The global economic outlook is looking increasingly bleak; but local business costs seem to be defying gravity – rentals, utilities and transporatation costs all still appear to be heading north.  Now is the time to seriously consider running your company partially, or even fully, online.

BusinessWeek’s enligtening special report (To Expand Your Busieness, Go Home) examines how some small businesses have successfully cut expenses and boosted productivity by moving their operations online.

The increasing adoption emerging Web and Communications technologies in the business arena has lead to new ways for groups to work together. Working with virtual or remote teams is no longer a novelty. For many small businesses, working through such virtual arrangements may be the only way to survive in this era of increasing costs.

However, simply adopting the latest web tools and communications gear is not enough to ensure the success of your virtual team. Managing virtual and remote teams requires skills sets that are very different from that required for managing in traditional office environments.

One key challenge is building up trust within your virtual team. Synchronizing the internets of the various individuals with that of the team can prove especially difficult when team-members can’t physically interact with each other regularly.

Check out Chris Bowler’s recent post on the Anywired blog for some general tips on cultivating trust and communication within virtual teams.