Davinci Virtual

You run a small, successful, and busy consulting firm in a big city.  Business is good, but life in the big city is expensive, exhausting, and overwhelming for you, your partners, and your family.  You dream of being able to move away from the big city and out to the country, knowing that it would be an ideal place for you and your family.  But, you wonder, how would your consulting firm ever survive out in the country, away from clients and business centers?
Answer:  by becoming a virtual office.
Virtual offices are enabling an increasing number of small business-owners to take advantage of small-town living (and costs) while maintaining their big city business and clientele.  If the majority of your business is done by phone, email, fax, and BlackBerry to begin with, then there really seems to be no reason to not transition to a virtual office setup.  Your business relationships with your clients would not change at all, but your company’s operating expenses would dramatically decrease.  In addition, working out of a virtual office gives business owners and employees alike an increased flexibility and productivity.
Virtual Offices Tip:  Transitioning to a virtual office is also ideal for companies looking to grow or expand to new cities, markets, and customer bases.

The business world has not yet fully understood what revolutionary technological advances have made possible in the form of virtual offices. As recently as only a few years ago, people in the business world talked about the concept of virtual offices but didn’t actually know any businesses that were taking advantage of it. At the time, there was a lot of curiosity about them, as people wondered how effective a business tool it really would turn out to be.
What an increasing number of businesses are discovering today – in America and worldwide – is that virtual offices are actually tremendously productive, professional, and efficient. Time and space are two of the biggest and costliest commodities for a business. The use of virtual offices turns both of these commodities into incredibly valuable assets, instead of liabilities, for companies in all kinds of industries.
Time is saved with virtual offices as employees no longer waste innumerable hours on a commute, business owners no longer spend time on administrative tasks instead of new business opportunities, and clients get the benefits of increased efficiency and productivity.
Virtual Offices Tip: The world of virtual offices opens numerous opportunities for business expansion and growth to companies of all sizes and industries.

More and more small businesses or startups are opening every day in this country. These businesses in particular are making good use of virtual offices, finding it not only a cost-efficent practice, but also an extremely flexible work environment.
If you have a small business that is interested in opening a virtual office, you may have concerns about the initial expenses. Well, stop worrying because the costs are typically quite minimal and reasonable, particularly when compared to the operating costs of a traditional office environment. Even taking into account any new cell or landline connections, new computer equipment, and office stationery (for example, company letterhead as well as business cards with new contact information), operating costs of a virtual office can be significantly lower.
Another potential cost-saving factor in opening a virtual office is that many companies find an increase in productivity and work quality among their employees.
Virtual Office Tip: If your service industry company uses a virtual office primarily for billing and communications with clients but employees are using their cars constantly to travel to client sites, it is often a good idea to keep track of business-related mileage (in addition to any tolls and parking costs) for the company’s tax deduction purposes

Several studies have shown that worker productivity and output increases in telecommuting or virtual office situations. For workaholics or overachievers, however, working out of virtual offices can take a little delicate navigation.
Many people in business today thrive on juggling a lot of work, and often end up doing all of the needed work. Virtual offices can help overachievers to better manage their time and stay focused on only those business tasks that require their work skills. In exchange, overachievers or workaholics stay fresh, very motivated, and meet their personal productivity goals, and therefore avoid burnout.
Some of the tips that virtual office organizers suggest for any business owner or employee who works remotely or in a virtual office include the following:
Build breaks into your work day. Your body will thank you for that ten-minute walk you could take this afternoon!
Delegate responsibilities. Recognize that there are some business tasks that can be a better use of your time than others, and hand off those more minor tasks to virtual assistants or receptionists to take care of on your behalf.
Plan, Plan, Plan. Many people who work remotely underestimate the importance of plotting out goals or a plan when starting work on a new project or task.
Virtual Offices Tip: Different people work best in different environments; some thrive on working in a bustling coffee shop, while others find they do their best work when the phone is turned off and the kids are at school.

It might seem all the rage these days to claim to be “green,” but the fact of the matter is that many companies have been incorporating green, or environmentally-friendly, policies since the Federal Clean Air Act was enacted in the 1990s. Companies in the United States that utilize virtual office space are actually complying with the requirements of the Federal Act.
The Federal Clean Air Act requires companies with 100 or more employees in heavily polluted regions to develop plans to reduce automobile commuting by 25 percent. As a result, since the Act went into effect in 1996, the number of telecommuters and virtual offices in the business world have dramatically increased.
Of course, large companies in heavily-polluted urban regions are not the only businesses that can enjoy the green benefits of a virtual office. Small businesses that use a virtual office space are also able to be green, saving on utilities, while their employees save on commuting costs (and use less gas).
Virtual Office Space Tip: Productivity levels rise with a virtual office or telecommunitng arrangement because employees work in familiar surroundings and save time traveling to and from the office. The total daily hours worked at home in a virtual office space is much longer than it could ever be in an office.

