What is a Virtual Office and Why You Should Use One

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The last few years have seen some dramatic changes in the way businesses operate. The necessity to work remotely as a result of the pandemic represented a seismic shift in the workplace landscape, and with it, the demand for virtual office space increased dramatically.

Fortunately, there are flexible solutions to help start-ups and small businesses run more efficiently and at a lower cost.

So, could your business benefit from a virtual office? In this article, we’re going to take a look at how they work, who can use one, and explore the many advantages virtual offices offer.

What is a virtual office?

So, what is the definition of a virtual office? 

Simply put, it’s a service that allows businesses to operate remotely, without the need to invest in a physical office location. Whether they use contractors and freelancers or employ people worldwide, this concept allows for seamless collaboration between people who don’t need to be in a single physical location.

However, a virtual office means more than a simple remote working model.If you had a traditional office, you would have an address for your post to be sent to and for your business to be legally registered to, meeting rooms, a telephone number and a receptionist to answer your calls—but you can get all of this with a virtual office too.

How does a virtual office work?

When you invest in a virtual office solution you’ll typically get the following benefits:

• An address for your post;
• An address for your legal affairs (e.g., company registration);
• Meeting rooms that you can rent by the hour;
• A dedicated business telephone number;
• Mail and voicemail services;
• A call answering and forwarding service.

As you’re not renting any physical space, a virtual office can be much cheaper than a regular office. For example, we charge £15 per month for a basic plan, but if you were to rent just one desk in  Central London, it would cost you £400 per month.

What’s more, the process for ‘opening’ your virtual office is very straightforward. All you need to do is choose the optimal plan, adding extra services if required. As far as your customers are concerned, you will be located in an office building in the centre of London. In reality, you will be able to conduct business from anywhere.

There are many reasons why a business might need a virtual office. Some businesses rent a virtual office address for VAT registration, some to get a business address in the United Kingdom, while others do soto switch to a remote working model. Whatever the reason is for your business, make sure you select the right package for your needs. Our consultants can offer some guidance and explain what types of services are included.

Sometimes you may need a physical office—whether it’s to hold meetings with your team, partners, contractors or customers—and this service is also typically offered by vendors.. 

Who can use a virtual office?

We’ve covered the meaning of a virtual office, but who can actually use one?

Virtual offices are ideal for any business that doesn’t want to invest in the long-term overhead cost of a real physical office—regardless of size or industry. Whether you’re a freelancer, consultant or digital nomad working alone and/or overseas, or you’re a small business owner that employs a small team, they will allow you to provide a separate business address to your personal address, ensuring you maintain privacy as well as give your business a more professional appearance.

There are also some specific reasons different types of organisations would want to use a virtual office.

• Estate agents—most of an estate agent’s work is done in the field, visiting properties and conducting viewings, which is why many companies operating in this sector choose a virtual office over a physical address. However, these services can also include meeting room hire if you do need to meet with clients or prospective buyers.
• Law firms —most legal client interaction is conducted electronically, but as with estate agents, meeting rooms can be hired when face-to-face meetings are necessary or requested.
• Accountants—like with law firms, communication with their clients doesn’t have to be in person, meaning a virtual office is ideal for day-to-day operations. Accountancy customers of The Hoxton Mix can even offer virtual office services to their own clients through Konnect, offering benefits such as recurring revenue, lower acquisition costs, higher customer lifetime value and increased customer satisfaction.
• Non-profits—in the non-profit and charity sector every penny counts, and a virtual office allows them to save money on an otherwise expensive overhead.
• Start-ups—launching a new business can be expensive, but a virtual office allows you to significantly reduce starting costs, while you’ll also be able to easily scale when the time is right.
• Non-UK residents—if you want to start a business in the UK but you’re a non-UK resident, you still need a genuine address to register the business with Companies House. A virtual address allows you to launch a start-up in the UK without moving there permanently.

Are virtual offices worth it?

So, why use a virtual office for your business?

The Covid pandemic accelerated the shift towards hybrid and remote working, but this trend has started to reverse recently. As a business owner, you might be considering the merits of both options.

Let’s take a closer look at whether or not this way of working is worth it, including nine benefits for UK business owners:

1. Postal reliability
2. Saves money
3. Access additional business facilities
4. Ease of expansion
5. Increased flexibility
6. Great way to test run your business
7. Larger talent pool
8. Flexible working hours
9. Work-life balance

Postal reliability

Doing admin is a necessary but boring and time-consuming task for every business owner, but using a virtual office reduces the amount of admin you will have to do.

