Virtual Business: What It Is and What It Can Do For You
The World Wide Web and the Internet have revolutionized how companies work. In just 40 years, businesses have become faster, more responsive, and more profitable thanks to tools like email, instant messaging, online reviews, digital advertising, and ecommerce. We are now amidst another upheaval in how we work thanks to digital technology – one that can open new opportunities to improve efficiency and productivity, as well as providing flexibility for your workforce.
Virtual Business is giving companies and their employees more options on how and where to work, providing freedom and flexibility in how they operate. Simply put, a Virtual Business is one that either partially or completely operates online. This can be as simple as allowing some employees to work from home while simultaneously running a brick-and-mortal retail location or central office, to an entirely virtual workforce working from home or co-working spaces spread across the country.
While this may seem daunting for business owners used to having their employees come to an office every day, there are several benefits to going partially or even completely virtual with their business. Here are just some of the ways that transitioning from a physical to a virtual business can benefit your company:
- Cost Savings: The fewer employees you have working at your physical location, the less space and fewer resources you need to devote to a brick-and-mortal operation. Saving on overhead increases the amount of funds you can devote to other parts of your business.
- Flexibility: Allowing your employees the option to work from home or at the office allows them to be productive at times when they might otherwise be unable to work – whether that’s due to illness (for them or a family member), bad weather, medical or home appointments, or other distractions that would otherwise keep them out of the office. This can also prevent employees from needing to use sick days or vacation days for these same instances.
- Retain Key Talent: Allowing employees the chance to work in a virtual office can let you keep your best talent even if they need to move to a new city or state or otherwise cannot continue to work at your physical office.
These are just a few advantages of operating a virtual business. However, when you have a workforce distributed outside of a central location, how can you connect them to receive calls from your customers and ensure timely responses or callbacks? That’s where a virtual receptionist can help. With a virtual receptionist service, your calls can be distributed from a central number (whether an existing business line or a new phone number) to your employee’s landline or cell phones, allowing them to conduct business no matter where they are. If they were to miss a call, they could receive a voicemail with the message attached as an MP3 file along with a computer-generated transcript.
By utilizing both a virtual receptionist and a virtual office, you can ensure that your employees have the freedom to work from anywhere while ensuring your customers can always reach someone within your company. For more information about how to make your business more virtual with our virtual phone systems, contact AccessDirect today.
