Office Space News
Virtual office reviews: Weber Media Partners manages virtual office with Onebox and Basecamp
Published January 12th, 2009 by Mike Sullivan
This is the first in a series of posts covering businesses and their use of virtual office technology. I have spent time recently speaking with companies who provide virtual office services and I have come to realize there is a sea of options that can be daunting and confusing. While this post will not solve that problem by itself, we hope that this series will help clarify, educate and inspire your use of virtual office services.
Virtual Office Alternatives
I spoke with Catherine Weber recently about her company Weber Media Partners and their use of virtual office technology. Weber Media Partners started in 1994 as a strategic marketing firm. They now have up to 15 people on their team at any one time, but none of them except the principals and one assistant are in Southborough, MA, where the company is “headquartered”. The most nomadic of her team – one of her lead web developers – bounces between Europe and the US (among other unknown places).
Her team is truly virtual, so she uses 37 Signals’ Basecamp team collaboration tool to maximize her team’s project communication. There are lots of features in Basecamp, but some of the key components used by Web Media Partners are to-do lists, file sharing, time tracking and scheduling project milestones. Catherine says that trying to manage her team’s projects through email “would be a nightmare” and some of the big name tools, such as Sharepoint are not a good fit.
In the parlance of a marketer Catherine would be considered a brand advocate for the Basecamp. It’s easy, intuitive, reliable and does everything her team needs it to do. Asked if there were any cons to the service, Catherine could not come up with anything significant. She explains, “It’s got a great feature set and I’d recommend anyone who manages an agency – virtual or otherwise – to consider using Basecamp.”
Basecamp:
Pros:
- Simple
- Great for collaboration for virtual teams
- Good agency functionality with time tracking
Cons:
- Software as service is not customizable
Web Media Partners also uses Onebox’s unified messaging and phone conferencing services, citing the ability to check voice mail via email, the Onebox client website or through their voice mail system as a key convenience feature.
Catherine also mentioned that there was a problem for the first several weeks after the initial setup of the system. Her and her team’s knowledge of phone systems was not deep (just like 99% of all business people) and the setup instructions and support was not clear on how to complete the setup. And initially, Onebox’s customer support was not able to understand the problem well enough to provide a solution. After several calls to support, she finally found someone who could could understand the problem.
The solution turned out to be easy, and since solving it, she hasn’t looked back. Catherine states that “Onebox has proven to be a reliable service that my project managers and I could not function without, but Onebox could better train their customer support team to understand some basic issues that customers will have and better guide them.”
Similar to some other providers of virtual services we have discussed on aBetterOffice, Onebox also provides virtual receptionists for live call answering. We have not spoken to anyone who has used this part of their service yet, so if you’re looking for live phone reception, we would still recommend using Davinci Virtual, Intelligent Office or any executive office suite company in your area (aBetterOffice directory of executive suites is coming soon!).
Onebox
Pros:
- Reliable
- Necessary features for phone system
Cons:
- Bad customer support experience with multiple attempts
More on Weber Media Partners:
Real Weber Media Partners’ blog on social media marketing
Visit Weber Media Partners’ site to learn more about their strategic marketing services
Other PBX services:
Other team collaboration services:
Huddle.net
Central Desktop
teamspace
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About the Author
Bill Brookshire January 13th, 2009 at 6:50 am
I look forward to reading this series about virtual office technology. This is a good study. It really spells out the technologies you need to operate a virtual office.
I know this is off-topic, but what I am wondering about is the virtual employee issues from a leadership perspective. How does she keep her team of nomads motivated and accountable.
Maggie Correta January 13th, 2009 at 8:56 am
I’ve never used Basecamp, but after Weber’s stellar recommendation I am going to check it out. This seems like a virtual office technology that’s well worth the investment.
Of course, there’s downsides to everything and sometimes virtual office technology downsides don’t become apparent until you have a need it can’t meet. But that’s what upgrades are for. This is a great column!
Catherine Weber January 13th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Hi Bill.
Since you asked, I thought I would respond to your question about keeping our team motivated and accountable.
