With rent prices on the increase for commercial office spaces and serviced offices, many start-up businesses are turning to virtual offices. But what do you actually get for your money, and how exactly do they work? Movehut investigates!
Many new small commercial businesses start by working from home until they are established and can afford office space. However, by advertising your home address on all correspondents including letters, business cards, websites and emails could not only jeopardise your personal security, but also family members. Also your address may not look professional to potential clients, for example Flat 1, 12 Rushden Street may put off some people at it doesn’t portray a professional image.
So to protect personal addresses and appear more professional, many small businesses set up a virtual office space. A virtual office has all the components of a real office, such as an office address, a landline telephone number and a receptionist service, but with one thing missing… you!
A virtual reception service will give your company the professional representation that you want as the call is answered in your company name and will be forwarded to you so you can answer the call there and then. Any unanswered calls will have messages taken, just like any normal office reception service.
However, be aware of extra costs for additional services. Prices do vary depending on the extras that you require. Some extras include collecting and holding postal mail, which you can collect or it can be forwarded to your personal address. Also you may like a have an answering machine service for out of hour’s calls, which will be sent to you, usually in an email format. Also at an extra cost is access to meeting rooms for situations when a client would like to meet in person, rather than communicate over the telephone.
With all this in mind, virtual offices can give small start-up companies the professionalism they seek when working from home, but will never surpass a real commercial office space.
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