Nowadays technology has made everything simpler and easier like starting a new business. Now you don’t have to invest loads of money to set up your office space. Technology has made it affordable and hassle-free. With all its advantages, a virtual office is not the answer to all your problems. For some businesses, brick and mortar is still the best option.
There is always a constant debate going on about whether the virtual office is better than a traditional one. With people rooting for each for the obvious benefits. But the thing to understand is that virtual offices suit certain types of businesses while some businesses are more suitable for brick-and-mortar offices.
A virtual office cuts the overhead cost of office setup. You don’t have to spend money on furniture, office equipment, hiring office staff, and other similar expenses. Other advantages include scalability of services and flexibility of working hours. Not to forget that you can hire your staff from around the world.
But let’s not put the traditional office in a bad light. Although it is expensive to set up and maintain, it has its benefits. You get to interact one-on-one with your customers and employees. This type of relationship is difficult to establish throughbzoom, Skype, or emails.
Both have their pros and cons. You should understand each one inside out to pick the right option for your business.
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Why do you need to choose the virtual office?
Virtual office comes with many features, making it a perfect fit for online businesses, especially the ones run from home. A virtual office gives you a registered business address that can be used on your marketing material. You should not use your home address on your business cards as it can put your and your family’s privacy at risk. Secondly, it looks unprofessional to have a residential address as a business address.
Other standard services that are part and parcel of almost all virtual offices include; call answering, mail forwarding, conference calls, meeting rooms, shared offices, fax, Wi-Fi, cafeterias, etc.
Virtual offices are subscription-based services at affordable rates. You can easily subscribe or unsubscribe, without prior notice. Expanding your business is another huge benefit of using a virtual office. Now you don’t need a loan or lease land to open another branch of your business. All you need to do is subscribe to a virtual office in the area you want to move to and you are done.
A virtual office can be used for any type of business but it is most useful for eCommerce businesses, freelancers, IT services, etc.
Why should you choose a Traditional office?
A traditional office is a bit expensive, you need to rent or lease the premises. You have to bear the cost of infrastructure and human resources as well. But don’t let this put you down, brick and mortar have their benefits. The most important thing is human interaction, which is the key to making everything better.
In a traditional office, your employees are in front of you, accountability and management become easier. You can keep an eye on how the work is progressing easily. Team spirit and trust develop when people are working in the same physical space. They eat together, work together, laugh together, and solve problems together. This motivates them to work better and be more productive.
The traditional office also helps you interact with your customers personally. This helps build trust between your business and your clients. Handling customer services becomes easier in a traditional office.
The traditional office is a good choice for retail business, logistics, and every business that requires physical manpower and human interaction.
Virtual office vs. Traditional office:
Five very important features should be the scale to judge which type of office suits you best. These features are as follows:
Cost:
A virtual office is less costly than a traditional office. To set up a traditional office, you need to rent the place, get all the legal documents in line, pay for infrastructure, hire office help, and bear the monthly utility expense. Not to forget, the regular office renovation and maintenance costs. On the other hand, a virtual office has no such expenses. For the virtual office, all you have to do is to pay the subscription fee and all the services will be covered. Virtual office wins this round, hands down.
Location:
Traditional office has one physical location where employees have to be physically present. They have to commute and stay at the office till the working hours are off. A virtual office, on the other hand, is not bound by a physical location. Your employees can join in the office work from any location they want. They don’t have to commute at all.
There are a lot of legalities related to location in the case of a traditional office. You have to sign a lease and handle business address registration. If you want to expand to a new location, you have to follow the same procedure of acquiring the location and registration.
While in the case of a virtual office you don’t have to worry about anything related to renting the location or getting registration. You can get registered office addresses in many locations without any physical presence.
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Team Collaboration:
Team collaboration can be managed well enough in a virtual office environment but it cannot compete with face-to-face interaction. The traditional office has one up in this regard. You can work as a team in the true sense and collaborate better as compared to working online. Your employees can make better work relations bringing more productive results in a traditional office.
Accountability:
Another shining feature of the traditional office is accountability. Keeping an eye on the employees and the progress of work is very difficult in a virtual office. You cannot know if your employees are working or logged in on the system. Doing the same in a traditional office is like a walk in the park as compared to the online work environment. All the employees are physically present in brick-and-mortar; keeping track of their work is feasible.
Work Hours:
Work hours are pretty much fixed, in a traditional office. It is usually a 9 am-5 pm job or a 9 hours’ work shift, with a 1-hour lunch break. However, in virtual office work hours are flexible enough not to have any work schedule. Remote working lets you work for as many hours as you want to. They don’t follow a rigid schedule and are more focused on the project rather than the number of hours put in.
The Verdict:
After seeing and understanding every aspect in detail, it is difficult to pronounce a winner. Each has its benefits and drawbacks, as listed above. Each is recommended, for different businesses. You should select the model that suits your business and pocket better. But the most important thing to do before selection is to understand your own business and its requirements. You can only make the right choice after that.
