The need for a brick-and-mortar workplace is quickly being rendered obsolete with the growing popularity of unconventional workplaces, such as coworking setups and virtual offices. With the flexibility in working hours, growing freelancing culture and startup all over the place, an increasing number of people are opting for unconventional workplace options.

In recent times, virtual offices have been popularly considered as an option for making work more convenient and economically feasible, for those who desire professional-looking business premises, but do not have the means or the inclination to pay for a full-time physical office space.

In essence, a virtual office offers you an office address and other allied services without the hassle of maintaining a physical workplace. It offers several other advantages like – receptions, assistance with calls, couriers and voicemail support, or a space to meet clients.

A virtual office is essentially a service for people who primarily work from home, or remotely, but require a separate business address. While it may give you partial access to the physical address, uninhibited physical use is usually restricted. An appealing middle ground, in other words. Let’s take a closer look at how a virtual office space scores over a conventional office space on some parameters:

Economic Feasibility

Maintaining a brick and mortar office space involves a lot of infrastructural and maintenance related requirements. So, in cases where the business can function effectively and efficiently from home, the economic advantage is clear.

Brand Perception

Having an official business address in a good location, along with proper reception and call answering services, meeting rooms, amongst other things, ensures a professional and positive impression of your business. It helps build credibility, lends more legitimacy, `and consolidates goodwill.

Talent Pool Access

Since having a virtual office ensures that you are not restricted to one place for its operations, it condones a certain level of flexibility than cannot be ensured in case of a physical office. For instance, if you have a virtual office in Hyderabad, you can hire talented people from all over the country, or even the world. The best talent can be a part of the organisation wherein territorial distance is not an impediment.

Work-life Balance

Virtual offices offer an arguably superior opportunity to maintain a healthy work-life balance since professionals get to operate from homes or any other location of their choice. Multiple surveys and studies over the years have demonstrated the positive impact such an equilibrium has on professional performance, and on business profitability.

Business Expansion

A virtual office ensures that business expansion can be facilitated all around the globe. With businesses mushrooming in all parts of the country at an immensely high pace and freelancing becoming a popular choice, businesses are not to be tied down to one particular geographical location. Instead, if there is a need, newer offices can be acquired in new cities as well, at a much more scalable rate.

Of course, these are only a few of the incentives that make opting for a virtual office a more desirable choice as opposed to a physical one. Having said that, it is important to note that the choice of the office depends solely upon an organisation’s needs and sensibilities. For organisations or people desiring stable operations, or in cases where larger team size is required to carry out the operations, a physical office workspace may remain a better fit. On the flip side, for freelancers or people who travel extensively, a virtual office is a one-stop solution for all their worries.

With the gaining popularity of unconventional workspaces, customers are honestly spoilt for choice in terms of virtual offices. Take iKeva for instance. iKeva’s virtual offices in India offer industry-leading facilities and customer care, at a package that’s easy on the wallet. If you’re exploring virtual offices for the first time, check out our detailed guide.