Imagine you used the address of where you live to handle all your business correspondence. If you were to move home, you would have to update everyone you do business with about your new address. By renting a virtual office, your business address stays fixed no matter where you move to.

With people in London moving regularly, this is one of the most popular reasons that lead business owners to get in touch with us.

Saves money

In Central London, physical office space is at a premium, so choosing a virtual office can save you a huge amount of money on overheads.

Renting desks from coworking space providers isn’t cheap either. For example, if you were to rent a single desk at the WeWork Old Street location, you would have to spend £400 per month (at the time of writing). Our plans range from £15 to £45 per month, meaning you save hundreds of pounds monthly, and thousands yearly.

Furthermore, you won’t have to spend money on office equipment or other big upfront costs. High overhead expenditure can easily cripple your business in those early days, leaving you with little money for investing in business growth.

Access to additional business facilities

When setting up a new business an address is required for registering with Companies House, but you’ll probably need a range of other business facilities that you won’t have access to if you don’t have a physical office, such as meeting rooms or business banking.

However, virtual office providers will often provide these additional, critical business services alongside the address, while they’re often available on a pay-as-you-use basis.

We can provide meeting rooms in Hoxton to our customers at a very affordable rate, perfect for impressing potential customers or connecting with remote employees, while you’ll also be able to open a free business bank account in minutes with Tide.

It’s also possible to rent an 020 telephone number. At The Hoxton Mix, a business virtual phone number can be purchased for £6.99 per month. When dialled, this number can be forwarded straight to your mobile or be answered by one of our receptionists.

Easier multitasking

When you’re working in a physical office, there are a few limitations on what you can do at once. Most virtual offices are equipped with the technologies you’ll need to multitask easily.

Virtual offices offer an opportunity to streamline administration and customer service tasks, giving you time to focus on the core functions of your business.

The virtual office assists businesses in performing many tasks simultaneously. For example, most virtual office operators provide services such as opening mail and answering telephone calls.

Their employees answer your phone calls in a professional manner, forward calls to you, and take messages when you’re unavailable. Therefore, you don’t have to hire full-time staff to handle such routine tasks.

Having access to reception courtesies not only helps you multitask but also boosts your corporate image.

You now don’t have to worry about missing potential customer calls because you know someone will take a message for you.

Advanced productivity

Everyone has had a job that has felt more like high school than an actual job. When your employees can work from home, they’re more likely to be twice as productive because they’re happier.

This also stops employees from starting unnecessary drama with other workers and even management that they don’t particularly like. Not only will you see your workers being more productive, but your turnover rate will also decrease dramatically.

It is a win-win situation where everybody ends up happy, which only increases performance.

Ease of expansion

Do you have a clear plan of how to grow your business as sales increase? How many additional employees will you need and when, how much will you have to invest in computer equipment or stock?

If you’re operating from a physical office, this might mean having to increase your square footage—and this doesn’t come cheap. However, with a remote working business model combined with a virtual office this isn’t an issue, making business expansion a much simpler, and lower-cost, endeavour.

Increased flexibility

Unlike with physical office space, virtual offices don’t require long-term lease agreements, meaning you can be much more flexible as a business. This allows you to react quickly to changing business conditions, new starters or location changes.

Most virtual office operators have flexible contract terms giving you the freedom to add or remove a service, while you can always request a change of terms to fit your needs.

Great way to test run your business

A virtual office gives you an opportunity to test the water with lower initial risk. Starting a business requires capital and it takes time before you start getting a return on the money you invested.

Are you willing to take the risk of signing a long-term lease agreement without knowing if your business will thrive or not? Instead, channel your capital to fund income-generating activities instead of purchasing liabilities such as office equipment.

This means you will have more money to spend on functions such as marketing, which will boost your business presence in the new market.

Larger talent pool

Another drawback to having a physical office is that it restricts the level of talent you have access to. This is because you will likely have to settle for talent that lives close to your office.

However, with a virtual office you can hire the best talent available, regardless of their physical location. This gives you a more diverse talent pool in different time zones to choose the people that are the best fit for your business.

Having a permanent office for all these remote employees won’t make sense, but a shared address and location for board and client meetings is important. There are also companies where all their employees work from home, but they still need administrative support from virtual office operators.

