Virtual Office: What Is It and How It Could Benefit Your Business

For small businesses, investing in a physical business office may be initially considered a necessary expense. This may be because not only will you need to show investors and potential clients some proof of legitimacy, you would also need to prove that you are confident enough of your “staying power” to at least invest some of your precious capital in an office. However, if you consider carefully, you will find that having a physical office may not be all that necessary. After all, with all our technological advances in telecommunication, making sure that messages reach their intended recipients is not that difficult. But since you may still need to present a viable business address to investors and clients, you might persuade yourself to rent a physical office in the end. This particular dilemma is what a virtual office is trying to address.

What is a Virtual Office?

It is an established office system, often via online, that enables business owners and employees to physically work from any location, making sure they can be readily reached for communication, and that business goals are carried out and accomplished. Often, virtual offices come with a prestigious business address as well as a message handling service.

Why Choose a Virtual Office?

Decades ago, the idea that people can work from home or while travelling may seem extremely inconvenient, if not downright improbable. With the advent of computers, the internet, and video chatting, however, virtually nothing seems impossible now. But how exactly does the feasibility of a virtual office translate to benefits? Read on and find out how.

1. It is economical.

For many small businesses, every penny is a valued commodity due to the simple fact that funds is essentially necessary for everyday operations but may often seem insufficient. With a virtual office, you can keep costs at a minimum because you wouldn’t have to buy or rent a physical workspace in order to keep your operations going. And since there is no physical office, there would also be no utilities such as electricity, water, phone, and internet to pay for. Most importantly, you can establish a convincingly trustworthy façade to clients and investors with the prestigious address that comes with a virtual office, but at a significantly lower cost.

2. It has ready basic manpower.

Most virtual offices do not just come with a prestigious physical address but also with other perks such as a virtual receptionist to handle messages and calls. And in some cases, it could also include various technical support such as workplace recovery assistance. With these, you and your employees can focus on your company’s core business goals.

3. It is conducive to productivity.

A virtual office is also a highly flexible workspace, which means it lets people work at their own pace and with their own methods–often doing away the need for proper office decorum and complicated office politics on a daily basis. In addition to that, workers could just log in to an instant messaging software from home in order to signify the start of their shift–cutting time needed to get ready for work then travel from their house to the office, especially for people who may be living in the suburbs or somewhere far from the city centre. This way, you and employees would not just save on time but also on expenses such as petrol money or fare, and takeaway food.

4. It is environmentally friendly.

Since you would not have to travel daily to go to work, you would then need less petrol, which means one less vehicle that would add harmful greenhouse gas to the atmosphere.

In conclusion, after pondering all these, it is quite difficult to ignore all the benefits that a virtual office could possibly give to an entrepreneur and his business. Indeed, it might even be construed as folly to continue doing things the conventional way when you are presented with such a convincing argument as this.

Author Bio:

Regus is a multi-national company that provides various products and services such as flexible workspaces, well-equipped meeting facilities, handy business lounges, high-tech video communications capabilities, and even a virtual office in Cebu or other areas.