Whether businesses originate from home offices or from corporate centers, their owners can benefit from a growing list of functions offered by virtual office service providers. These services allow business owners to see their companies grow without requiring them to expand their physical office space or to hire additional staff.
Creating a New Business Environment
Virtual office service providers can create an entirely new physical context for businesses. HQ.com and Officescape.com both provide an impressive suite of offices, meeting rooms and teleconferencing facilities from which businesses appear to originate. Owners contract with these companies for the use of such facilities only when needed and thus avoid the expenses of full-time rental or purchase.
Providing Virtual Mailing Addresses
Having an impressive address to use to send and receive items enhances any company's professional image. The UPS store helps by providing businesses with a virtual street address rather than a just a post office box number and by notifying them when packages arrive at that virtual location. This service is especially attractive to those who work from home offices since it negates the necessity of releasing home address to clients.
Supplying Telephone Services
Virtual telephone service providers can help businesses stay in contact with clients and employees. Skype.com lets business owners and managers meet with them face-to-face through video and conference calls. Google’s GrandCentral provides a similar service. Since these calls are made over the Internet, the increasingly high costs of company-owned telephone equipment can be avoided.
Filling Software Needs
Web-based business software allows work assignments to be completed from any location. Zoho.com and GoogleDocs both provide integrated office suites containing word processing, spreadsheet, database and presentation applications. Since these programs originate from Internet locations rather than from company computers, business owners also avoid the consequent expense of updating software and hardware.
Providing Staffing
Business owners can expand their office staffs without incurring the costs associated with employee benefits like insurance and retirement packages through the help of virtual office assistants. HiredOffice.com supplies virtual assistants who help with word processing, data entry, scheduling and bookkeeping. Contracting for the use of virtual office assistants means that business owners pay only for the time spent directly on assignments. Owners are also spared the expense they would incur in training and evaluating permanent office staff.
The Reality of the Virtual Office
Business owners should not be led astray by the presence of the word virtual in the names of these services. Anita Campbell writes in her TrendTracker article that "virtual doesn't mean the business isn't for real. It just means all that heavy, expensive stuff won't be sitting there eating money when not in use." Virtual office service providers meet real needs and provide real services in a really efficient manner.
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