A World in Which Anywhere Works
At Whereby, we’re building a world in which anywhere works. Keep reading to find out how we're bringing this to life.
I didn’t grow up in a bustling tech hub like San Francisco, London, or Singapore.
I grew up in a small fishing village called Måløy, located on the west coast of Norway. From here, I am proud to lead a team of 90 employees based in 20 countries, representing every continent (well, except Antarctica), and serving millions of users from around the world.
…all from here. Whereby is living proof that working from anywhere works from day one.
Building a remote-first company
If great ideas can come from anywhere, great businesses can too.
If people have the tools and talent, why should their ambition be limited by their location?
For a long time, that wasn’t how most of the world thought about work. Only 30% of companies surveyed in Buffer’s State of Remote Work Report in 2019 said they supported remote work — and most of us accepted the prevailing wisdom that remote work made workers less productive and less collaborative.
When we started Whereby, our views on “anywhere works” and the flexibility to work from anywhere were the exception, not the rule.
Unless you were an entrepreneur or working at a remote-first company like ours, “work” was limited to a physical building you drove or biked or walked to every single day. When you pictured remote work, you probably pictured a gorgeous white beach in Bali or some cool co-working space downtown. (Not sure why more people weren’t dreaming of working from a beach in Norway 🥶)
COVID-19 changed everything.
Lockdowns and restrictions catapulted remote work from the fringe to the mainstream for millions of knowledge workers around the world. This forced all of us to adapt to new ways of working, managing, selling, recruiting, and collaborating…all over video calls.
Just take a look at the same State of Remote Work Report from Buffer from 2021. Almost half (46%) of people surveyed plan to work remotely permanently in response to COVID-19. Our own findings backed that up. When we surveyed 1,500 business owners and decision-makers about their transition to remote work, we found 82% of businesses considering changing their future working practices to allow more staff to work remotely, due to the success of remote working during the lockdown.
If people have the tools and talent, why should their ambition be limited by their location? Remote work makes for better, more productive workers:
53% of business-owners and company decision-makers feel that remote working (due to the COVID-19 pandemic) has increased their employees’ overall productivity.
53% of employees feel that their mental wellbeing has improved due to working from home.
On average, remote workers save companies $11,000 per year, boosting profits up to 21%.
So why are so many companies building back-to-office plans and then being surprised that so many workers would rather find a company that would let them work from anywhere rather than stay? It doesn’t have to be that way.
At Whereby, we’re building a world in which anywhere works.
The world is permanently hybrid
People are still recalibrating after the pandemic, with a lot of discussion over what the world will — or should — look like post-COVID-19.
I don’t know exactly what the future will hold, but I do know one thing: The world has gone hybrid. And that change is permanent. In fact we found, in a survey of our customers earlier this year, that 61% of people expect to work in a hybrid format moving forward.
A bold move? Maybe. But I’m convinced that we’re building for this future at Whereby because:
Flexibility is no longer an aspiration, it’s an expectation. People expect to choose where and how they work and to connect from anywhere, whether that’s as a consumer, a patient, a student, or a coworker. And that flexibility can’t be realized without video.
The need to connect with seamless, secure video is here to stay. Video has become part of our daily routine, embedded into every aspect of our personal and professional lives.
Video calls give you choice, freedom, and flexibility to run your business how you want to, when you want to, without creating extra work.
So how are we building for this future?
With our deep and experienced knowledge of video meeting technology we offer a globally-scaled, resilient media infrastructure that enables you to connect easily with others and run your business. Our dynamic and engaging video meetings have been recognised by G2, The New York Times and millions of happy customers.
And all of this can be added to your platform or website in just minutes with Whereby Embedded. We offer a video call API with a low cost of ownership. This means that our team handles the deep understanding and knowledge needed for video meeting technology, which could take years to build, so you can focus on your core business.
The possibilities of this technology are endless. We’ve partnered with doctors, event planners, teachers, eCommerce stores, online dating platforms, and banks across the U.K., U.S., Norway, India, and beyond.
Our vision at Whereby is a world in which when someone asks:
Where is a good place to start my business?
To find a rewarding job?
To access great ideas and meet great people?
The answer is, “anywhere that works for you.”
A world that’s permanently hybrid demands integrated, on-demand video calling. That’s what we provide to our customers, and in turn, help them provide to their clients, patients, and students in a convenient, personalized, and integrated way.
Learn more about how Whereby can change the way you do business here. Try it for free for 14 days.
