offices.
No, I don’t mean those admittedly very convenient wheeled desks, some of which are designed as perfect work stations. Nor am I talking about luxury sedans or limos with backseats equipped as offices for rich and busy businessmen while they’re being chauffeured around town. This isn’t a Lincoln Lawyer type situation. I’m talking about fully mobile office rooms. There are three such options available to you now, today, and one available in the future.
RVs come in all shapes and sizes. Many of them are already quite soundproof, meaning you can make a professional video call from the kitchen table of your RV whilst parked at the beach. The vast majority of those RVs however, don’t come with dedicated office space, which can make the work you might need to do preceding a virtual meeting or after it a little challenging to arrange. Not to mention that while RVs purposed as mobile homes can be suitable for a video call, not every RV is suited to the purpose of video chatting.
However, a number of people have opted to repurpose their RVs; either fully converting them to mobile offices, or,(in larger RVs with more than one space) repurposing a space within the RV as a tiny office room using space disposable to the owners’ lifestyle. For example: an extra bunk bed nook for a couple who use the main sleeping area and have no children living with them. While making these upgrades it might also be a good idea to soundproof the vehicle for any future video calls. In the future you might very well hear of coworking travelling spaces with 3 or 4 large desks in a converted RV and a dedicated driver. The travel business applications for such an industry are myriad.
A number of prefabricated offices are now being sold as “pods”, with quite a few nice options going for them. These office pods are the natural descendants of offices built from containers or container materials, sometimes called “trailer offices” or “trailer homes” because they can be customised as living or working spaces and then be mounted on a cargo trailer big enough to move them elsewhere. But these trailer offices are usually for those looking to house several desks.
Office pods are the newer, sleeker solutions for individual mobile offices. Their prices vary so simply buy the one your budget most aligns with, mount it on a cargo trailer, and attach it to your car. Voila! You have a mobile office! Even if you don’t opt for a more expensive option with soundproofing insulation, you don’t need to hunt for the perfect quiet spot for video calls in your new mobile office. Just park somewhere that isn’t too noisy and the pods’ regular walls will keep out most minor disturbances.
Of course, if you’re handy enough, you may want to build yourself a pod and spend even less on your new mobile office! Make sure to account for access to internet and electricity as well as ventilation though!
Actual trailers which fulfill many of the functions of RVs but lack a motor of their own and need to be hitched to your vehicle. Not the prefabricated container enclosures often referred to as trailers because they can be mounted on a cargo trailer. Sometimes referred to as campers, these bad boys can often also be upgraded with some degree of soundproofing if it isn’t sufficiently built into them. Perfect for video calls from “home” without being permanently stationary, if you use one as a combined home and office. A whole new concept of home office.
Then again, you can also repurpose an old trailer to make a pretty decent dedicated office. Particularly for the mobile life if you buy a small RV. Dedicated office space for your job in the trailer and comfortable sleeping in your smaller RV, hitched to its front and pulling it onwards. Or you can reverse the sleeping and working spaces if you’re so inclined. Sleep in the trailer and work in the RV. The main advantage of buying a large trailer instead of a large RV is that trailers are often cheaper than RVs of comparable size and features, because they lack their own motor driving system. You can essentially buy one to use with your existing vehicle, or if you own an RV of a smaller size, you can buy it to give your mobile home an extension.
These were three options available for mainstream purchase today, if you’d like to jump onto a video call from the road. Your fourth, and rather futuristic option, which I expect will come soon, will be driverless RVs, purposed as mobile offices. Those will most likely be soundproofed so you can video chat with your team from the most crowded streets without worrying about noise on your video call.