First, everyone who works for our company is a subcontractor who knows that they earn each new project by doing excellent work. If we find that someone is not working out, we phase them out. Basecamp gives us the ability to remove someone from a project promptly as necessary, though it is rarely an issue since we ease our team members in to the organization, one project at a time.
Having subcontractors allows us to be flexible and build teams based on client needs and reduce expenses when we don’t have as much work.
In terms of the accountability, Basecamp is the dashboard by which I watch the workings of my company. I can see who is saying what to whom and importantly, how it is being said. In many ways, I have more of a handle on what is going on because it serves as our primary day-to-day communication tool. It allows everyone who is associated with a project to contribute and be heard.
Best.
Catherine
Melanie Jones January 14th, 2009 at 4:51 am
This is a really helpful column. Exploring virtual office technologies in actual practice is going to help a lot of companies assess the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities that exist.
It’s one thing to read a testimonial about virtual office technology on some vendor’s web site. It’s another thing to read a no-holds barred story. It looks like Weber is pretty happy with its virtual office technology and it works well. Good model.
Rob Zeus January 14th, 2009 at 6:04 am
I think the fact that you can’t customize Basecamp software might be troublesome for some. That’s why open source software is so popular. That gives me a thought: is there any virtual office open source software on the market?
In any case, it sounds like Onebox has some customer service issues despite its solid performance. That’s often the downfall of tech companies — good help is hard to find.
Elizabeth Sanchez January 14th, 2009 at 6:34 am
I like this story because Catherine demonstrates what’s really possible with virtual office technology and gets real about the pros and cons. She told it like it is, for better or worse.
Virtual office technologies have come a long way, and the competition is breeding innovation. What I’d like to hear more about is what’s lacking that businesses need.
What features aren’t available, or what tools are required that aren’t on the market now that could help virtual offices be more productive?
Bill Brookshire January 14th, 2009 at 8:04 am
Catherine, thanks for spelling out the process of managing workers in a virtual office and how Basecamp plays a role in that. It’s hardly Big Brother, but it does seem a if this virtual office technology helps you keep tabs on productivity even while it helps the team be more productive.
Peter Chee January 15th, 2009 at 2:00 am
Just use Google Docs. Keep it simple and it’s free.
@mike, I don’t mean to pick on you, but above you recommend using a Davinci Virtual Office or Intelligent Office for live phone reception over Onebox, could you please expand on what features or service was exceptional?
Marcus Hester January 15th, 2009 at 6:56 am
Voice systems and phone conferencing are absolutely vital to a firm like Weber. So the fact that Catherine is using Onebox as part of this virtual office technology package says a lot.
I imagine they do a lot of client conference calls and perhaps set up interviews with the media for clients on conference lines. That definitely demands a reliable service.
Mike Sullivan January 15th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Peter – You’re not picking… just holding me accountable for my statements, huh? That’s a good thing.
My main sentiment there was that I have spoken with clients of Davinci Virtual and Intelligent Office. I also have researched their companies quite thoroughly, spoken with current and former employees, discussed their capabilities with industry experts, etc., and they both have solid capabilities. Davinci in particular has solid technology with a quite versatile team of receptionists that can do more than answer the phone and take messages.
The little information I’ve gathered on Onebox does not yet support a full endorsement for all their services. But that doesn’t mean I’d recommend against them or that they won’t get a recommendation from aBetterOffice. I’m working on building a bigger body of research… until then, I’d recommend people look into Davinci or Intelligent Office. What I didn’t mention was that serviced offices provide some/most/all of these capabilities as well. With 4500 serviced offices across the US, it’s difficult to recommend one over another. I’d just suggest that people research a local reputable serviced office and put them in the mix if their virtual services seem to fit their needs.
More information is coming soon! Let me know if you have any other questions.
Daria January 19th, 2009 at 7:55 am
It’s a great idea to start such a series. I thought you might be interested in this story too: http://www.wrike.com/story/voco.html. This creative agency runs a 100% virtual office. If you talk to them, I’m sure they have a lot of experience to share.
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