Virtual Offices Offer Savings, Finds Survey

Virtual PBX, a supplier of hosted PBX services, announced the results of a recent survey that asked small and midsized business (SMB) owners and employees about their use of virtual offices.

Respondents cited employee flexibility (61 percent), cost savings (54 percent), geographic distance of staff (42 percent) and the desire to reduce commute time, cost and pollution (41 percent) as the top reasons for adopting virtual offices.

Support at senior levels
Representatives from more than 600 SMBs – including chief executives, owners, partners, principals, directors and sales managers – shared their views on a range of issues, including frequency of virtual office use, perceived effectiveness in a virtual setting, virtual office costs and adoption of technology to support a virtual business. The survey found more than 60 percent of respondents work from a virtual office almost all the time, while another 27 percent work 2-10 days a month outside the office.

Fifty-seven percent of the respondents indicated that half or more of their workforce uses a virtual office during a typical month, and the majority of respondents – 59 percent – said they feel they are more effective working from a virtual location than in a traditional office. On the cost-savings front, 43 percent of the SMB leaders reported they save $1,000 (£617.25) or more each month on items such as rent, IT equipment, phone service and supplies by using a virtual office. Eight percent of this group saves more than $10,000 (£6172.47) per month.

Virtual workers, like much of society, are addicted to mobile phones, with 87 percent of respondents using them as a business communications device. Also popular are landlines, used by 49 percent; voiceover internet protocol (VoIP) phone lines, used by 25 percent; and computer-based VoIP soft phones, used by 20 percent. Survey data also suggested that SMBs in virtual offices make an effort to appeal to both local customers as well as those outside their region. Nearly two-thirds of respondents indicated they have a local number for callers to reach them, while the same number also indicated they have a toll-free number.

Relaxed working environment
On the lighter side, survey participants were asked to comment on what they wear when working at a virtual office. The top response – 50 percent – was shorts, T-shirt and flip-flops, followed by business casual attire (37 percent) and pyjamas (four percent). A few free spirits (nearly three percent) wear nothing at all, and fewer than two percent wear formal business attire.

“SMB leaders are on the forefront of embracing virtual offices to boost business efficiency, cut costs and provide more flexibility to their workforces,” said Greg Brashier, chief operating officer of Virtual PBX. “At Virtual PBX, we’re responding to the needs of this growing population with technology designed to make it easy for them to stay in touch with colleagues and clients. In particular, we’ve seen strong interest in our Virtual PBX Complete solution, which allows our users to leverage the industry’s deepest feature set and the flexibility to use any phone, all at 40-80 percent savings over traditional phone services.“