Telecommuting is a word that will become more used as businesses move from conventional office working to remote working and virtual office solutions. ‘Commuting’ is a term that everyone knows, and relates to the journey to and from work by people. This of course only applies to those who work in an office; it doesn’t apply to people who work from home or from remote locations. The word ‘Telecommute’ was invented for this.

Businesses are using the virtual office and remote workers to drive down their costs, taking advantage of new and improved technologies such as wireless broadband, reduced IT costs, improved mobile communications systems and video conferencing solutions. As a result, many businesses are saving on costs by equipping their workers with the latest technology and having them work from home, which works for both the business’ finance and for the worker’s piece of mind.

Virtual offices are perfect for this type of scenario, with businesses able to save money and workers able to work remotely. The business saves on office space costs, employment costs and many other financial outlays that are involved with having staff work onsite.

As well as being used to save costs while standing still, virtual offices also afford businesses the opportunities to move into new territories and locations without expending extra costs.

You may realise that a virtual office can prove very effective for keeping your costs down and increasing your profit margin, but you may not have realised that a virtual office also helps reduce your carbon footprint and save the planet.

As if you needed any more reasons to save money?

Having your staff from different areas being able to meet via the Internet using a virtual office means that you save money on travel, and save the earth of petrol and plane travel. All of this is possible by using video conferencing and virtual office technology together.

The best part is that video conferencing has become more reliable in recent years, with better picture quality, sound quality and better frame rates. Technology has now made it possible to save money in conferencing, which while we’re in the midst of a global recession is vital for many businesses to survive.

One firm that is benefiting from a virtual office is a language firm that teaches languages to people all over the world, run by Karen Hollands in Surry.

Our business is entirely virtual. We have over 30 native-speaking language teachers in 14 countries teaching hundreds of people globally.

A teacher based in China is able to teach Karen’s pupils in the UK, all over the Internet using video conferencing.

According to technology expert, Andy Pearson, who is the business development director for Converged Communications, VoIP (Voice over IP) is the technology of the century. The technology allows employees and businesses to work better, smarter and to be more productive.

According to Andy Pearson, VoIP allows businesses to benefit from significant reductions in costs and to enhance their communications within their businesses. VoIP is also hugely beneficial to virtual office technology, allowing meetings and conferences to take place between participants in different parts of the country and the world

Andy Pearson explains:

Calls can be directed from your office direct-dial number to your home, while business calls made from your home can be added to your office phone bill and give the appearance, to the customer, of originating from within the office.

For businesses starting out, VoIP can help create a ‘virtual office’ – giving the illusion of a permanent office base when the reality is that everything is home-based.

Experts have warned however that VoIP providers take note of the mistakes that were made by communications and telecoms firms from past technologies in terms of costings and security.

A virtual office is not just a pretty address on the front of your envelopes and brochures, but can also provide a vast range of office services, including photocopying, faxing, telephone answering services, a physical address for your business anywhere in the world and mail forwarding.

In addition to these basic services, using a virtual office can more often than not mean that you are also able to take advantage of other services and sometimes at a discounted rate, such as conference or meeting rooms and IT services, such as video conferencing.

Whatever you are doing with your business, whether you are working from home, just starting your business, expanding into new areas or downsizing your company, a virtual office gives out a professional image and at only a fraction of the cost that traditional office space or even a serviced office might be.

Virtual offices are more than just a high profile or prestigious address. Large companies often use virtual offices when they want to have either a local presence in a new area or want to appear even larger, sometimes even on a global scale.

A virtual office can drastically reduce your outgoings by eliminating the need for office space rent and the costs associated with having your employees onsite. However, there are a few things you need to ensure before you go down the path of using a virtual office solution for your business.

Firstly, remember that when your staff are using a virtual office to work for you they won’t be onsite, so you won’t be able to keep regular checks on them. Therefore you need to ensure than you hire the right people, people who are self motivated.

Studio 18 Group’s Deb Beck says of virtual office employees:

Self-starters and self-disciplined–it’s definitely lonely working in a vacuum, and they need to be able to deal with this.

When you hire new staff who will be working for you via a virtual office you need to be supremely confident in them as employees. It’s also important that you set realistic KPIs and processes to ensure that you’re keeping track of virtual employee’s progress. Using video conferencing facilities is a good way of checking in with remote workers.

It’s also important to have strong and regular lines of communication. You need to know exactly what your employees are working on and what stage they are at in their projects. Regular video conferencing meetings are a useful way of doing this.