This month we’ve had some extremely valuable feedback, much
of it regarding the impact the mill building has on their customers. This in
itself is not surprising; our 200 year old sandstone built textile mill is architecturally
stunning. What visitors to the building aren’t necessarily aware of is that of
the 69 companies that operate from the site, 20 of these do not have a physical
presence, choosing instead to utilise our Virtual Office services. This figure is a marked increase on recent years without any
significant marketing of the service. The increase therefore is simply due to a
higher demand for these services. However,
when analyzing how, or even why, this is the case, the answers are varied.
The advantages of a Virtual Office differ from business to
business. For many, a virtual office simply provides a prestigious address,
ensuring not only is there somewhere for post to be sent, but that they the
address used has a positive impact on their business. This might be because
their business is based at home but they want to give the appearance of a
larger operation, or to circumvent any negative perceptions they feel a home
address might give. For a number of our clients it could be because their work
is contentious and for safety reasons they do not want to use their home
address.
A recent report showed that Cumbria had an extremely high
percentage of small businesses and that this figure was growing. Looking at the
companies who use our service this only provides a partial answer as some of
our clients are quite large with physical addresses elsewhere in the country.
For these companies the benefits are based around providing an address in the
county when tendering for business without the costs for an actual hub.
For some companies, the virtual office is more than simply
an address, but also a way of ensuring good quality office services at the
fraction of the cost of employing staff and having a physical office. Some
clients use us on an almost daily basis to provide reception duties ensuring
that all phone calls are dealt with in a professional yet personable manner.
For these clients their overheads are minimized as are any HR issues.
Cost effectiveness is frequently a deciding factor in many
of the decisions in taking a virtual office, but not just the capital cost. Being
part of serviced accommodation, many of our companies find that it gives them
access to meeting rooms and other facilities but in a way that they only pay
for the time that they need. This cost effectiveness is not just a driver for sole
proprietors. Where an operation is spread out cross a distance or with several
workers based either in the field or from home, the virtual office provides a
central base that allows each person to continue with their operational duties,
unhindered by dealing with the day to day admin of answering calls for whomever
else in the business. This also allows, when practical, for staff to choose
their own working hours which can lead to greater productivity, especially if
working across different time zones.
Looking back at the names of the companies who have used
Warwick Mill’s virtual office services over the past few year, it is evident
that some have used our address as they have established themselves and have
grown to take actual office space within with business centre. Others remain as
a virtual office and will continue to do so for some time to come. Some
companies come and go as their business needs change. It is something we’d like to shout about more, but
discretion is a major factor of the virtual office. This is one where you
really will have to take our word for it!
