COVID-19 has changed the way people work. An increasingly large number use virtual offices to supplement work-from-home, particularly when they are not able, or unwilling, to go back to the distant and densely populated corporate office.
When the kitchen table doesn’t do it anymore, or when the baby or the dog is in the way of concentrated work, they can check into a nearby flexible office space to isolate themselves in a private office that is as safe or safer than home. In that sense, the virtual office is an extension of work-from-home with a part-time use of the office infrastructure available close to home. CloudVO’s network has close to 1,000 locations widely distributed across geographies, suburban areas, and large cities across the US, Canada, and beyond.
What are virtual offices? You can think of them as part-time office solutions. They provide corporate users access to a wide range of part-time remote workplace services, provided by or connected with a flexible office location, on a subscription basis.
There is a fixed monthly cost associated with it, which makes it easy for budgeting purposes. The access to a part-time office (we call them ‘day offices’) is limited to a given number of hours (or credits) to keep the price of the service low. Our local and regional CloudTouchdown passes fall in the $200 to $350/month range, a lot less than the $1,000 to $1,400 total cost of occupancy typical in a corporate campus. Sponsoring companies are sensitive to the cost savings, and users like the convenience of the extra office near home, not to mention access to conference rooms (de-densified in these COVID-19 days!) to meet other local team members, zoom rooms, and other features you would expect in a mature office environment.
Who else uses virtual offices? Companies that want to establish an inexpensive business identity at one of our flexible office spaces. They can use our business address and mail services to establish a low-cost yet functional branch office. These plans typically cost less than $100/month. Digital mail (scanning and forwarding of mail) makes coming to the office unnecessary. Users can add live phone answering services with a local phone line for a stronger local presence, and use meeting rooms when they do have business to perform in the location.
As many companies are deciding to eliminate corporate spaces in densely populated cities, they are searching for inexpensive and nimble solutions to keep a local presence in those cities. This is another reason for the steep increase in inquires for virtual offices in cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Houston, or Denver.
Looking to balance working from home with a Virtual Office Plan? Get started here.
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