Virtual office

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A virtual office is part of the flexible workspace industry that provides businesses with any combination of services, space and/or technology, without those businesses bearing the capital expenses of owning or leasing a traditional office.

Contents

A virtual office can be used by entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small businesses that do not need or cannot afford a traditional office space. It can also be used by larger companies that want to establish a presence in a specific location without committing to a long-term lease.

Some virtual office providers offer additional services such as meeting room rentals, administrative support, and live receptionist services. These services are usually provided remotely, but also some virtual office providers have a physical office space where clients can have access to these services. This can be an attractive option for businesses that want to project a professional image without the cost of a full-time office.

Virtual office services started in the 1960s as serviced offices and have evolved with technology to include a wide variety of personnel, physical space, digital storage and communication services. [1] Customers pay a contract fee for these services which may be offered à la carte, as packages or membership subscription. The concept is popular with companies of all sizes, including self-employed entrepreneurs. One of the primary allures of the virtual office is the flexibility it offers for employees and freelancers to work from a satellite office, home office, remote location or even on-the-go via a mobile device. At the same time, a company can offer its clients and employees a stable home office with access to amenities such as receptionist, conference rooms, desk space, mailboxes, printing and faxing at a permanent address, which are owned and maintained by the virtual office provider or a third party.

In 2021, a number of companies set out to fix the challenges of virtual meetings. This led to the appearance of virtual office software. When referring to a company having a virtual office, this no longer refers to a standard set of business services. Rather a virtual space for employees to gather and perform business-related activities. For example, companies like KumoSpace and Pluto utilize spatial audio to recreate a company's physical offices in a virtual environment. They offer users a wide range of functionality and customization l allowing companies to create a virtual office that matches the company's brand. [2]

Virtual office providers may also include digital capital such as cloud storage, web hosting, email and other web-based applications.[ citation needed ]

Also, according to the research, the attitudes and policies of employers in the virtual platform affect their employees' personal lives and productivity. Employees will be more productive if they believe their company trusts them, recognizes them, cares about them, and receives the proper training (including online processes, etc.), project management, and support to perform their tasks productively. When employees don't have to spend time, money, or resources on transportation between home and work, it positively impacts employee productivity. That is why it became necessary to create an appropriate software environment to ensure these processes' functioning. [3]

History

The concept of a virtual office had roots before and during the Industrial Revolution, where parallels to current work styles, specifically working from home, have been drawn. [4] The virtual office concept is an evolution of the traditional executive suite. As an executive suite, lease became increasingly impractical for certain types and stages of business, it naturally opened the door to a virtual office concept. [5]

In the mid-20th century, professionals and executives began to examine ways to make more efficient use of the rising cost of real estate, personnel and other capital. Below are some milestones in the resulting evolution of the virtual office, along with the advent of technologies that help shape the industry.[ citation needed ]

