Both national and international businesses are trying to cut costs to stay afloat, and many are coming up with unique ways of reducing operational costs by moving to virtual offices. A virtual office is an office in which there is no permanent office space. A majority of the work is maintained in a cloud, and workers generally work from home or which ever location they choose.
Virtual offices are able to create a more flexible work environment, and are also able to give businesses access to the software and hardware they need for expansion through cloud computing. Not only are they able to promote innovation world wide, but virtual offices can also greatly reduce a business’ operational costs.
A few ways a virtual office can save a company a substantial amount of money each month include:
1. Reduced Rent
Premium real estate and rental offices come at a high price – especially in major metropolitan areas such as New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. However, an office in a great location can provide an air of professionalism which your business may need to entice higher profile clientele. To avoid paying high rent fees while still having a piece of premium space, hire the services of a virtual office.
For one low fee, employers can have access to a premium professional address, conference and meeting rooms, and even secretarial services without having to pay monthly rent or worry about long-term leases which can easily save a company a thousand or so dollars a month.
2. No Utility Bills
The cost of energy has long been on the rise, and when using a virtual office, a business can avoid having to pay for any of these utilities as they are no tied to any specific building. In addition to energy costs, employers no longer have to worry about maintenance fees when using a virtual office.
Having no utilities bills or maintenance costs can save a business hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars a month allowing employers to allocate those funds elsewhere to help business expand more rapidly.
3. Smaller Workforce
When using a virtual office, there is no need to hire a large number of workers simply to maintain or manage the office such as secretaries, receptionists, office managers or a janitorial staff. Receptionists and secretaries may be hired solely when you need them, and you do not have to pay for health insurance, workers compensation, or vacation time as these individuals are not your full-time employees.
Because workers are able to work from home, employers using a virtual office also no longer have to worry about covering travel expenses on a regular basis, and they may choose to hire employees only on a independent contractor basis to reduce additional costs and allow employees to become responsible for paying their own taxes.
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on July 20, 2011 at 9:27 am
It comes down to saving money and getting that same job done. We all must get creative to keep money in our pockets.
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on July 20, 2011 at 3:25 pm
Saving money is always important, and to save money does require creativity.
on July 20, 2011 at 9:28 am
Yes—-these are great benefits, unless your business is hands-on—-hard to be a dentist and do virtual check-ups. But, if possible, it makes “green” sense, too…..fewer cars on the road during peak traffic times. Maybe some day, for those who can do their jobs virtually, there will be a tax benefit, too. Wishful thinking?
on July 20, 2011 at 3:30 pm
You definitely can’t move all businesses into an online, virtual world. Many of the office tasks, however, can probably be transferred. Working online will definitely help with traffic congestion as people wouldn’t need to run off to an office to work.
on July 21, 2011 at 11:14 am
The pluses of working from home and as a ‘virtual’ team are too many to list. Being an SEO Consultant means I need access to webdesigners, bloggers, other SEO experts etc etc. Or ‘crack team’ is all over the world and technology now means we can be wherever we like and yet produce even better results than ever before at a fraction of the cost of needing ‘real premises’
on July 22, 2011 at 11:56 am
totally agree with you. Virtual office can reduce a lot of cost..
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on July 25, 2011 at 7:11 am
It’s the same concept international companies use in the IT business. If you hire a programmer from Thailand there’s no point in bringing him to the US just to see his face 8 hours a day.
It makes me glad to see it’s becoming a trend.
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on July 25, 2011 at 8:44 am
With the advancement in data communications, a virtual office is definitely the way to go for working with someone on the other side of the globe. I agree with you in that there is no point in bringing someone closer unless they need to work closer.
on July 25, 2011 at 9:01 am
I truly believe that virtual offices is one of the best alternative as a sideline job. I mean, not all people are having enough income from their main jobs right? For extra income and for smart and competent housewives who want to earn money too, I think they should also try the benefit of virtual offices. As to employers, they also save alot of money in this process.. They just have to closely monitor they employees realtime.
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on July 25, 2011 at 12:53 pm
Virtual offices are definitely beneficial for helping to earn money. A virtual office can easily be accessed from home, which makes it a great way to earn extra income from the comfort of your home.
on July 26, 2011 at 5:06 am
Well yeah it’s true.. but no every single job can be done in a virtual office. Like doctor for example. It needs a room to examine the patients.
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on July 26, 2011 at 8:19 am
That is a good example. Virtual offices are for many jobs, but there are still others that do require actual people to perform the work.
on July 26, 2011 at 7:05 am
I couldn’t agree more with the post and the ethos that the business owner’s time is usually worth far more to his clients than the sum they’d pay to a virtual assistant. For example, if he charges a consultancy fee or £50-£100 per hour yet a virtual assistant costs just £15 for the same amount of time, it’s not cost-efficient for his business to do unproductive, adminstrative or back office tasks himself – he’s far better employed making money and increasing his workload.
As someone who runs a company that provides outsourced, virtual services – ranging from secretarial to project management, from marketing and social media content to equipment hire and hot-desking – I’m definitely an advocate of the theory that few business actions need to be carried out on-site.
For those that do, we also provide a cheaper alternative to temping agency fees and the dedication that we’ll learn your systems and become a part of your team.
Virtual services are on the rise due to companies’ fears of committing to permanent, or even temporary, staff when workloads rise. The ‘no commitment, ad-hoc’ aspect of a virtual assistant is yet another benefit in our current economic climate.
on July 26, 2011 at 8:21 am
Virtual services are a great way to also reduce the cost not only for traditional businesses, but also for those that do business solely online. I agree with you in that virtual services, with their much lower costs than consultant services, are a benefit in todays economy, especially when companies are looking to save money.
on July 26, 2011 at 12:59 pm
A virtual office is especially useful for new businesses when it is really important to keep costs to a minimum. I ‘share’ a virtual office at home with my wife; we run two businesses and we can cut the costs in half so we win twice over. We don’t need to hire conference rooms or anything like that but the fact that this is possible means that businesses can do everything in a virtual office than they would in a real one.
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on August 6, 2011 at 10:55 am
Although I like the idea of a virtual office, it can only be done for businesses that do most of their business online or behind the computer. But I do think a lot of businesses can split up their work so that they have a department that can benefit from the virtual office and a department that can not.
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on August 6, 2011 at 3:57 pm
Yes, a virtual office is really useful for businesses that do most of their work online, or on a computer. The office work for a business is a good example.
on November 11, 2011 at 7:56 am
Hi, you’ve mentioned some very good points..an extra point is that virtual offices also have the benefit of not being tied in to a lengthy lease. Standard office space often comes with a contract where you are tied in to the building for a time period. Virtual offices offer the flexibility of not being stuck if business circumstances change.
on November 14, 2011 at 8:10 am
The fact that you won’t have to worry about a lease with a virtual office is a good point, and is definitely a money-saver.
on December 21, 2011 at 12:03 am
The first thing you need to do is to decide what kind of business you want to start. You want to offer a product or service of some kind. Once you make that decision, then find out what are the costs of starting that business. Then determine where you will get the money to cost and operate that business.
on March 2, 2012 at 5:10 am
Indeed its there are several great advantages of having a virtual office besides of what you’ve mentioned in your post, one of the great advantage you could gain is unconditional convenience that you can do things in a free manner, not thinking that someone might interfere your doings.
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on March 2, 2012 at 8:00 am
Having the freedom to get things done is a great reason to use a virtual office. Many times things such as meetings and people intervening can get in the way of productivity.