The Virtual Office Answer

Why should you consider the Virtual Address solution for your business?

• A rationale for the location of a business address
• The Virtual office is the Virtual Address
• The obvious benefits of a Virtual Address
• The new priorities for a business address after Covid19
• Setting up your Virtual Office – what to consider
• The suite of Virtual Services that technology can offer

A rationale for the location of a business address

We never take into account where our favourite musicians live. It doesn’t matter one iota where that great painter whose work hangs on your study wall lived or lives - it’s the talent of the work that is the only criteria.

We never consider where the hugely successful entrepreneurs and respected business leaders of the world reside, it is their ideas and their products and services we judge them by. It is unimportant what address the genius scientist lives at – all that matters is their solution to the problem.

In business, an address only matters when it is a criteria for judgement. We don’t care about the quality of the office space where our local plumbing services work from – all we want to know is that their address is local when we search the internet and need them, fast!

Image and presence in the modern business world isn’t glass and concrete. Your main business address is on an online street. Your image isn’t a foyer with a receptionist and some chairs and a sign on the wall, it’s an impression formed by traditional and social media, website SEO and all the associated consumer sentiment from your market presence.

The only concerns for your business address should be three criteria. 1/ Will it matter to my customers? 2/ Is it an address I can afford 3/ Is it convenient for my staff, my clients and me.

Whether your customers are all online or even if they aren’t - your business address should be one that presents an image that meets market approval. If you are selling fresh farm produce, a city CBD address will ring alarm bells to your customers. The product and the services your business offers are obviously central, but all the other decision points that lead the buyer to you must be considered. Ensure you have a business address that your customers will approve. What really matters to your customers is whether your business address fits the profile they expect. Be at a business address that your clientele will respect. A Virtual Address at a renowned location provides that business presence.

Secondly, when looking for an address your business can afford, don’t make the mistake of investing emotion into a site. There is no magic that will turn an expensive office lease in a prestige building into a profitable enterprise just by location. Placing a name plate on a desktop that says Manager means nothing if the person cannot manage. There is a very acute pain that comes when incoming funds cannot cover the excesses of a long office lease and all the associated overheads that seemed so necessary at the time. Eliminate that stress with the Virtual Office strategy. Especially if you are just starting out in your business venture, consider the priorities – what costs are really essential for your start up?

The cost of office space should be affordable and never dependent on quixotic projected revenue or a vision of a perpetually calm commercial climate. Entering into a long-term lease in a volatile economic atmosphere is a script for depression. When we think of Covid19 and all the long-term office space leasing that was secured at seemingly reasonable rates, we can see a map of committed complacency. Not only have so many businesses failed to remain flexible in the face of a health pandemic but they have also ignored the changing necessities of the business address “footprint”.

Just as the old markets of the past with their dedicated streets and lane ways of haberdasheries and jewellers and money changers have mutated into shopping malls now recasting as online marketplaces, so also the old model of office space peopled with employees who have all commuted to the one place at the same time to sit together is being radically altered. Hence what was once a business address that seemed affordable pre Covid19 now seems like a folly when the Managing Director looks out across empty tables and empty chairs and cubicles that haven’t seen an occupant for months.

But it’s not wholly Covid19 that engendered the change, it was just a catalyst ensuring the adoption of new technological developments, advances that were often set to pause whilst management dodged the opportunities and efficiencies of WFH, preferring instead to doubt the model of employees not within view of the corner office. Can any company really afford to plan for the future with a business address anchored in the office space model of the past? Does your business strategy for the future include the future-proof option of a Virtual Address?

The third consideration for an office address is convenience. Is it easy to travel to the location? Will employees have to commute very far? Is it close to transport hubs? Is there parking that is safe and secure. Will the location appeal to prospective employees? A business owner also needs to regard the location, the business address, from the perspective of clients and customers. Is the office address easy to access, is it in an area that’s safe and pleasant to visit?

