Most businesses were affected when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, as employees could not go to work due to restricted movement. Therefore, most employees had to adapt to working remotely. This means they could now do their job without physically going to work.
Also, virtual offices have become popular during this period. A virtual office allows businesses to benefit from a physical office without a physical space. Thus, it involves having a business address, a receptionist, envelope opening and scanning services, and virtual meeting rooms.
Continue reading this article and learn more about how virtual office services empower remote work and flexibility.
- Offer a Physical Street Address
One significant advantage of accessing virtual office services as an online business is having a physical street address. While many online businesses may feel like a physical address is unnecessary, it is crucial for business success.
First, a physical address acts as a formal mail address; thus, your clients can send you mail from that address and vice versa. Therefore, you can send and receive your business emails without hassle.
On top of that, your business is likely to be given credit by banks or lenders when you have a physical address. According to research, most businesses rely on credit for different purposes, such as expansion and capital.
Also, credit can be used to cover your day-to-day business expenses, such as food, repairs, or phone bills. Therefore, you can access credit services with a physical street address. Furthermore, credit cards and bank passes are always sent to the mailing address.
If you are just starting your business and you need a physical address, you can find cheap virtual office services by looking them up online. Moreover, when choosing the best virtual service depending on your business needs, you should pick one with added benefits.
- Provide Meeting Spaces and Day Offices
Virtual office services can facilitate business meetings by giving access to meeting rooms on a pay-as-you-use basis. The pay-as-you-use strategy means that you only pay when you use the meeting space instead of renting a physical office for a meeting.
Thus, providing a cost-effective method to hold client meetings for start-up businesses that might be on the budget. Also, big companies that opt for this model save on monthly rent expenses, increasing their profit margin.
Furthermore, if you have employees, having a physical space is necessary, especially when holding team meetings and other events such as presentations. Therefore, virtual offices are an essential part of any business that wants to meet physically from time to time but is primarily remote.
Moreover, some business models, such as accounting, require you to meet the client physically at some point in the business relationship.
- Basic Business Support
When working remotely, performing basic business support services such as secretarial work from home can be challenging. Therefore, virtual offices provide all these services for remote workers that don’t have access to the required resources. For instance, virtual office service providers offer photocopying and printing services for virtual businesses.
Also, some virtual office providers offer virtual assistant services. Virtual assistants are virtual workers that act as personal assistants for businesses. Therefore, if your business is fully remote, you can choose a virtual office provider that offers this service if you need someone to do administrative services for your remote business.
Lastly, most virtual office providers provide mail handling and forwarding services. They can do this by sending your business mail to their location. After that, they can send it to you and vice versa.
- Enhanced Business Support
As a remote business owner, you can access enhanced business support with virtual office services. For instance, most virtual office providers offer the provision of virtual receptionists to carry out administrative tasks for your business.
Some of the administrative tasks they do include;
Answering And Routing Phone Calls
Here, the virtual receptionist can answer any incoming call from a client or transfer the call to the designated team member. Also, they can take any messages and send the information through email. In addition to that, virtual receptionists can screen business calls to determine urgency, importance, and access.
Scheduling And Email Management
Next, they can manage business calendars and schedule important business events among staff members or business executives. Furthermore, they can respond to business emails and forward them to the appropriate person.
Customer Service
Virtual receptionists can also provide customer service by answering inquiries and providing information on your products or services. Therefore, you must get a reliable receptionist who can help you get new and retain current clients.
Data Entry
Most virtual receptionists have data entry skills; hence they can do tasks such as updating inventory, managing business databases, maintaining data hygiene, and basic data analysis.
- Increased Work-Life Balance
Finally, virtual office services promote work-life balance for most remote businesses. For instance, virtual office providers promote flexibility since you can now operate your business anywhere. This means you can enjoy family time without worrying about your business operations.
In addition to that, virtual office services eliminate the need to travel to work on a daily basis, therefore, reducing stress associated with traffic. Also, as a business owner, your workers tend to be more productive when they don’t have to travel for long hours.
According to research, remote workers are 5 to 9 percent more productive than those in a physical office. Remote workers suffer less burnout, leading to more productive work and a high retention rate.
Final Thoughts
Businesses are an essential part of every country’s economy. Studies show that SMEs are the most significant contributors to job creation and global economic development. Also, they represent 90% percent of businesses around the world.
However, ever since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, most businesses have had no option to shift to working remotely due to movement restrictions imposed by the government to spread the control of the virus. This has also led to many people opening businesses remotely as it is more flexible.
In this case, virtual office services provide remote businesses with the perks of having a physical location. Other perks of employing virtual office services for your remote business include; having a physical address, meeting spaces that you pay for after using them, and primary and advanced business support.