Prime location: give your clients a B.E. 100s impression by opening a virtual office.Charles E.Day & Associates charges its clients thousands of dollars to improve their customer service and call-center systems. So when a potential client calls his office, president Charles E. Day knows his staff must do an excellent job. "When your business is consulting on customer service, every time a client calls, they are evaluating you too," says Day. His staff gets high praise, despite that fact that in 14 years, Day has never given anyone a raise, paid vacation Noun 1. paid vacation - a vacation from work by an employee with pay granted holiday, vacation - leisure time away from work devoted to rest or pleasure; "we get two weeks of vacation every summer"; "we took a short holiday in Puerto Rico" , or health benefits. This is because his five-person staff comes with a virtual office package. A virtual office is a location that allows more than one business to share an office address anywhere in the world without physically operating there. The arrangement evolved from executive suites, a form of subleasing or office sharing The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. in which you rent everything from a single desk to an entire group of offices within a building. Customers use common conference rooms, business machines, kitchen areas, and other facilities. Many virtual office plans include a prestigious business address, a receptionist for answering the telephone, voice mail, and use of an office with high-speed Internet See broadband. access. Day saves nearly $18,000 annually using a virtual office instead of renting an office full time. "Property is the third-largest expense on most business' profit and loss statements. Only payroll and IT cost more," says Robert Gaudreau, executive vice president at The Negus ne·gus n. A beverage of wine, hot water, lemon juice, sugar, and nutmeg. [After Francis Negus (died 1732), English army officer.] Noun 1. Group (www.regus.com), one of the largest providers of virtual office services. "When you can reduce cost by 20% to 40% on a single line item, the pressure to go virtual is there." The emergence of mobile and wireless technologies--such as cell phones, personal digital assistants, portable computers, and wireless Internet--is the force driving the virtual office revolution, says Gaudreau. A less expensive alternative to a virtual office is the virtual phone system, which provides small businesses with an 800 or local phone number, automated au·to·mate v. au·to·mat·ed, au·to·mat·ing, au·to·mates v.tr. 1. To convert to automatic operation: automate a factory. 2. message on hold, call forwarding call forwarding n. A telephone service that enables a customer to have an incoming call automatically rerouted to another extension. Noun 1. , fax services, and multiple mailboxes for as little as $9.95 per month. "It used to be that a phone number equaled a physical location. Now a phone number equals a person and it doesn't matter if that person is in the office, at home, or anywhere else in the world," says David Powers David Francis Powers (April 25, 1912 - March 27, 1998) was Special Assistant to President of the United States John F. Kennedy. Powers served as Museum Curator of the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum from 1964 until his retirement in May 1994. , vice president of communications for GotVMail (www.gotvmailcom), which offers virtual phone system services. A virtual phone system is also a great way to manage independent contractors A person who contracts to do work for another person according to his or her own processes and methods; the contractor is not subject to another's control except for what is specified in a mutually binding agreement for a specific job. or employees who work from home. Virtual Office Services 1. Regus www.regus.com 888-271-4615 Price range: $50 to $725 monthly 2. GBC GBC Game Boy Color GBC Global Business Coalition GBC Green Building Council GBC George Brown College GBC Great Basin College (Nevada) GBC General Binding Corporation GBC Greater Baltimore Committee GBC Goldey-Beacom College One www.gbcone.com 800-366-5004 Price range: $165 and up 3. Intelligent Office www.intelligentoffice.com Price range: $200 and up 4. City Office www. yourcityoffice.com 212-386-5608 Price range: $17.95 to $218 5. A Virtual Office Service www.vosjax.com 904-448-5448 Price range: $225 and up 6. Onebox Executive www.onebox.com 888-588-4600 Price range: $16.95 to $29.95 Virtual Phone Systems 1. GotVMail www.gotvmail.com 800-820-8210 Price range: $9.9S to $39.95 2. Ring Central www.ringcentral.com 800-574-5290 Price range: $9.99 and up 3. Virtual PBX (Private Branch eXchange) An inhouse telephone switching system that interconnects telephone extensions to each other as well as to the outside telephone network (PSTN). www.virtualpbx.com 888-825-0800 Price range: $9.99 to $250 |
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