However, Covid19 has added an additional check-box to the convenience status, is the location acceptable for very health-conscious people? Does the commute to the office minimize sharing space with strangers? Does the business office have access to fresh air and natural light? Is the business address somewhere where people actually like to be – not just where they have to go?

A Virtual office is the solution that meets all the criteria. You can choose a business address that will be respected by your customers. Whether it is a prestigious office address in the heart of the CBD or a popular new commercial office building at a regional hub, there are location choices that will suit every business, sites that fit the trust profile for your customers.

A Virtual office is also inexpensive and valuable. Great Virtual office addresses are available from as little $720 per annum. Even if your business requires the extra services of being immediately advised whenever there is mail or a package, the cost is very affordable. You can also arrange to have your mail scanned and emailed if you need – it is a very cost-effective approach that saves time and offers safe, secure certainty.

Thirdly, the Virtual office solution is also convenient. The physical address at most of our prestige office building locations provides the option for accessing modern and stylish meeting room and conference facilities.

Think it through. A Virtual Address at a renowned office complex, centrally located with easy access to all forms of transport. Superbly furnished meeting rooms fully outfitted with the latest audio-visual technology, available on an hourly fee basis. High floor, great city views, refreshments and a variety of facilities on call from IT support to printing and copying. Your WFH staff will be delighted to catch up for briefings on the next quarter or training on your new CRM module when they know they are visiting iconic sites with city views that are totally fit for purpose from the hygiene perspective of Covid19 concerns. – lots of space, lots of new furnishings, expandable rooms, natural light - dedicated cleanliness. So, when you need to meet your people on a face-to-face basis, your Virtual office address meets the need superbly.

The same convenience applies to your clients. Just book the stylish space for your meetings and later on sample the hospitality of the numerous dining options at your CBD locale. It will be so convenient for your clientele and business partners and it is a place they will want to come to. That’s crucial criteria. After all the experiences of the pandemic no-one really wants to go anywhere - unless it’s a cool place to be.

The Virtual office is the Virtual Address

These two terms mean the same thing. A Virtual Office is a Virtual Address. You may be a successful entrepreneur working by the pool at your home in the leafy suburbs but there is no way you want to advertise your home address to your clientele. Hence, you choose a Virtual Address at a highly respected location that meets the judgement of your clients and protects your privacy at the same time. Then when you want to catch up with your staff or meet with prospective partners or clients, you book the space you need. Forget the idea of paying high end leases for boardrooms and offices – pay only for what you need when you need it and plough the savings into your enterprise.

Some businesses may only want an address for their incoming hard copy correspondence and a location they can use in their marketing and for registration with government authorities such as ASIC. A Virtual Address is the perfect answer if all you require is the professional image that comes with a respectable business address. Other companies might choose an address they know also offers all the amenities that fully encompass their business needs, from printing to meeting and conference rooms and ad hoc serviced offices. It is called taking advantage of the opportunities of an ever-changing business environment. It's not an unusual option anymore, the road is well travelled. Virtual offices are available in all the main cities on the planet - New York, Tokyo, London, Frankfurt, Paris, Sao Paolo and hundreds more.

Naturally though, only legitimate businesses are accepted for Virtual Office registration. There are clear guidelines that must be met. We take our prospective customers through a specific identity verification process that is thorough and never a problem for genuine entities.

Whether you call it a Virtual Address or a Virtual Office, your business image is real, your address is real at a physical location -while you yourself may spend your working life out on the road consulting or designing new software applications beside the pool – or in the garden where the pool is one day going to be. The obvious benefits of a Virtual Address

There are obvious benefits to a Virtual Address and there are some that maybe you’ll only realise after you’ve set up your new world. The primary advantages are privacy, cost, immediacy and versatility. Let’s look at each of each these visible advantages.

For a businessperson working from home a Virtual Address provides privacy. All your work may be completed where you live but your clients won’t know that. The wider business world will only judge you by your Virtual Office address, and they won’t lose sleep wondering if you actually physically work at that address or not. So, with your decision you have ensured a respectable business address and absolute privacy.

