The Virtual Workplace is for Small Business too.

A small business is fresquently, by nature, a virtual office. Big Business is rapidaly switching to a virutal form, with VOIP and cloud commuting. Now ComCenter offers these same technologies to its small business clients.

Small Business invented the virtual office long before it had a name. Entrepreneurs and small businesses traditionally started out in the home until they got traction. In the beginning, they had a post office box, used their home address, and home telephone.

The industry with lots of names ( Executive Suites, Serviced Offices, Office Business Centers) invented the “Virtual Office” title. Some people didn’t like the title becuase it sounded like a false front. But there was a great service involved. The Virtual Office offered a proper commercial mail address, professional meeting rooms, and live telephone answering. For small business, this was equivalent to “emerging from the cave.” Small business could now have a proper business image and a professional way to meet and greet clients. BUT THEY STILL WORK FROM HOME! For some, a full time office just isn’t required.

Big business woke up one day and said “if all of these employees could do their work from home, why are we paying rent, utilities and maintenance charges? Let’s send them home!” Telecommuting had now arrived. Our two research articles posted today present the numbers and the inescapable conclusion that big business has fully embraced the Virtual Workplace and it is not going away.

What big business added to the equation was higher technology to make it work better. Namely- Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) and remote connection to company documents. There are lots of titles for the remote connection. For now, let’s just call it “The Cloud.”

VOIP and The Cloud have made telecommuting extremely efficient. With VOIP, the employee is a four digit extension away from the office no matter where he/she is. With the Cloud, he can access the company documents from anywhere – as long as there is a good internet connection available.

These technologies now make it possible for the one person Virtual Office to grow into a mobile, fast thinking and responsive organization. Investments in real estate, furniture and equipment are not totally avoided, but are greatly reduced. Team members are thrilled with the new flexibility in their schedule, and personal savings for gas, dry cleaning, etc.

ComCenter has been serving Virtual Office clients for eleven years. We have learned what they require. Over these years, we have researched and invested in the VOIP and CLOUD technology on behalf of our small business clients. Now we are able to provide our small businesses with enterprise grade connectivity.

In future posts we will take apart the VOIP and Cloud Computing technology for our clients and demonstrate their relevance to small business. Then we will present the type of planning, budgeting and investment that are required for the Virtual Workplace. You are going to love it!