Virtual offices are becoming increasingly popular among businesses, as they seek to find the best working arrangements to suit them and their staff.
Whether a business is starting up, growing, or even switching over to working from home, the virtual office brings many benefits.
So, what are virtual offices? They carry many of the advantages of a traditional office – reception, postal address, telephone answering – but without the physical building.
At Rombourne, while we offer exceptional serviced office spaces for businesses of all sizes, we also have a large group of clients who take advantage of our virtual office services, and they have many reasons for doing so.
What Are The Advantages of a Virtual Office?
1. Cost Effective
Virtual offices enable a business to have all the benefits of a physical office, but they are more cost-effective because they avoid the expense of rent. With the current economic climate, where many business owners are looking to make savings, one option might be to move to a virtual office.
2. First Impressions Count
For start-ups or young businesses in particular, virtual offices bring the advantage of giving a great first impression. The phones can be answered by a professional reception team, and mail can be posted to the virtual office. This gives the business the right look, but without the overheads.
3. Geographical Spread
Virtual offices are an excellent resource for businesses wanting a presence in a number of locations. For example, a London-based business may want an office in Wales (and at Rombourne, we have serviced office centres in Newport and Cardiff) so could opt for a virtual office, to secure that location and postcode.
4. Flexibility
Having a virtual office doesn’t rule out meeting up face-to-face. At Rombourne, for example, our virtual office clients are able to book to use our meeting rooms. In fact, where space allows, we can rent an office for a day, if a team needs to get together. This makes for a really flexible working arrangement for many businesses.
5. Working From Home
If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that working from home is possible. It doesn’t suit everybody, but for those businesses which are happy for their teams to work from home, the virtual office is an ideal solution. And, as we’ve mentioned, there are also options for meeting up face-to-face. Equally, having a virtual office means staff can be based anywhere in the country, indeed the world, and still be part of the business.
6. Green Solution
Virtual offices, by their definition, mean staff avoid the daily commute. This is better for the planet and the business’s environmental credentials, as well as avoiding wasting part of the day driving or sitting on a train or bus.
7. Google Searches
Having an address is important for search engine optimisation. For Google in particular, an address is essential for a Google My Business listing. For a business wanting to be searched for in more than one geographic location, then an address in each area is an advantage. Again, a virtual office provides the ideal solution.
Conclusion
At Rombourne, our clients can choose to use one of our centres as a postal address, or as a phone answering service, or both. All our virtual office clients have the option of using our meetings rooms and, where space allows, we can even offer occasional, daily office hire.
To find out more about our virtual office services, please get in touch with the team at Rombourne. We have serviced office centres in Bristol, Cardiff, Newport and Swindon which provide the ideal location for businesses of all sizes.
