Virtual Offices
Demystifying the virtual office?
Published December 18th, 2008 by Mike Sullivan
Many people are confused about what a virtual office is — and they are justified. The confusion stems from its multiple meanings that are all very similar. Often it comes from the point of view of the person who is using the term (you’ll see what I mean in these definitions). I don’t know if this single post will demystify the virtual office, but hopefully it will lend some clarity around this widely used term.
Virtual Office Definition #1 – This definition is all encompassing and is a spring board to niche virtual office definitions. In essence, a virtual office is a workplace location that is not part of a traditional workspace, along with a set of tools and services to help workers communicate and work efficiently.
Virtual Office Definition #2 - A virtual office is a set of technology that allows a remote worker to communicate with colleagues and coworkers and to set up a technology presence without owning or managing any physical hardware or software. Examples include anything from virtual PBXs to web conferencing software, thin clients or any type of outsourced hosting. Examples of companies who provide these services are WebEx, Onebox, Phone.com or Officescape.
Virtual Office Definition #3- A virtual office is a set of services that allows a business to have a presence in a particular location with a phone number, receptionist, business mailing address and other business related services. The executive suite industry is well known for offering these services along with their standard set of full-time offices. Other providers of virtual offices include Davinci Virtual and Intelligent Office.
Virtual Office Definition #4 - A virtual office is wherever you work that is not a traditional workplace. This definition is most used by telecommuters, “digital nomads” and mobile professionals. Often their virtual offices are their homes or a coffe shop; other times, it may be wherever they happen to be traveling that day.
Whatever the definition, we know that it is and will continue to be fluid and mean many different things to different people. ABetterOffice will have a series of posts in the near future detailing the pros and cons of the virtual office. Stay tuned!
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Bill Brookshire December 18th, 2008 at 7:56 am
You are right. There is a lot of confusion around what virtual offices are. There seem to be many definitions. Thanks for outlining them all. This should bring clarity to people in market for low-cost office rental options. To me, a virtual office is one that is dispersed over various geographic locations with virtual workers, i.e. employees, contractors, etc., who all tap into a common technology interface — even it’s just e-mail, FTP sites and Google tools.
Melanie Jones December 19th, 2008 at 7:48 am
I’ve always considered the virtual office to be a set of services that can be tapped into from virtually anywhere. What I like about the model is this: Many executive office suites offer these services without office space. But when your business grows to the point that you need to rent office space, or when you need to just rent a meeting room or conference room, the executive suite provider can accommodate you. It’s more of a seamless transition.
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