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April 25th, 2012
When does a virtual office set-up make sense … and for whom? For example …. using virtual office packages from Packet8 or iTeleCenter.
Small businesses and home offices appear to be the best candidates (improved cost effectiveness, “big time” presence and reach, and efficiencies gained) … true or false?
Short answer … true.
As for when it makes sense … and for whom?
I would say a virtual office set-up makes sense when you need to be mobile and can actually add more value by doing so, i.e. costs would be incurred by requiring you and your employees to be at a specific location for a specific required time. Or, to improve the productivity of an already existing dispersed group.
To illustrate the advantages of a Virtual Office here’s a testimony from Mark Adams of MergingDesign.com ……
“My company is a marketing/design agency, and being virtual works wonderfully for us. It started out of necessity six years ago because we simply couldn’t afford office space in the beginning. But it turns out that allowing designers and programmers to work out of their home office is a great benefit that helps us attract experienced talent. We use Packet 8 Virtual Office and most of our clients don’t even realize we’re virtual. And we use IM, Email, BaseCamp, shared servers, etc. to communicate and manage files. So I am a big fan of the “virtual office” and would never want to fight traffic and lose hours a week driving needlessly.”
A virtual office set up makes sense if your small business does not have a regular parade of customers that require face time at your office site. Since most small businesses struggle with cash flow, it’s wiser to invest in technologies that can extend their reach without the added drag of going to an office every day. The additional bonus for small business is that a virtual office arrangement allows them to tap into talent they might otherwise miss.
Here’s 3 advantages of a virtual office that many don’t think of …. but are definitely a big plus.
1. If your company business fits to support a virtual office environment this can be a potential “huge” cost savings in the cost of real estate, building expenses, taxes, etc.
2. A virtual office environment will increase you opportunity to acquire skills through personnel that may not otherwise be availble to you ….. due the fact that when they have to come into an office everyday, you are usually limited to those who live in the surrounding region or will relocate (many times at your expense), which limits your overall potential talent pool.
3. When bad weather strikes, a virtual office many times provides an excellent disaster recovery scheme to allow business to run uninterrupted.
IMHO Virtual offices are going to change the way we all do business, and it’s going to happen much sooner than most realize.
So …. now that your convinced here are 3 highly recommended options for setting up your own Virtual Office:
* Packet8
Now pick one and get started.
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