Archive for February, 2010
I’ve been seeing more and more articles in the past 12 months about virtual offices, virtual receptionists and virtual assistants – and Davinci Virtual has been the centerpiece of many of them.
Davinci Virtual is making headlines again as part of the trend toward virtual receptionists. SmartPlanet.com highlights Davinci Virtual in an article entitled, “Virtual receptionists replacing the real thing.”
Here’s an excerpt from the article:
“Clearly a victim of tough economic times and improved phone forwarding and answering technology, receptionists have succumbed to the virtual world. In the flesh, they are hard to find. And so are numbers that attest to their dwindling ranks. Let’s face it, working as a receptionist is usually low-paying and stressful during busy times. But the phone still needs answering so filling in the gap are “virtual receptionists” in the form of Internet-based software. While the human interaction is lost, virtual receptionists have some features live ones do not. When was the last time a real receptionist texted you about an important call? Or worked 24/7 (there’s labor laws against that)? A virtual receptionist works for peanuts and doesn’t demand benefits.”
The SmartPlanet article does a good job of exploring the possibilities of a virtual receptionist and even dives into the topic of virtual offices as an alternative to traditional office space. I expect to see more coverage of virtual offices and virtual receptionists throughout the economic downturn – but I don’t expect the trend to stall when the recession is over. Virtual offices and virtual receptionists have proved their salt and I imagine many companies large and small will continue to explore the possibilities.
Small business often feel like they are in a proverbial Catch-22. They don’t have quite enough call volume to justify hiring a virtual receptionist but they have too much to keep up with the hourly interruptions of incoming calls.
What’s a small business owner to do? Get a new perspective.
There are clearly ‘limiting beliefs’ around virtual receptionists. (The name of the service probably has something to do with it.) While many entrepreneurs would enjoy having a more professional phone presence for their business, they don’t always see the ROI because they don’t see the bigger picture.
The bigger picture looks like this: Virtual receptionists can do more than answer phones, if you need them to. In fact, virtual receptionists can handle a number of administrative tasks for your small business. For example, a virtual receptionist can handle customer service inquiries, take product orders, making sales calls and much more.
A virtual receptionist also gives you analytics, so to speak, that can be valuable to your company’s growth efforts. You get a report that offers the inside scoop on your incoming call history. That can help you track how customers are responding to promotions you may be sending out via e-mail or through some other marketing channel. If you sent out an e-mail blast at 10 a.m. on Tuesday and saw call volume spike for the next two days, you can put two and two together.
As you can see, there’s more to a virtual receptionist than meets the ear. In other words, it’s not just about screening calls or presenting a professional business image. Those benefits are vital, of course, but there is also value in knowing you can rely on a virtual receptionist to handle other phone-oriented tasks – and you don’t have to worry about them calling in sick. With a virtual receptionist, you can have your phone lines covered 24/7/365.
I was reading an interesting article from Karen Condi over at Officing Today. In it, she talked about how technology advancements are making it possible for people to work from just about anywhere in the world. She also speaks of the changing rules of business hours. And she points to virtual offices as an enabler.
Let’s listen in to a bit of what Condi, executive director and principal of Alliance Office Strategies, has to say about the advantages of a virtual office:
“The advantages of a virtual office are numerous but it’s important to fully understand what constitutes a true virtual office. Conceptually, virtual offices started in the mid 1980s, however, the industry has dramatically evolved as technology has changed the way we work.
“As the 1990s brought rise to the information age, new work solutions were needed to support company expansions and teams spread out over multiple locations. This movement continued through the decade and has led to a decentralization and shrinkage of the conventional office environments and an expansion of alternative officing solutions.
“Alternative officing solutions, specifically virtual offices, through office business centers continue to expand and adapt to the new requirements of today’s remote workers by providing necessary variations of services, providing supportive environments, and offering the most current technologies. As work-life balance continues to be a focus for today’s companies and workers; virtual offices provide the flexibility that workers need to conduct business while enjoying the ability to work on their terms.”