YearEvent
1962The first known serviced office company, OmniOffices Group, was created.
1966Serviced offices and executive suites were rented by Fegen Law Suites. This included large blocks of office space with furnished suites, reception services, telephone answering, photocopies, conference rooms, and a law library.
1972 ARPANET, the predecessor to the Internet, went public by connecting 40 computers in different locations.
1973
Attorney Office Management, Inc. developed an "off-site" program in response to lawyers wanting to partially retire. [6] Instead of a full executive suite, Attorneys could work from home while continuing a part-time presence through AOMI's Beverly Hills location.
Jack Nilles coined the terms "telecommuting" and "telework" to refer to remote work. [7]
1974Scientists with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers developed Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), which allows different networks to communicate with each other.
1978Alf Moufarrige founded Servcorp in Sydney. To reduce his overhead, he began sharing his premium office space, receptionist and clerical staff with other growing businesses. Servcorp took its virtual office concept international in 1980 and in 1999 became a publicly traded company. [8]
1981Released 1 April, The Osborne 1 became the first successful portable computer, designed by Adam Osborne. Although it still required a power source, it was considered portable as it could easily be transported. This was a first step in allowing professionals to work away from the office.
1982
ARPANET adopted TCP/IP, giving birth to the Internet.
The term "virtual office" was used by John Markoff in an article published by InfoWorld magazine. Markoff wrote, "In the future virtual office, workers will no longer be constrained by computer equipment or geographic location, according to this vision. They will be free to travel or to interact with others while communicating information freely. The office as we know it will cease to have the central importance it does today." [9]
1983Chris Kern coined the term 'virtual office' in his column for the September 1983 issue of the American Way magazine. Kern used the term to describe the possibility of 'doing business while on the go' thanks to portable computers. [10]
1984The first personal digital assistant (PDA), the Organizer, was released by Psion.
1989
Timothy John Berners-Lee developed the World Wide Web, considered as being a key aspect of the development of the Information Age.
Alon Cohen invented the type of audio that later enabled the creation of VoIP. VocalTec was the first company to offer Internet phone services and also became the first successful Internet IPO. Today, VoIP phones are a popular service that virtual offices offer.
1990The first Internet search engine was developed by McGill University.
1991The World Wide Web was released to the public. Also the first webcam, located at Cambridge University, was developed.
1992
"Virtual Office" became a registered trademark for the first time when Richard Nissen registered the term with the UK's Intellectual Property Office. [11]
IP-based videoconferencing technology evolved with more efficient video compression to allow PC-based use. CU-SeeMe was developed by Tim Dorcey at Cornell, which allowed users to videoconference and instant message other users.
1994Ralph Gregory presented virtual offices as a franchise opportunity in the United States, turning the business into an industry.
1995The motto that "work is something you do, not something you travel to" was coined. [12] Variations of this motto include: "Work is what we do, not where we are." [13]
1998At the Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Nagano, Japan, Seiji Ozawa used IP-based videoconferencing to conduct the Ode to Joy from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony simultaneously across five continents in near-real time.
2000The first Symbian phone, the touchscreen Ericsson R380 Smartphone, was released in 2000, and was the first device marketed as a "smartphone". It combined a PDA with a mobile phone.
2003 Skype is released to the public, allowing free IP-based communications using microphone, webcam and instant messaging to individual consumers.
2005The official first "Coworking space" opened in San Francisco by Brad Neuberg. That same year, the first Impact Hub coworking space launched in London.
2006Frank Cottle introduced the concept of wholesaling virtual offices and services to third-party retailers. This launched an influx of virtual office companies that still operate today.
2019Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a need to create high-quality software for permanent remote work. [14]
2021Development of numerous software for virtual offices (Kumospace, mmhmm, etc.). This software looks to replicate the benefits of a physical office within a virtual environment. [2] Companies have adopted this software because they find it helps with company culture, collaboration, and visibility. [15]

Prerequisites for the spread of virtual offices

The most significant factor in the spread of virtual offices was the forced transition to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Society introduced remote work quickly, so new technologies and operating systems must be adequately tested and trained. [16]

Communication and getting to know other team members come naturally when everyone is working in the same place, so when working remotely, employees and managers have to make more effort to maintain relationships with colleagues. New employees need to learn organizational habits even while working remotely. [17]

Therefore, there was an urgent need to create not just a tool for communication (like Zoom or Google Meets) but to develop a space where team relationships can be built at a sufficient level. This led to the development of companies creating virtual office software. [18]

Services

Virtual office infrastructure may include a variety of physical locations and services, as well as digital services. The infrastructure is shared across individuals and entities allowing resources to be used more efficiently. This allows users the flexibility of only renting or using the services they need.[ citation needed ]

Physical

A receptionist for a virtual office Buros auf Zeit und Virtual Office.JPG
A receptionist for a virtual office

Digital

Coworking is a related trend in flexible workspaces that places an emphasis on users interacting with each other to create an organizational culture without working for the same company. Similar to virtual offices, coworking venues offer serviced workspaces and customers can use these on an as-needed basis.

