15 Key Benefits of Virtual Offices [For New & Established Businesses]

Co-Working & Desk Space, Conference & Meeting Rooms, Office Space & Virtual Office

Zachary Gregg

Traditional office spaces are increasingly being replaced by virtual offices, also known as “business identities,” due to the many benefits that virtual offices provide. In this article we will explore:

What Is a Virtual Office?

Virtual offices are ideal for startups, remote workers, small businesses and freelancers, as well as for larger companies seeking to establish a presence in a new market. They give your business the identity, administrative support and access to meeting rooms and technology that it needs to succeed, all at an affordable cost.

15 Key Benefits of Virtual Offices

1. Build a professional image without overhead: With a virtual office your business will appear legitimate and trustworthy. You’ll have:

A respected business address: A business address in a well-regarded business location to which mail will be sent and where you can hold meetings
A local telephone number: Local customers tend to be more responsive to a local phone number
A live receptionist: A live receptionist answering your calls who appears to work for your company (or a voicemail service when they are off duty)
Top-notch meeting facilities: The ability to host meetings in conference rooms at your virtual office provider’s location, where your clients are welcomed by professional support staff and provided with an assortment of beverages
State-of-the-art technology: Access to video conferencing and other high-tech customer service and communication options on an as-needed basis

2. Save on typical business costs: You’ll save money in many areas that can be invested into growing your business.

No costly lease: You will avoid being locked into a costly monthly lease. You may use your virtual office for however long it suits you and many of the amenities it offers on an as-needed basis.
No standard office costs: You won’t incur the costs of running an office such as maintenance, cleaning and utilities.
No receptionist on payroll: Your virtual office comes with a live receptionist and answering service, which means you don’t have to hire a receptionist or pay for an answering service.
No commuting costs: Since you work from home, there are no daily commuting or parking costs.
Only technology you need: You use only the technology you need at home and can access more via your virtual office provider.

3. Eliminate barriers to scaling up: If new employees utilize a virtual office provider, you won’t need to invest in office space or require them to relocate.

4. Do more with increased time savings: Using a virtual office saves time that can be invested in sales efforts or servicing clients because of the following factors:

Zero commute: Not having to commute means more time to get work done.
No administrative responsibilities: Not having to engage in time-consuming administrative responsibilities such as leasing and managing an office space frees up a lot of time.

5. Enjoy an improved work/life balance: As a result of having additional time to focus on work and a more flexible schedule, squeezing things like doctors’ appointments or catching your kids’ games into your schedule will be less taxing. If, however, you are finding working from home to be too fraught with distractions — kids barging into your office, home projects calling your name, etc. — you may want to opt for your virtual office provider’s coworking option. It will allow you to more easily separate work from your personal life. Many virtual office providers even offer unexpected benefits to coworking members such as fully outfitted kitchens and showers so you can fit your workout in.

6. Obtain unlimited access to top talent: Virtual offices are located all over the country and world. Allowing employees to use a virtual office enables you to hire the best talent, no matter where they live.

7. Make employees happier: According to Porch, remote workers are often happier in their jobs thanks to perks including:

No commute
A more flexible schedule
Staying home with kids or pets
Less supervision
No workplace drama

In addition, they’ll have the ability to work from a location that works best for them — home, a café, the local library, etc.

8. Increase productivity: Productivity increases as a result of spending no time commuting, not having to run an office and not being distracted by colleagues. If you have employees using virtual offices, they know they are under scrutiny and must meet business objectives in order to maintain their jobs. In addition, they appreciate being allowed to work from home. These factors provide powerful incentives for them to work very hard to get their work done well and on time.

9. Benefit from employees using less vacation time: When employees have a more flexible schedule, which virtual offices provide, they use less vacation days to take care of personal things.

10. Protect your privacy: Having a virtual office address protects your family and your privacy. In addition, it keeps your home address off public and state registration websites.

11. Improve access to business credit: A virtual office address enables you to register with business directories that credit agencies source information from when reviewing your application for credit.