Condi makes some good points – and she’s right. Much has changed in the face of technology. With the rise of the virtual office, the possibilities for where to work are, well, virtually endless.
Forty-nine dollars doesn’t go as long as it used to. In fact, in 1920 $50 is equivalent to more than 500 of today’s greenbacks. Of course, in 1920 bread was only 12 cents a loaf and round steak was merely 40 cents a pound – and there was no such thing as the World Wide Web, much less Live Web Chat.
By contrast, Live Web Chat just got a lot less expensive with Davinci Virtual’s latest service. Davinci is offering Live Web Chat for just $49 a month. If you haven’t talked to Nate about how this service could benefit your company, shoot him an e-mail at nwalker (at) davincivirtual.com. Here’s a sneak peak of what he’ll tell you:
Live Web Chat is proven to increase the conversion rates of your Web site traffic and will generate leads that you otherwise wouldn’t get. Leads contact info is then sent directly to your cell phone and e-mailed so you can follow up immediately. Nate will also tell you that chat history can be stored online indefinitely so you can read the transcripts.
Here’s how it works: Davinci virtual puts a small button that pictures your Live Web Chat virtual receptionist and an instruction that reads, “Live Help, Start Chat.” You can place this anywhere on your Web site that you wish. Davinci Virtual takes it from there, monitoring and capturing leads so sales don’t get away. It’s just that simple.
So what are you waiting for? Nate is expecting to hear from you. He can answer all your questions about Live Web Chat right now so you don’t lose another sale. What you can get for $49 might surprise you.
Work-life balance. It’s the subject of ongoing studies that make headlines in industrialized countries around the world. But the New Economics Foundation (nef) is putting a new twist on the topic by suggesting a 21-hour workweek could be the answer to work-life balance – and much more.
In the final segment of this five-part series on “Work-Life Balance and the Virtual Office,” we’re going to take a closing look at key points nef made in its study called 21 hours. The study explores how a 21-hour workweek could, among other benefits, spur a robust and prosperous economy, give people more time to care for children, and ultimately lead to stronger public services. Let’s look at these three aspects of the study and see how virtual offices fit into these benefits.
Robust and Prosperous Economy
A 21-hour workweek could bring more women into the workforce and give men an opportunity to live more balanced lives, according to the nef study. A 21-hour workweek would also reduce stress, nef says, because employees wouldn’t have to juggle work with home responsibilities and family commitments.
Nef also pointed to evidence that suggests people who work shorter hours are more productive, hour for hour. A 21-hour workweek would also put an end to one of the main causes of the credit crunch – the consumer debt bubble – by moving from an economy based on consumerism and economic growth, to one based around stability, resilience and adaptability, nef concludes.
Caring for Children
Here’s an interesting calculation: If you put a price tag on the average time spent on housework and caring for children and adults in 2005, it would be worth nearly £253.7 billion. That equals 21 percent of the British Gross Domestic Product for that year. “By moving towards a 21-hour week,” nef says, “unpaid care and housework would be seen as equally valued and important as paid employment, and men could take a more equal share of these home-based tasks.”
Finally, nef suggests a 21-hour workweek would breed stronger public services. A 21-hour workweek would give people more time to care for each other, spend with children, stay healthy and contribute to neighborhood activities. As nef sees it, workers could partner with the public sector to become co-producers of public services.
Virtual Offices Breed Benefits
With all of this in mind, could it be possible that the virtual office will become a facilitator of the 21-hour workweek? I think it is possible. Although a 21-hour workweek might seem impossible to some, a virtual office could, at the least, help employees do more in less time – and do it from the homefront so they could be more available for children and family.
A virtual office space, for example, gives employees the flexibility to work several hours in the morning, take a break in the middle of the day to deal with household, health and family issues, then work again in the evening. Virtual assistants and virtual receptionists can help bear the load and keep business moving while workers are tending to personal matters that breed stronger work-life balance.