Virtual reality technology is another trend that may soon impact virtual offices. Virtual reality applications have the capability of creating offices spaces that are physical spaces within the virtual world where users can meet and work side-by-side. [20]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Remote work</span> Employees working from any location

Remote work is the practice of working from one's home or another space rather than from an office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Office</span> Room where administrative work is performed

An office is a space where the employees of an organization perform administrative work in order to support and realize the various goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific duties attached to it ; the latter is an earlier usage, office as place originally referring to the location of one's duty. In the adjective form, the term "office" may refer to business-related tasks. In law, a company or organization has offices in any place where it has an official presence, even if that presence consists of a storage silo, for example, instead of a more traditional establishment with a desk and chair. An office is also an architectural and design phenomenon, including small offices, such as a bench in the corner of a small business or a room in someone's home, entire floors of buildings, and massive buildings dedicated entirely to one company. In modern terms, an office is usually the location where white-collar workers carry out their functions.

Hot desking is an office organization system that involves multiple workers using a single physical work station or surface during different time periods. The "desk" in the name refers to a table or other work space being shared by multiple workers on different shifts as opposed to every staff member having their own personal desk. A primary motivation for hot-desking is cost reduction through space savings—up to 30% in some cases. Hot desking is especially valuable in cities where real estate prices are high.

A virtual assistant is generally self-employed and provides professional administrative, technical, or creative (social) assistance to clients remotely from a home office. Because virtual assistants are independent contractors rather than employees, clients are not responsible for any employee-related taxes, insurance, or benefits, except in the context that those indirect expenses are included in the VA's fees. Clients also avoid the logistical problem of providing extra office space, equipment, or supplies. Clients pay for 100% productive work and can work with virtual assistants, individually, or in multi-VA firms to meet their exact needs. Virtual assistants usually work for other small businesses but can also support busy executives. It is estimated that there are as few as 5,000 to 10,000 or as many as 25,000 virtual assistants worldwide. The profession is growing in centralized economies with "fly-in fly-out" staffing practices.

Hoteling is a method of office management in which workers dynamically schedule their use of workspaces such as desks, cubicles, and offices. It is an alternative approach to the more traditional method of permanently assigned seating. Hoteling is reservation-based unassigned seating; employees reserve a workspace before they come to work in an office. An alternate method of handling unassigned seating is hot desking, which does not involve reservations; with hot-desking, a worker chooses a workspace upon arrival, rather than reserving it in advance. The use of the term has declined in recent years.

A work at home parent is someone who conducts remote work from home and integrates parenting into his or her working time and workspace. They are sometimes referred to as a WAHM or a WAHD.

A serviced office is an office or office building that is fully equipped and managed by a facility management company, also known as an office provider, which then rents individual offices or floors to other companies. Serviced offices, also referred to as managed offices, flexible offices, business centers, executive suites or executive centers, are often found in the business districts of large cities around the world. A serviced office broker will commonly help business center owners and facility management companies to rent serviced office space. Companies offering serviced offices are generally able to offer more flexible rental terms, as opposed to a conventional leased office which may require furnishing, equipment, and more restrictive leases. Space is normally flexible, allowing for additional space to be allocated at short notice, should the size of an individual business change. Serviced office providers often allow tenants to share reception services, business machines and other resources, providing reduced costs and access to equipment which may otherwise be unaffordable. By providing businesses with access to a workplace, technology and people central to its operations, the serviced office can be considered a type of virtual office. Serviced offices are a central component to the flexible workspace industry.

A virtual workplace is a work environment where employees can perform their duties remotely, using technology such as laptops, smartphones, and video conferencing tools. A virtual workplace is not located in any one physical space. It is usually a network of several workplaces technologically connected without regard to geographic boundaries. Employees are thus able to interact in a collaborative working environment regardless of where they are located. A virtual workplace integrates hardware, people, and online processes.

Google Workspace is a collection of cloud computing, productivity and collaboration tools, software and products developed and marketed by Google. It consists of Gmail, Contacts, Calendar, Meet and Chat for communication; Currents for employee engagement; Drive for storage; and the Google Docs Editors suite for content creation. An Admin Panel is provided for managing users and services. Depending on edition Google Workspace may also include the digital interactive whiteboard Jamboard and an option to purchase add-ons such as the telephony service Voice. The education edition adds a learning platform Google Classroom and today has the name Workspace for Education.