You may hear a lot today about virtual offices but haven’t really caught what they’re all about. It’s really quite simple: the virtual office concept gives a company or small business owner the advantages of professional surroundings without the financial disadvantages of physical office space. Generally, virtual offices feature such services as mail delivery and services, phone answering, shared conference facilities on an as-needed basis, courier services, and access to office equipement. The concept has considerably grown in the business world in recent years.
Virtual offices are quite appealing to startup businesses where financial considerations or constraints may prevent leasing or buying a building while the company is so new. Interestingly enough, however, the concept has also caught on with larger companies that are finding that some of their key people prefer to work from home, which often translates into increased employee productivity. Growing businesses that are in flux about future plans but still hard at work can use virtual offices for a permanent location and phone number where customers or clients can reach you.

Anyone remotely familiar with the business world has heard about the heavy competition for a corner office, or even an office with a window. For companies that use virtual offices, however, every single employee can have a prestigious corner office – in their own home.
Through virtual office space, companies can conduct business from practically anywhere: an employee’s home office, the corner cvoffee shop, an airport VIP lounge. With a laptop, a WiFi connection, and a cell phone, many small businesses have opened. With the added benefits of a virtual office space, those same small businesses are able to expand both clientele and employees, while keeping operating expenses reasonable and maintaining organizational flexibility. Companies can even take advantage of reception and human resources services through a virtual office, which is also a major potential cost-effective benefit.
Employees working in a virtual office space enjoy reduced or no commutes, while still having access to business services such as a mailing center or conference rooms for meetings with clients.
Virtual Office Space Tip: As many as 50 percent to 75 percent of the seats in today’s traditional offices are empty at any given time. Only 30 percent of planned meetings take place.

We were curious as to how many employers approach managing employees who work out of a virtual office. We found a number of important factors that go into successful management in a virtual office situation and would like to share them today.
Teamwork. There are a number of ways to do this: through regular communication via phone, email, or electronic message boards, by encouraging employees share problems, get feedback, or even acknowledge successes or goals met.
Trust. In general, employees very much need to know that their managers trust them to carry out everyday work functions, be competent to do the basic job with little or no supervision, and perform to the established standards. This goes doubly so in a virtual office situation.
Communication. Even without a physical office door, a manager who has an open door policy will tend to be a successful one. A regular face-to-face team meeting helps to stay on top of brewing problems or to brainstorm new ideas, as well as to give positive motivation to virtual office workers.
Virtual Office Tip: Team- or company-wide emails from managers recognizing an employee’s success is a great way to motivate virtual office employees

Spurred largely by ever-changing and evolving business technology, virtual offices are becoming a reality and giving businesses of all sizes more options in how to make the best use of space.
For many sales-based businesses, a large portion of their employees are out of the office for a significant portion of the workday or even workweek. Why? Because they’re the company’s sales force, making sales calls and traveling around their sales district to maintain existing client relationships or forge new ones. If they had a desk or cubicle at the company’s traditional office building, it would probably be unused for a large percentage of the time. But with virtual offices, the sales force can still maintain an office presence at the company. The sales staff can still receive faxes, emails, and phone calls (through the company’s virtual receptionist service), and the regular sales staff meetings can be held in a comfortable, staffed conference room, again arranged for through their virtual offices program.
The options available to companies through virtual offices are truly countless. How fantastic to have options such as courier, catering, and concierge services available without first having to pay the exorbitant costs of running and maintaining your own traditional office space.
Virtual Offices Tip: A firm can be comprised of several employees located all over the country with the only company address being a website on the Internet and a virtual office.

Ask most virtual employees and they’ll tell you that through virtual office spaces, they are working just as hard and probably put in more hours than in a traditional office setting. It’s proven that working virtually can increase worker productivity.
Virtual business operations require a number of things, including flexibility, discipline, and regular communication between all employees. One way to promote communication, teamwork, and camaraderie among employees is to hold periodic state of the company business meetings – just like traditional offices’ offsite meetings, only held at the virtual office spaces’ conference rooms! Another benefit to having a state-of-the-company business meeting is to ensure employees’ knowledge of plans and ideas for continued company growth.
But the advantages to having a virtual office space are really quite fantastic. Two of the most notable ones are that the cost of overhead is dramatically reduced, and you can attract better-qualified and experienced employees who all gain a measure of job satisfaction and flexibility they may not receive in a traditional workplace.
For many startup businesses today who thought that company growth was out of their reach in the short-term, virtual office spaces are proving to be a long-term reward.
Virtual Office Spaces Tip: Continued sales growth and increased profitability firmly demonstrate that businesses conducted virtually are a growing reality.