Virtual Offices: Not Just for Entrepreneurs Anymore

Technology is making possible what was once impossible – and virtual offices are helping businesses large and small ride the wave of the latest office technology innovations.

Indeed, virtual offices aren't just for traditional home-based entrepreneurs anymore. Corporate road warriors and traveling salesmen are tapping into the power of virtual offices to manage a distributed workforce. Solo practitioners in law and medicine are turning to virtual offices to help manage calls. And PR and marketing firms are leveraging virtual offices to set up a presence in multiple markets.

Virtual offices make smart business sense when your company doesn't need a physical location to get the job done. Sales organizations are the prime candidates for a virtual office because there needs to be a single point of contact for incoming calls, but employees are running from one end of the city – or even one end of the country – to another.

A physical office space would be a waste of money for may sales organizations, but a virtual office becomes a valuable asset because it gives you a "home base," so to speak, without the hefty overhead. Virtual offices let you receive faxes, e-mails and phone calls through a virtual reception service, and you can gather in a meeting room operated by the virtual office program to hold staff meetings on-demand.

The virtual office is also ideal for companies whose employees are based in cities across the country – or the world. A virtual office gives the company a central headquarters location and phone number while allowing clients to dial through to extensions to reach individual employees – wherever they are. Like technology, the possibilities with a virtual office are virtually limitless.

About Jennifer LeClaire

Jennifer LeClaire is a veteran business journalist, editor and new media entrepreneur with a strong niche in real estate and technology.