An online office suite, online productivity suite or cloud office suite is an office suite offered in the form of a web application, accessed online using a web browser. This allows people to work together worldwide and at any time, thereby leading to web-based collaboration and virtual teamwork. Some online office suites can be installed either on-premise or online and some are offered only as online as a software as a service. Some versions can be free of charge, some have a subscription fee. Some online office suites can run as progressive web applications which no longer require an online connection to function. Online office suites exist as both open-source and proprietary software.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coworking</span> Practice of independent contractors or scientists sharing office space without supervision

Coworking is an arrangement in which workers for different companies share an office space. It allows cost savings and convenience through the use of common infrastructures, such as equipment, utilities and receptionist and custodial services, and in some cases refreshments and parcel acceptance services. It is attractive to independent contractors, independent scientists, remote workers, digital nomads, and people who travel frequently. Additionally, coworking helps workers avoid the feeling of social isolation they may experience while remote working or traveling and eliminate distractions in home office. Most coworking spaces charge membership dues. Major companies that provide coworking space and serviced offices include WeWork, IWG plc, Industrious, and Impact Hub.

Servcorp Limited is a multinational organisation that sells Serviced Offices, Virtual Offices, Coworking Spaces, Meeting Rooms, Community Packages, and IT Services to entrepreneurs, startups, SME's and large enterprises. It was established in 1978 and listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in 1999. As of 9 December 2020, it operates in 125+ business centres in 43 cities across 21 countries. The company currently has 85 coworking locations globally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cloud computing</span> Form of shared Internet-based computing

Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Large clouds often have functions distributed over multiple locations, each of which is a data center. Cloud computing relies on sharing of resources to achieve coherence and typically uses a pay-as-you-go model, which can help in reducing capital expenses but may also lead to unexpected operating expenses for users.

An executive suite in its most general definition is a collection of offices or rooms—or suite—used by top managers of a business—or executives. Over the years, this general term has taken on a variety of specific meanings.

The Network Hub is a coworking space launched in the summer of 2006 in East Vancouver, British Columbia, and is considered the longest running coworking space in Vancouver.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Office Group</span>

The Office Group(TOG) provides over 50 flexible design-led workspaces in the UK and Germany, with the majority spread across London. With a focus on developing landmark properties, the design of each workspace responds to the history and location of the building. TOG workspaces offer a mix of private offices that house from 1 person up to 2,000 with coworking memberships, relaxed lounge spaces, meeting rooms and event space hire, allowing different scales of business - from start-ups and SMEs to multinationals - to coexist under one roof. All TOG members have access to the entire network of buildings as part of their TOG membership. A commitment to wellbeing at work means that many TOG workspaces include gyms for member use. At the same time, in-house cafes offer a changing menu of freshly cooked nutritionally-focused food.

Premier Office Centers LLC dba Premier Workspaces is a privately held executive suite and office rental company. The company, which was founded in 2002, is doing business Premier Workspaces, one of the largest providers of private offices, meeting rooms rentals, virtual office rental and coworking spaces in the United States. Premier Office Centers is headquartered in Irvine, California and operates with locations in Arizona, Colorado, Washington D.C., Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, Ohio, and Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">JustCo</span>

JustCo is a Singaporean company that provides coworking workspaces for individuals and companies. Headquartered in Singapore, JustCo was founded in 2011 by Kong Wan Sing, its current CEO, alongside co-founders Liu Lu and Kong Wan Long, as a response to increasing demand for flexible workspaces. Initially focused on Singapore, the company expanded to provide office space in cities across eight countries in the Asia-Pacific region: Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Australia, China, South Korea and Taiwan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coworker (company)</span>

Coworker is an online marketplace and access solution for discovering and booking coworking spaces and flexible offices around the world. It was founded in 2015 by Leanne Beesley and current president Sam Marks. The company has offices in the United States, Canada, Spain, and Thailand, with its registration in the United States. By 2021, the company recorded 18,500 coworking spaces in 172 countries in its network.

Industrious, headquartered in New York City, provides coworking spaces to companies and individuals. It was founded in 2012 and operates in more than 150 locations and 65 cities in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.

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