In conclusion, although a 21-hour workweek seems nearly impossible in a society that’s driven to productivity, it is possible that spreading the work among families – where men and women both work and both help care for family – could benefit the society. Virtual office technologies could play a key role in this transition if and when it happens.
Could a 21-hour workweek be the answer to many of society’s ills? And where do virtual offices fit into the mix? That’s been the topic of our weeklong series on “Work-Life Balance and the Virtual Office.”
In today’s post, we continue looking at findings from a recently published study from the New Economics Foundation (nef) called 21 hours. According to the study, a 21-hour workweek could accomplish the following: reducing unemployment and overworked employees, improving life quality and lowering carbon emissions, and spurring new levels of civic engagement. Let’s explore each concept, then look at how virtual offices, virtual assistants and virtual receptionists facilitate these benefits.
More Equitable Work Distribution
According to nef, a 21-hour workweek could help distribute paid work more evenly across the population, reducing ill-being associated with unemployment, long working hours and too little control over time.
A 21-hour workweek would, nef concluded, “make it possible for paid and unpaid work to be distributed more equally between women and men; for parents to spend more time with their children – and to spend that time differently; for people to delay retirement if they wanted to, and to have more time to care for others, to participate in local activities and to do other things of their choosing.”
As work gets redistributed, nef suggests, incomes will become more equal, thus reducing the vast range of social problems associated with inequality.
Higher Quality of Life
With a 21-hour workweek, some may earn less but they would have more time. This translates to a higher quality of life, the study reports, because people can start growing their own food rather than buying ready-made meals, walking and cycling instead of riding cars and buses, and mending and repairing goods rather than throwing them away.
“Living life at a slower pace, with more time to do everyday tasks, would cut carbon emissions and improve life satisfaction,” study authors believe. “A more egalitarian culture would also reduce the need for conspicuous consumption driven by people’s anxiety about where they stand in the social pecking order.”
Finally, the nef study determines, a 21-hour workweek would give citizens more time to engage with government. Citizens need time to learn about political issues, get involved in decision-making and join and support political parties. Spending fewer hours at work would allow people to spend more time as active citizens in their local community, nef says.
The Virtual Office Tie-In
Could a virtual office help facilitate a 21-hour workweek? A virtual office could play a role in driving higher quality of life for entrepreneurs and employees who are trying to accomplish more with less. With virtual assistants, for example, you can manage your time more effectively by having someone to take care of the administrative details of running an office. With a virtual office, don’t have to commute to the office, which save time, money and lowers your carbon footprint.
With remote receptionists, you can work from the road or from home and still have your business phone lines answered by a professional during business hours. A virtual receptionist can also save you time by screening your calls and call forwarding services can send your calls to your mobile device while you are on the road so you make the most of travel time. Indeed, a virtual office can help you shave your work hours without hindering your productivity, making a 21-hour workweek possible.
Can virtual offices save the world? That may be an overstatement, but virtual office space may indeed help make the world a better place.
The authors of 21 hours, a study recently published by the News Economics Foundation (nef) argue that a much shorter working week could help to tackle a range of urgent and closely related problems: overwork, unemployment, over-consumption, high carbon emissions, low well-being, entrenched inequalities, and the lack of time to live sustainably, to care for each other, and simply to enjoy life. It would enable many more people to join the workforce and allow for measures to reduce damaging levels of inequality.
“The last two years revealed many to be consuming well beyond our economic means and beyond the limits of the natural environment, yet in ways that also fail to improve our well-being,” says Andrew Simms, co-author of the report and Policy Director at nef.
“Meanwhile many others suffer poverty and hunger. Our research shows that moving to a shorter working week could be the only way left untried to square this seemingly impossible circle. A cultural shift will throw up real challenges, but there could also be massive benefits for our economy, our quality of life and our planet. After all, hands up who wouldn’t like a four day weekend?”
