A virtual office by any other name would smell as sweet. While it’s not as star-crossed as a Shakespearean drama, virtual offices do tend to be misunderstood by the population at large. What exactly is a virtual office, anyways? We survey a handful of business experts from our community, from the manager of our Executive Suites in Boca Raton to our Quester followers on social media. Read the top responses – we guarantee they will entertain you!
Communication Flexibility
What is a virtual office?
“A virtual office changes communication from face-to-face to telephone, Internet, and Skype.” – Jack Waymire, Paladin Digital Marketing
Jack’s insightful response highlights one of the most important aspects of a virtual office package: the phone number. A virtual office is a service offered by a real estate operator, whether it be a communal coworking facility or more formal business center. It provides the client with a business mailing address, phone answering service, and access to either meeting rooms or a private office should the need arise.
So to Jack’s point, a business working with a virtual office can have one central phone number to hold out as its business phone number without having to maintain a permanent office of its own that involves signing a lease directly with the landlord. This works out well for companies with remote staff in various locations that want local clients to feel comfortable reaching out to them at a locally listed number, but at the same time wouldn’t require a full time office space. As more and more companies, from financial advisors to tech startups to disruptive healthcare firms, are working remotely through mobile devices, tablets, and other portable electronic means, communication has evolved into virtual touches happening over the various media Jack mentioned.
What is a virtual office?
“A virtual office is an ability to work from anywhere. With the advent of SaaS applications for workforce collaboration, cloud file sharing and email services like Microsoft Office 365 and OneDrive, business leaders and their employees can be highly effective from anywhere – work is now truly an activity and not a destination.” – Joshua Aaron, President of Business Technology Partners, Inc.
Joshua is calling attention here to the rising trend of digital transformation. The bottom line is that sharing can happen almost anywhere with an Internet connection and a mobile device, which has reduced the need for server rooms and other areas dedicated to technology equipment. As Josh Aaron has so adeptly noted, this can have tremendous impact on employee productivity.
From a technical perspective, it’s important for users to be informed on a very misunderstood technical point about virtual offices. A company with a virtual office package will have its calls answered in its business’s name by a professional front desk staff and the messages are passed on accordingly. However, in order for the call to be transferred and for communications to happen live and real time, the company would have to be present within the business center. Many virtual office packages include access to day offices that companies can rent on a short term basis for times when they would like to be fully operative in the business center. During such times, calls would be directly routed for real time pick up.
At places such as Quest Workspaces the call can be transferred to whichever extension they would like. Because Quest’s system is run online, the destination could change daily and can be specified in advance by the virtual officer user.
Better Collaboration
While many people see virtual offices as solitary, in fact the opposite is true. Merely having a virtual office package opens up the door to a wealth of networking opportunities through the business center that you are associated with. As an example, at Quest Workspaces’ executive suites in Boca Raton, one attorney was a virtual offices client. Through his affiliation with Quest he met a marketing professional and they hit it off, deciding to split an office together. They both moved into the shared office space and the attorney’s business grew so large, in part due to being a member of the Quest community, that he eventually moved out of the center altogether.
There is a growing trend of remote collaboration in the modern workforce. No longer is work defined as a place to be; it’s a state of being. Virtual offices defy physical boundaries and enable team members from disparate location to engage in mindshare and defy the geographic limitations that would have separated them in years past.
Negative for Brand Image?
The reflection on the company brand is something that many clients are first concerned about when they come to a virtual office provider. Clients want to make sure that they aren’t going to be seen as any less of a professional because they don’t have a full time office. For this reason, Quest makes sure that every outside interaction is the same as if the client were, for example, a full time occupant of our executive suites in Boca Raton. That means that their name is still on the lobby listing. If anyone were to see it and walk in from the street, the front desk staff would affirm that the company has an office in the center and would make every effort to accommodate the visitor. Every operator handles it differently depending on their level of customer service, but at a place like Quest every virtual office client has a home. We do everything we can to make sure a virtual office client gets to experience the major benefits of having a full time office without having to be a full time client per se.
Recap: Use a Virtual Office to Build Your Business
So now let’s check out the perspective of an industry insider. We interviewed our own Amanda Medeiros, Center Manager, who runs our Executive Suites in Boca Raton. According to Amanda, a virtual office is a kind of stepping stone for companies in transition. It’s a less expensive way for companies to gain access to a phone number and business address, as well as the opportunity to attend Quest networking events and experience our coworking facility. Free of charge, any Quester who rents a virtual office can come to any event in any center. But at the same time, since a company isn’t renting a full time private office, the price tag isn’t as large.
Says Amanda, “Virtual offices are a great way to get exposure to the Quester community. We make it so easy and take care of everything for our Questers so that all they have to do is focus on running their businesses.”
Now that you know what one is, ready to try it? If so, let’s be in touch. Any company who prepays for 12 months will receive a 40% discount on the total fee for the year. Email us at info@questworkspaces.com to get started!