12. Reduce legal liability: Utilizing a virtual office address reduces legal risk by:

Enabling legal entities to more easily differentiate between your personal and business assets. It’s advisable to have all legal correspondence relating to your business delivered to your virtual office.
Avoiding the temptation to go against rules at apartment and condo complexes as well as single-family homeowners’ associations (HOA) that don’t allow a business to be run out of residents’ homes.

13. Boost Google local SEO: Virtual offices are an affordable way to improve your company’s SEO performance in local search results. Be sure that your virtual business listing — name, address and phone number — matches on Google, your website and any other online mention of your company.

14. Remove limitations with built-in flexibility: If you or your virtual employees need to temporarily work out of an actual office, a virtual office provider likely offers a coworking office rental option.

15. Help the environment: The environmental footprint of virtual offices differs from that of traditional ones. Anyone who works in a virtual office isn’t commuting, which results in less gas consumption and pollution. In addition, if your employees are also using virtual offices, you are collectively consuming less electricity, heating fuel and water, as well as generating less waste.

Ways a Virtual Office Benefits Startups

You might be surprised to learn that many successful companies born of humble beginnings knew enough to establish a formal business address through a professional virtual office center like oHive. They realized that what kills many small businesses is the cost of renting and outfitting office space.

Ask Jim Loomis or Dan McGurl, the co-founders of Bottomline Technologies, why they initially chose to use a virtual office and they’ll tell you the professional façade enabled them to start their world-class business from the beaches of Bermuda.

“From 0 to 60 people, we’ve grown using oHive’s solutions. We’ve used each location and occupied over 15 different oHive offices. Ours is a multi-time, Inc. 5000 ‘fastest growing company’ award winner and oHive’s custom office solutions have kept up with us every step of the way.” – Julia Ahumada, Partner & Director of Brand Strategy, Vital

Why Virtual Offices Are Ideal for Business Expansion

With business expansion into new markets, comes risks. Similar businesses will likely already have a strong presence, and breaking through to establish your brand in an unfamiliar market will require time and resources. One of the ways to mitigate these risks is by using the services offered by a virtual office provider. Doing so will enable you to:

Test the market: Renting a virtual office space enables you to test the market without committing to an expensive lease.
Have low operating costs: Expanding your business can be costly. The low cost of using a virtual office frees up needed capital.
Hire local employees: A virtual office enables you to attract local employees who are looking to enjoy the benefits of working from home. As the number of employees in a new market grows, you can explore shifting to a coworking situation.

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How Much Does a Virtual Office Cost?

Of the many advantages virtual offices offer, perhaps the one that matters most is being perceived as an established professional entity for a low cost. The monthly cost of a virtual office is far less than that of a traditional office. After all, it has none of the maintenance and upkeep costs, nor does it need to be staffed. A virtual office can also be secured via a month-to-month lease, so there is greater flexibility if a user’s business changes (no waiting for a lease to expire or incurring the cost of a broken lease).

Costs for using a virtual office can run as low as $65 for a membership fee and $250 per month or more for a month-to-month lease for basic services. The more services that are added on, the more expensive it will be.

Advantages of a Virtual Office

The benefits of virtual office space are many. A small business can appear larger and more established than it is thanks to having a high-status mailing address as well as telephone answering services, videoconferencing services and the ability to use state-of-the-art conference room facilities.

It’s a good idea to keep in mind that some of the services a virtual office arrangement offers require pre-planning to utilize. For example, many virtual office packages come with limited use of conference rooms or limited teleconferencing and videoconferencing services. Virtual offices also may have restricted access on nights and weekends.

Finding the Right Virtual Office

Establishing a virtual office is the most affordable way to convey a polished business identity that instills confidence in clients while you work from home, the beach or wherever you choose.

To find the ideal virtual office, you’ll want to develop a clear list of your most essential business needs. With the list in hand, you’ll be ready to research virtual office providers who can meet your needs. Ideally, your virtual office provider’s offerings should be flexible enough to adapt and develop with your business.

oHive’s virtual office locations in Portsmouth, NH, provide a variety of affordable options that help ensure your business is putting its best foot forward.