Having a physical space, with the meeting rooms and additional services can give your SME the platform it needs to grow. However, virtual offices provide a balance of features between an office space and remote working. Rovva looks at virtual offices and how they can benefit your business.
What Are The Features of a Virtual Office?
Virtual offices are an option that offers the benefits of physical office space and the flexibility and cost-effectiveness of working remotely including features such as:
· Office services
· Office address
· Quality facilities such as communal workspaces
· No commitment membership plans
How do virtual offices compare to other options? Although virtual offices hold plenty of benefits for startups, they’re not the only workspace option out there. It’s key that any business owner weighs up the pros and cons of each before they make the final decision and investment.
Traditional offices Whether you rent some desks or lease a small facility, modern office spaces provide quality facilities, space for your team to work, meet clients and come up with their next big ideas. This means you can focus on building your business while they provide some essential support.
However, these physical offices do come with high overheads. If your team prefers to work from home and is unlikely to use the office space regularly, the cost of the lease will burn a hole in your accounts without providing any real benefits. It also means you have to make a long-term commitment, which could also be a problem.
Coworking Spaces
These workspaces are a great place for networking and meeting potential clients. Often run under a hot-desking policy, they give workers flexibility as they’re able to access the facilities whenever they want. Often the workplace of choice for sole traders and freelancers.
However, if you have a team of people, no matter how small, shared office spaces can cause frustration and dampen productivity. Hot desking, sharing facilities and limited access to facilities may make it challenging to meet clients, find private space or even work together.
Remote Working
Although physical office spaces offer many benefits, more SMEs are choosing to work completely remotely. Indeed, it is the most flexible and cost-effective option.
Yet to work effectively remotely, you need to make sure that your team has the best possible technology and home set up. As a business owner, you have a responsibility to your workers, even if they’re not in the office every day. Working remotely also means you don’t have access to any meeting rooms or office facilities for client or team sessions. So if you are regularly making pitches or brainstorming, getting some form of office membership would be a more cost-effective choice.
Virtual offices offer plenty of benefits to SMEs and startups, including cost effective memberships, professional admin support and meeting rooms however these types of workspaces aren’t a one-size-fits-all solution. It’s always recommended that any small business owner chats through all the available options with a trusted facilities provider before making their final decision.
