First of all, the use of a virtual office is not a universal panacea but there are many good reasons why they really make sense in these recession restricted times. The key advantages are that they can get yourself operational fast and with a virtual foot on the ground in your chosen territory, for example, you need a Miami branch office responding to customers in Spanish by tomorrow night, with a virtual office you can get deliver in time, on time, everytime.

1) Apart from handling phone calls, you need a prestigious city center address for mail and deliveries, your choice of a virtual office can also give you meeting facilities where you can meet clients from time to time in a place that reflects their impression of where you should be and at a fraction of the cost that traditional premises would have cost.

2) You need not get bogged down with leases, mortgages and rental contacts. It is a simple business proposition “land and expand”, there is little financial commitment, you use the services and facilities for as long as it works for you. If your business warrants moving to something more permanent, you sign off and leave. It’s that simple.

3) You will be operational instantly, you concentrate on the business and the virtual office service company concentrates on kick starting your business fast.

4) It is certainly more cost effective because you cut overheads and in some cases, you get your own virtual secretary to handle all the calls and you can handle all the sales remotely.

5) A professional virtual office company has recruited a multi-tasking staff fully equipped to manage multi-tenant clients, they can handle calls, take messages and do everything a professional secretary or secretaries would be expected to do. If the secretary is sick, this is not your problem but theirs; you only pay for the service, not the medical bills.

6) If you need access to dedicated meeting room or presentation theatres, you only pay as you use by sharing the costs with other clients. Pay as you use makes sense at all times as “get the best for less” is the motto.

7) Be eco friendly and this means travel to the office facilities when you really need to, burn the lights as needed, this is a personal decision but if you can work from home without clogging up the highways to go to the office just to function, it’s got to be good news, “use, don’t abuse” is the mantra.

8) A virtual office is a fantastic way to dip your foot in the waters of the market before taking the plunge; you can gauge customer reaction and market opportunities before seriously splashing the cash with a full market investment plan. A few years ago, this was not an option in most countries.

9) A virtual office can be accessed easily by you and your employees wherever there is internet connection. You can be on the move yet working full time in the virtual office.

10) When you put together a staff working in a virtual office, you will get higher productivity because your employees are able to prioritize their working hours and produce quality at their best available times. In fact, if you set up the parameters of your virtual office well, your business can attend to worldwide customers all day with staff working remotely in different time zones, yet fitting their regular working hours respectively in their own country.