Office Space News
Answer My Office Encourages Small Businesses to Get Naked
Published July 13th, 2009 by Jennifer LeClaire
Naked receptionists certainly paint a vivid picture. That’s what Sherman Oaks, Calif.-based Answer My Office (AMO) intended when it suggested its “naked office” concept targeting small businesses that want to save costs – and save the environment.
On Monday, AMO launched a marketing concept around “naked green office.” AMO describes its product an eco-friendly answering service for small businesses. Here’s the premise: Lost calls often mean lost profits. AMO doesn’t offer statistics, but suggests the majority of first time callers who reach voicemail hang up – and their next call is most likely to one of your competitors. That may be a little dramatic, but the notion of having calls answered and messages returned is a vital aspect of good customer service.
A green office isn’t really anything new. Essentially, it’s AMO’s spin on shared office space. AMO is calling it a virtual office, which I believe could cause some industry confusion. A virtual office is more commonly known as an 800 number, a prestigious address, mail pick up, a receptionist and access to a conference room when needed. AMO’s idea of a virtual office is when users share office resources. Offices are rented out for days, hours or even weeks at a time and office resources and materials are shared.
The Al Gore Bandwagon
One thing is clear: Offices consume 70 percent of the electricity load in the United States, according to the U.S. Green Building Council. Reducing commuter traffic helps our environment in three ways: reducing toxic gases and dust particles spewed into our atmosphere, reducing chemicals washed into our waters, and reducing the need to find new sources of oil.
Let’s look at it from another angle. According to Durham University, a photocopy machine left on overnight uses up enough energy to make 5,300 copies and lighting an empty office overnight uses the same amount of energy it takes to boil water for 1,000 cups of coffee. AMO says a shared office is managed to reduce environmental impact with electronic fax and photocopy machines shared by all who use the office.
Sharing heating, air conditioning and kitchen facilities, AMO says, helps reduce waste too and sharing an office also creates a global atmosphere of people coming together to share and re-use common facilities in a way that creates a healthy social and environmental ethos.
AMO’s Eco-Friendly Stance
The concept behind the AMO virtual office offer was developed out of a need to create a professional office space in the centre of the CBD of any given city that accommodated the needs of the mobile professional, according to Jason McLeod COO of AMO. AMO is not new to the office scene. The company has been providing “virtual offices” and answering services to businesses ranging from sole traders to multinational conglomerates for six years. Now, it’s looking to lead the environmental charge.
“It has long been acknowledged that people are affected by their environment, and research has shown that positive work environments effects productivity, but recently have companies started to explore their impact on the environment, especially in the corporate sector,” says Emanuel Krassenstein, AMO’s Chief Technology Officer.
“Europe was the first to lead the way in environmental corporate responsibility with its Packaging Recovery Organization, and Take Back Schemes. The rest of the world was a little slower to wake up to the environmental realities created in the wake of the technological explosion of the last century with industrial and commercial energy accounting for nearly 30 percent of total US greenhouse gas emissions.”
Related posts:
- Green Serviced Offices: A 2009 Trend? With the appointment of his environmental team, experts are convinced...
- Answer My Office Floats Confusing Ad Offering Are advertising networks failing to offer small- to med-sized businesses...
- IBM Rolls Out Virtual World Software for Businesses IBM just rolled out the coolest virtual collaboration tool I’ve...
- Q&A: Brian Folb Discusses Green Executive Office Suites Paramount Contractors and Developers is what you might call an...
- Finding Green Office Space: New York, Redmond and Bristol I recently ran across an article about green office space in...
- Chattanooga Gets New Serviced Office Space In another example of developers eyeing the executive office suites...
- xPert Office offers virtual collaboration tools It’s been said teamwork makes the dream work. Indeed, collaboration...
- Shared Office Concept Opens Near Philadelphia Here’s a real estate entrepreneur who’s getting creative in a...
About the Author
Rob Zeus July 13th, 2009 at 8:41 am
I think we should all do our part to conserve energy and water, etc. It’s good stewardship. I don’t believe in waste. But I do believe that we need to be practical about it. Sometimes the ecofriendly stuff can get out of whack.
All the marketing we see from companies in the serviced office industry about green offices shows that there is an appetite for all things green. But it may also be a little opportunistic. I, for one, don’t want a green office pushed on me. It’s nice to know green office space is available, in other words, but I don’t want to be guilted into renting it.
Elizabeth Sanchez July 13th, 2009 at 8:42 am
I think there is definitely some terminology confusion here. They use virtual offices as a term to describe shared offices. I am not sure why. This doesn’t bode well for the executive office suites industry. I think we need some standards so we can all speak the same language — and so that customers don’t get confused.
Marcus Hester July 13th, 2009 at 9:02 am
I think it’s great to make people aware of how shared office space can cut costs. I think the better angle, though, is how it saves cost for the owner rather than for the operator of the shared office space. Many people still don’t care about the operational costs unless they can see the direct impact on their office rent. Much the same, many don’t care about the environment, despite the green propaganda.
Maggie Correta July 13th, 2009 at 9:19 am
This company seems to have a track record for success. They’ve been around the shared office industry for six years. I agree, though, that the terminology they are using is bringing some confusion to the end users. When I first saw them, I thought they were like a Davinci Virtual. But the are more like Davinci Suites, if anything.
Melanie Jones July 13th, 2009 at 9:21 am
There’s lots of good statistics in this article about why we should care about green office space. I think some simple measures in serviced offices would go a long way. You don’t necessarily need a shared office. You can waste just as much there as you can anywhere else. It’s the green principles. They’ll work anywhere.