What Is a Virtual Office and How Can It Help You?

What is a virtual office? It is an alternative solution for businesses who do not need or wish to take on the traditional expenses of leasing or buying office space.

Today, businesses are in constant fluctuation as far as support and needs. Maybe a small business had two remote employees to begin with, but has quickly grown to a full-time remote staff of six. Perhaps a business that once had 75 employees in-office has downsized and cannot afford to keep a large corporate space. As businesses change, their needs for office amenities change as well.

Before the challenges that COVID-19 presented to the business world, many businesses were reevaluating what they needed for office space and how they could save overhead expenses that had become unnecessary. For these exact reasons, a more flexible option for office space came into existence. Meet the virtual office space. 

There is a lot to deal with both financially and logistically when leasing or buying an office space, but the virtual space is a foundational piece of the flexible workspace industry. It gives businesses more options for access to part-time office space, answering services, virtual office addresses, and other amenities. 

If someone asks “what is a virtual office?” when searching around for places to conduct business, the concept can be best described by listing out all of the benefits that this virtual environment provides as an alternative to a standard lease agreement. 

Need help staying focused and on track while working remotely? See our blog: 6 Tips for Working Remotely to Keep You On Track

Benefits of a Virtual Office

• Logistical Help

Whether a business is run by a sole proprietor or includes a growing staff, help with organization and logistics is key to maintaining successful and productive workdays. With a virtual office, businesses can arrange services like live phone answering, mail forwarding, online meeting room booking, and mailing services.

Oftentimes virtual offices come with options to book a meeting space for companies who need to host client or board meetings. The same goes for private office space. If a company finds itself expanding and wants some physical space without the troubles of leasing an entire office, individual offices can often be leased.

• Prestige and Presence 

Businesses often want an address that reflects their status. For growing businesses, this means they can put a prestigious “downtown” address on business cards and in promotional material.

On the flip-side, business owners who decide to move out of a permanent office space can feel like they’ve lost something when they decide that’s a necessary step to take. It’s not hard to sympathize with this sentiment. It may make the most sense to forgo a permanent space, but at first, it can feel like losing a home. With a virtual office, business owners need no longer feel adrift or at a lack of resources. 

What is a virtual office for business owners? It’s the best of both worlds. It’s a physical address to conduct meetings and house operations in one place, without having the overhead and lack of flexibility as is the case with traditional office space leasing. 

• Awareness

A service-based business may not always have — or need — a storefront location, which means awareness and web-based recognition could be logistically challenging. With a virtual office, like Business District’s downtown Back Bay location, customers and prospects have a centralized and convenient location to visit or recommend. 

For search engine optimization (SEO) purposes, having a physical office location, mailing address, phone, and meeting location helps tremendously when aiming to improve search engine ranking. 

Search engine platforms determine which website they rank by analyzing which business can hold claim to real locations and digital footprint in their specific region. 

When Google or other search engines index your website, social profiles, and other web-based credentials, they look for consistency with location and a virtual office can help businesses build credibility in this way.

Would you like to learn more about the advantages of a virtual office? 

Read our blog: 3 Advantages of a Virtual Office

What Is a Virtual Office for Business Growth?

A virtual office, among all its benefits, has one incredible power that can help businesses achieve their goals. A virtual office can grow with businesses’ specific needs. 

A small business, that may require some office time a few days a week for 1-2 people, could end up needing office space for 10-15 people within a year of growth. Because the smaller business was not beholden to a long-term lease contract, it could spend its resources on growing the business and add space and amenities as needed with growth. Flexibility is priceless for a growing business. 

Please contact us with any questions regarding virtual office services.