If you’re considering using the services of a virtual office, it’s always good to know how it can benefit your business as well as how it may negatively affect it as well. Let’s take a look at the disadvantages of a virtual office. It may be helpful to inform yourself before deciding on the best solution for your business.
Below are some of the disadvantages associated with virtual offices:
If you’re able to run your business from home reliably and without detriment to your professional appearance, a virtual office may be costly in the long run. Many virtual office services allow you to customise the features you’d like to purchase. This might include:
The ongoing costs can quickly add up, especially if you’re not using them frequently enough to justify them.
Many virtual office features are sold as packages or bundles that include a number of features that can be costly. A virtual mailbox can be a cost-effective solution if you only require a virtual address. Likewise, a co-working space may make more sense if you require frequent use of office space to do your work.
Bear in mind that although the ongoing costs may add up, the value gained and the many benefits of a virtual office outweigh the costs of running and maintaining a physical office. For businesses run from home, it’s much safer and certainly justifies the cost of a virtual office.
By opting for a virtual office in lieu of a physical office or co-working space, you forego social contact and interaction. As social creatures, we all stand to benefit from being around others. This is why many choose to work in coffee shops or other public places.
Another factor that is lacking from virtual offices is the opportunity to develop and build your professional network. Co-working spaces are ideal to meet others that may become future clients, helping you succeed with your business.
Conversely, more social contact introduces more distractions to keep you from your work. Perhaps it’s worthwhile to want to spend your working time alone doing what you do best to avoid these distractions.
When you choose to work remotely, you’re prone to technological incompatibilities that can paralyse your ability to work effectively. Virtual offices provide you with technology-based solutions to many common features found in a traditional office, but since you aren’t physically present there, solutions to technical problems may be more difficult to remedy than if you were in a traditional office.
Often, however, too many cooks can spoil the broth. Large IT networks are more complex than most home offices, and may sometimes take longer to resolve. You may be able to identify any technical problems and have them resolved by a repair service or virtual assistant.
If you use your virtual office space a lot, this might result in higher costs, as opposed to just leasing physical office space. Most virtual offices have features that permit you to occasionally use these facilities on an hourly or daily basis.
Long-term use of meeting space and office facilities is not ideal with virtual offices, but infrequent use is certainly fine and indeed a great way to use a real office without spending a fortune.
There are plenty of useful and practical features available from a virtual office, but you may find some services are lacking or are unavailable. For example, virtual offices may not offer meeting space availability at a schedule that works for you or your clients. If you owned the property, you could hold meetings or conferences at any time you wish. Moreover, many bundled packages may contain features that go unused and therefore end up costing you more.
Avoid poor service by shopping around for reputable virtual office providers that offer transparent fee structures and packages. Virtual offices have been around for decades. It’s all about finding the best one that can meet your needs.
Francesca's knowledge of the industry and business support is second to none. She's personally handpicked each one of our virtual office locations.