Secondly, the great cost savings of a Virtual office means that you’re saved from paying for all those traditional outlays for furnishings, utilities and outfitting and there is no burden on the budget from outlaying funds for an actual physical office space lease at a prestige site. There is time now to really consider your business strategy and maybe take some calculated risks – rather than feeling that constant pressure of meeting the office rental outgoings.

Your virtual option is so dynamic. Make the decision and you can locate your office within the same day, virtually. All your business marketing and government registrations can be easily updated rather than waiting for some hazy deadline in the future when you and your team can physically ‘move in’. Almost immediately you’ve established a business presence. The business image of your enterprise has received a considerable boost from the address at a renowned location and it's been a fast and easy build – easy on the pocket and no stress.

A Virtual office is the epitome of versatility. Choose a two-year arrangement, or one year may suit best or just six months - and some Virtual Office providers even offer as short a time as three months. In the era of pandemics and great social and technological change, leaden feet and a rigid abeyance to traditional practices are the opposite of what a business needs to survive and grow. Maybe down the road you may want to put out all the funds for a large physical office and all the accompanying costs – but in the interim, a Virtual Address is a wise choice. Once you have experienced the ease of a Virtual Business Address, you’ll wonder why you didn’t do this before.

Now those were some of the obvious advantages of going virtual for your business address but let me tell you some of the other less obvious virtues.

It seems almost peculiar in this Covid19 era, but the traditional office worker model was based upon people commuting from their home in cars or on trains or ferries or buses to an office space where they sat at desks with computer screens and rarely conversed to anyone. Some commutes could be upwards of 1.5 hours per day each way, 3 hrs of a life lost each day, staring out the window at the passing scene. Management and the CEO would also commute each day to the same place and then spend the time in meetings and working online.

One of the very real benefits of a Virtual Office is not doing all that travelling. There is really no need to physically travel to a physical office each day when technology is the main driver of the workday, whether via emails, audio-visual conference calls, chat sessions or operational and marketing software. All over the commercial world people are saving that lost commuting time and making it valuable again. Instead of getting dressed and buttoning up the business shirt or ironing the blouse that matches the skirt and deciding on the accessories, your virtual office allows you the time to walk your daughter to school or take that morning Yoga class or simply log on at 6am and start your day. All of those 5 days a week back and forth commutes are over - it's your time again now.

Another advantage of going virtual is taking better care of your health and security. Accessing the Virtual Office option allows you to minimise the interaction with strangers. There is no need to share lift rides each and every day with people you don’t know. You don’t have to constantly mingle and during the fluid environment of Covid19 it's not just the concern that you could catch an illness – it's the thought that you could pass it on to your loved ones. It's wise to eliminate the unknowns and create certainty in uncertain times.

Ensuring that your mail and packages are delivered to a secure environment is also a benefit not immediately realised. A virtual address provides heightened security. There will be no mail or packages just left outside the closed reception door or on the front porch. You minimise the risk of thieves accessing an unattended mailbox and you don’t have to interrupt your life waiting to sign for that important document or delivery. Our Virtual Address team can let you know when you have mail and they’ll keep it safe and secure for you.

The new priorities for a business address after Covid19

Visibility to the market is always important but increasingly it is online visibility that matters. The ranking that your company receives in search results matters more than any new logo. Few customers will be impressed by a grand new office building with your company name emblazoned on it if they find your online presence lacks substance and style.

Visibility should also partner with accessibility. The old conventional 9am – 5pm trading hours are nonsensical when so much purchasing has moved online. When a customer calls your customer care line at 6pm that call must be answered by a welcoming human voice, even if is a Virtual Receptionist working from home a thousand miles from your business address. The past process of flicking on the answering machine at 5pm won’t suffice anymore – every ambitious enterprise must realise the need to be available to their customer base.

Visibility, availability and flexibility are the keywords of the new business paradigm.