So where do virtual offices fit into this picture? By tackling a range of problems nef outlines. Virtual offices could combat many of the problems nef outlined in its study in one fell swoop. In essence, virtual offices help breed work-life balance by offering employees more freedom and flexibility to work from remote locations.
A virtual office system can do some of the heavy lifting for you and your employees. Virtual receptionists, for example, can field the phones so your employees can work more productively and avoid staying after hours to finish a project. Call forwarding services can give you the freedom to roam about without missing important calls. And virtual office space can let you employees work from home, yet meet in person periodically for company meetings.
In tomorrow’s post, we’ll continue examining how virtual office space can breed work life balance.
How would you like to work a mere 21 hours a week? The New Economics Foundation, or nef, just released a study that suggests this schedule should be part of the new world of work.
In part one of this series, we looked at how virtual offices might help make that possible. Today, we’re going to dig into the study a little deeper as we continue to explore how virtual offices could facilitate the workplace of the future.
For example, the nef report shows that many people work longer hours than they did 30 years ago. Since 1981 two-adult households have added six hours – nearly a whole working day – to their combined weekly workload.
What’s more, nearly 2.5 million people can’t find jobs today. Cutting labor to save money without changing working hours means some are burdened with overwork while others lose their livelihoods, nef concludes.
As a result of this growing inequality in working time, nef says, the unpaid components of life are suffering. Family life, neighborhood networks, time with children and quality of life for older people are all diminished, with painful results for society that sometimes get lumped together and lamented as ‘Broken Britain.’
I don’t think these issues are isolated to Great Britain. I am betting workers in many other nations could vouch for the validity of this survey. So the question becomes, how can virtual office space help shorten overextended workweeks and improve quality of life?
Virtual offices can help shorten workweeks by offering telecommuting opportunities. Virtual office technologies make it possible to allow employees to work from home, at least part of the time, where they can accomplish more work in less time.
At the same time, companies can reduce their overhead by leveraging virtual offices to maximize use of traditional office space. Imagine if you had half your workforce come in on Mondays and Wednesdays and the other half come in on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with only key management in the office on Fridays. This is possible with virtual offices, virtual receptionists and virtual assistants.
Stay tuned as we continue to explore the nef study as it relates to virtual offices in tomorrow’s article.
A brand new study predicts a 21-hour work week is inevitable. Dubbed 21 hours, the New Economics Foundation, or nef, study forecasts a major shift in the length of the formal work week as a consequence of dealing with key economic, social and environmental problems. Could the virtual office play a role?
Nef says there are several forces pushing us towards a shorter working week: lasting damage to the economy caused by the banking crisis, an increasingly divided society with too much over-work alongside too much unemployment, and an urgent need for deep cuts in environmentally damaging over-consumption.
“So many of us live to work, work to earn, and earn to consume. And our consumption habits are squandering the earth’s natural resources,” says Anna Coote, co-author of the report and Head of Social Policy at nef. “Spending less time in paid work could help us to break this pattern. We’d have more time to be better parents, better citizens, better careers and better neighbors. And we could even become better employees: less stressed, more in control, happier in our jobs and more productive. It is time to break the power of the old industrial clock, take back our lives and work for a sustainable future.”
Could a virtual office help? I think it could. A virtual office can cut down on commute time, for starters. Even if the workweek doesn’t shrink to 21 hours, employees and business owners could save 10 hours a week – or more – dressing and commuting to work. People can also cut business overhead costs with a virtual office space, from the bricks and mortar under which they work to the costly lunches at local restaurants.
Virtual offices may not ultimately lead to working fewer hours on the actual job, but virtual office technologies can make employees more efficient. Greater efficiency could lead to the need to work fewer hours – or the ability to take more time off. Even if you go in to work early and work late, a virtual office still offers more freedom – and more work-life balance.
We’ll look into more of the implications of nef’s new study in tomorrow’s post.
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