Flexible working hours

One of the most significant drawbacks of traditional physical offices is that they tie you down. Leaving the premises often means dropping work, but virtual office services allow you to work at any location as long as you have the necessary devices. After all, what are virtual office services all about if not flexibility?

For startups, this is especially important since you are always on the move looking for business opportunities. A virtual office ensures that you do not stop working regardless of the situation, which is ideal for business owners looking to get their business off the ground quickly but who don’t want to be stuck in the office away from their family.

Work-life balance

Virtual offices allow you to work longer hours in the early days of your business without having to be away from home, but remote working also helps you to achieve a healthier work-life balance.

Not only will you be able to work from home, eliminating the time spent commuting, but with supporting services you’ll also spend less time on admin.

Considerations When Renting a Virtual Office

There’s a long list of benefits to renting a virtual office, but what do you need to consider when choosing between providers?

Do you want your mail forwarded to you or sent digitally?

Is it enough to receive digital copies of your post, or do you need to have mail forwarded to your home address? Maybe you want to pick up your mail from a central location.

Make sure whoever you choose as your virtual office provider offers the services that work best for you.

Will you receive your post quickly?

How quickly will the service provider scan and email—and/or forward physical mail—to your designated address? At The Hoxton Mix we guarantee doing so within one business day of receiving it.

Do you require call handling?

Do you want your customers to be able to call your business to place orders or make enquiries? Unless you’re happy providing your home landline, you’d need to give a mobile number, which doesn’t help your business to look professional or established.

We can offer a virtual 020 London phone number, with forwarding to UK, EU or US landlines, as well as UK mobiles.

Do you need meeting room space?

Whether it’s for team bonding, client interaction or just to get out of the house, small businesses that don’t have a physical office address often require meeting room hire.

The Hoxton Mix virtual office customers can take advantage of London’s best value meeting rooms, with our room rental available from just £35 per hour (ex. VAT). They’re available between 9.30am and 5.30pm on weekdays, for a maximum of four hours.

How will your team communicate?

One of the drawbacks of remote work is losing face-to-face communication between employees. However, there are plenty of tools that can facilitate this, such as Slack, Zoom, Google Meet and more.

Our customers can benefit from a number of discounts on collaboration software in our Marketplace, including 25% off Slack Business+, 15% off the Google Workspace Starter plan and free access to Notion Plus for six months, including unlimited access to their AI functionality.

How to get a virtual office

Security a virtual office address for your small business is a smart choice for many reasons. It protects your privacy, provides a professional face for your business and typically offers a wide range of supporting services that your business will need.

So, if you want to secure your virtual office in less than 10 minutes, with all the benefits of a prime London business address look no further than The Hoxton Mix—London’s premier virtual services provider. We work with both startups and large businesses to set them up with office services from just £15 per month. Whether choosing our most basic plan or opting to include a range of higher-tier services, setting up a virtual office with The Hoxton Mix is a quick, simple and affordable process. What’s more, all ofour monthly packages include a free Companies House official registration address, ensuring you’ll have full legal business address status in the UK and a reliable point of contact for all vital correspondence from HMRC.

To find out more about the services on offer from The Hoxton Mix check out our full range of virtual office plans. Alternatively, get in touch with our team to discuss what’s best for your business.

FAQ

What is a virtual office?

A virtual office is a subscription-based arrangement that provides businesses with a physical address and office-related services. It’s perfect for companies that don’t need a fixed location and can operate flexibly.

How does a virtual office work?

Your team and other professionals involved in the business won’t need to come into the office. They will be able to do their job remotely, while the business owner enjoys the perks of a prime London address and mail handling services.

What is the difference between a virtual office and a coworking?

For some people, a virtual office might imply a coworking space. With the rise in popularity of both, it’s important to highlight the distinction. Coworking spaces are shared physical locations for employees from multiple companies, while a virtual office belongs to a single company, but isn’t based in a real building. This means employees can work from anywhere, while still providing the professional appearance of a genuine address

What is a virtual office number?

A virtual office number isn’t bound to a specific device or location. It’s also known as cloud telephony because it is Internet-based. Calls made to a virtual office number are forwarded to a designated landline or mobile phone number.

What does a virtual office mean for a startup?

As a small business, particularly a start-up, it’s incredibly hard to ensure a positive cash flow in those early days In this context, a virtual office can be the difference between a start-up ceasing trading within the first 12 months and growing sustainably, allowing the business owner to invest that money in more business-critical assets.