Using a virtual office can help deliver the savings needed to cast the employment net far and wide, it has been claimed.
Writing for NM Business Weekly, Hunter Riley explained that small companies can benefit greatly from not having a bricks-and-mortar office space.
She explained that the funds saved by running an office from home can be channelled into other areas, such as finding the right employees to take the company forwards.
With the company operating from a virtual office – with no physical presence at the registered address – there is no need to hire workers in the immediate vicinity.
Ms Riley suggested that anyone in any location can work for such a company, providing they have access to a secure and reliable internet connection.
And this gives the business owner the opportunity to search for people with the skills and talents required by the firm, wherever they may be based.
The writer noted that more companies are ditching a centralised office space in favour of virtual meetings through Skype and web-based collaboration software.
Such companies can have key members distributed over a wide geography, with limited need for them to convene in person, Ms Riley said.
Speaking to NM Business Weekly, the founder of Washington DC-based FastCustomer – a company which uses virtual offices – said the flexibility of this model has proved a major asset.
“What is more important to you – having the best developer who’s really committed to doing the best work in the way he wants to work, or in getting somebody in the same room?” questioned Stephanie Hay.
She said that for her company, it was certainly the former.
Customers, clients and partners can still contact the company through its virtual office – which could be at a prime city location.
But there is little point in visiting the address in person, with the majority of work conducted remotely.