The new priorities for a business address after Covid 19 reflect the reality. More people now WFH and that phenomenon is now the new normal for millions of workers. There is no need to lease large office space for employees if they can complete their tasks WFH. At best, employees in the new normal might physically visit the office twice a week but more probably it will be twice a month.

The demand for cost savings in uncertain times means that any smart business leverages technology to reduce costs. The option of a Virtual Receptionist negates the extravagance of in-house reception staff and indeed the need for a physical reception.

The actual cost of a business address in the current climate should be much less because the utilisation, the actual need for space, has been dramatically reduced. It is simpler to take the next step and purchase a Virtual Office than downsize to an ad hoc world of a meeting room or two and a few partitioned offices that you’re still paying for at night when there is no-one there. A Virtual address with the option of booking meeting rooms and conference facilities at the same location is a simple solution that removes the cost complexities in an instant. Pay only for what you need when you need it is the new standard.

Setting up your Virtual Office – what to consider.

It is important to fully realise the needs that you want to achieve with a Virtual Address. Do you work from home and simply want to ensure your privacy? Do you want to keep your home life separate from your business persona? Is your clientele mainly local? A Virtual Office at a well-known and prominent office building in your locality could be all that you need. If you just want to present an image to your local customers and receive all your correspondence separate from a home address, a local Virtual Address is a perfect solution. In that case there is no need to purchase a Virtual Address at a prestige CBD office block, you can fulfill all the requirements at a good address in the locality.

Alternatively, your company may want a footprint in a new market and you also want the opportunity to meet with prospective clients and staff in a stylish and centrally located environment. Then choose a Virtual Address at a well-known and highly renowned office building that immediately provides a great business image and access to the amenities your business requires. We have great locations to choose from to meet the commercial needs of your enterprise no matter what your business vision is.

In considering who to engage for a Virtual Address always keep in mind a few key points. Does the provider have a successful history within the industry? Do their listings of Virtual Address sites include lots of options at locations that you know will meet with the approval of your customers? Are the terms and conditions clear and easy to comprehend? Is the cost very clearly explained without any extra charges in fine print? Are there any bonds or special payments that seem opaque and confusing?

It is always smart to do some research and enjoy the subsequent satisfaction from working with an experienced highly-principled provider with a track record of trustworthy service. A great Virtual Address will meet and exceed all your demands. Take the time to meet the right service provider. Talk to us.

The suite of Virtual Services that technology can offer.

Now that you have decided on your Virtual Address, take advantage of the other Virtual services that technological change can offer your business enterprise. A Virtual Receptionist is a very wise solution for processing customer calls. Forget all the costs of an in house receptionist, an employee you are paying for even when the phone doesn’t ring. Keep to the formula of only paying for what you need and employ a Virtual Reception service.

There are really cost-effective live call answering packages that provide a local Virtual Receptionist for whatever period you choose. Your Virtual Receptionist will learn about your business and together you can build a customer FAQ. Provide your Virtual Reception with the directions on which calls should be forwarded through to you and your team and relax in knowing that an experienced professional local voice is answering calls on behalf of your business. Have your customer calls live answered just during usual working hours or arrange to cover after hours and weekends or just public holidays. It’s a scalable local service that will fit into whatever schedule your business requires. Drop that old conventional model of a reception desk and an in-house employee with all the accompanying overheads. Go Virtual and know all your business calls will be answered every time by a professional. Arrange for SMS or email details of inquiries and choose the business greeting. It is a simple service to set up with great benefits for cost savings and efficiency.

Aside from a Virtual Receptionist taking and handling traditional calls, if your requirement involves a higher level of call handling complexity (e.g. scripting of tailored sales qualification questions and submission of an online form to provide those answers back to you), our Virtual Assistant service is another really cost effective service to support your business growth in challenging times. Similarly our Diary Management service provides for our local receptionists to take incoming calls and update your calendar or diary for appointments.

We hope this outline of the Virtual Address solution has been helpful, please contact our wonderful team if you have any questions about going Virtual for your business.