Archive for March, 2010
Time management. It’s an issue that directly impacts productivity. So before you fly to your next meeting in Chicago, consider how virtual office space can help you save the trip—and get home in time for dinner.
Sure, you can make good use of travel time to catch up on reports, plan new projects or write business letters. But no matter how efficient you make your flight to Chicago (or Tampa or Raleigh, or wherever your business meeting happens to be), you are still wasting time passing through airport security, waiting for luggage and riding in cabs.
Virtual office space can make you more productive, more efficient—and save you money by making it easy for you to tap into technologies like computer mirroring, interactive presentations, and teleconferencing. Instead of standing in front of a projector in Chicago, you can sit in front of your computer screen—and share it with others—using technologies like Cisco’s WebEx.
In fact, these virtual office technologies aren’t just appropriate for meetings across the country. They are just as helpful for meetings with people in the same city, the same building or even the same general office space.
With everyone in front of their computers, handling tasks and making notes during the meeting, the whole team can be productive, whether they are on-site or working from a virtual office on the home front. The bottom line: virtual offices can help you with time management and can have a direct impact on your company’s bottom line.
The Centers for Disease Control are warning of a rash of H1N1 flu in Georgia. Health officials are calling the late season outbreak of swine flu a “worrisome trend” of persistent flue across the Southeast U.S.
It’s not just Georgia, either. Alabama and South Carolina are also reported increased flu activity. Swine flue cases are also being reported in Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Louisiana and Arkansas.
Virtual offices can help stop the spread of swine flu—and help stabilize productivity—by allowing employees who are infected or who are at danger of infection to work from home. Workers in cities like Atlanta, Birmingham, and New Orleans can tap into virtual offices that allow them to continue receiving phone calls as if they were in the office. Remote receptionists can leverage call forwarding services to route the employee’s calls to their home office.
Virtual offices aren’t the end all for preventing the spread of swine flu, but they can serve to mitigate the risk. Virtual offices are also a strategic part of business continuity plans in the wake of various types of disasters, from hurricanes to floods to snowstorms.
Large corporations with distributed workforces can benefit from the security of a virtual office, knowing that with remote receptionists their calls will always be answered and routed to the appropriate parties—even in the midst of power outages and other emergencies.
What do Bank of America and Davinci Virtual have in common? One common denominator is Cisco conferencing solutions.
Indeed, the big news on the Fortune 500 front today is video conferencing. Bank of America and Cisco on Monday announced an agreement to launch the largest network of Cisco TelePresence systems. The first 200 units will be installed across the bank’s global operations by year end.
But you don’t have to be a Fortune 500 to tap into the power of Cisco’s video conferencing solutions. When you work with Davinci Virtual, you can get preferred pricing on Cisco’s WebEx online meetings and web conferencing.
Right from your virtual office in Atlanta, you can log into WebEx and initiate conferences with clients in Manhattan, partners in Seattle, employees in Miami—and prospects all over the world.
Bank of America is using Cisco’s video conferencing solutions to help its associates at its headquarters in Charlotte, as well as employees in other locations, collaborate and integrate even more effectively. Bank of America said the technology will also help associates better manage work-life balance by providing flexible meeting options, and in some cases reducing the need to travel.
Of course, you don’t need a full-blown TelePresence system to drive more collaboration, work-life balance and reduced travel. Davinci’s virtual office packages offer communications extras like Cisco’s WebEx with no set up fee for just $69.95 a month.
So whether your virtual office is headquartered in Cleveland, San Jose, Chicago or somewhere else, Davinci Virtual makes signing up with a reputable video conferencing solution as easy as clicking a few buttons.
What do you get when you cross a virtual office with an iPad? Plenty of coolness.
The much-anticipated Apple iPad is making its way to market on April 3—and Davinci Virtual is giving one lucky person the opportunity to win one of the tablet devices for free in its iPad sweepstakes.
Have you seen the commercials for the iPad? Apple is positioning it as a “magical and revolutionary” device, something completely new that lets you connect with your apps in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way.
Virtual offices and the iPad may have more in common than you think. Both are revolutionary approaches to their sectors. The virtual office is clearly revolutionizing the way many entrepreneurs consume office space. And the iPad is set to revolutionize tablet computing.
In case you haven’t had a proper introduction to the iPad, here you go: iPad’s Multi-Touch interface makes surfing the Web an entirely new experience, dramatically more interactive and intimate than on a computer. You can read and send e-mail on iPad’s large screen and almost full-size “soft” keyboard or import photos from a Mac, PC or digital camera, see them organized as albums, and enjoy and share them using iPad’s elegant slideshows. iPad makes it easy to watch movies, TV shows and YouTube, all in HD, or flip through the pages of an ebook you downloaded from Apple’s new iBookstore while listening to your music collection.
Normally, the iPad costs $499 for the entry-level model. Davinci Virtual is giving you a chance to get your hands on one for free. There’s no catch. You don’t have to be a virtual office customer to win the iPad, but current virtual office customers are eligible to enter. So click here to enter to win an iPad from Davinci Virtual. The drawing is June 1, 2010.
According to the U.S. Labor Department, first-time claims for jobless benefits declined more than expected last week. It’s a clear sign that the economy is slowly recovering.
Unemployment claims officially fell to their lowest levels since September 2008, and economists said the U.S. is inching closer to producing job gains once again. What’s more, the nation’s gross domestic product, the broadest measure of output, rose 5.9 percent in the fourth quarter, the fastest in six years.
When job growth begins again, companies will be back to competing for the best and brightest talent. That’s where virtual offices can be a competitive advantage. Virtual offices can help companies recruit employees in two ways.
First, virtual offices give employees telecommuting opportunities. Instead of demanding employees come into the office five days a week, virtual office technologies make it possible to route an employee’s call to their home office or cell phone through a virtual receptionist—without missing a beat.
Second, virtual offices mean you can scout for talent beyond the borders of your city, your state, or even your country. With virtual office providers like Davinci Virtual spanning the globe, it’s possible to stay connected to employees and present a uniform business presence no matter where in the world your employees live and work.
So while the U.S. continues to work its way toward a full economic recovery, begin thinking now how the concepts of flex work, telecommuting and the virtual office could give you a competitive advantage in the hiring process. You’ll be glad you did.
The CTIA show is underway in Las Vegas this week. But for all the new Android-powered mobile phones, netbooks and other electronics devices, there is yet a set of innovative technologies that won’t be featured at the show: virtual offices.
Virtual offices are based on cost-saving technologies that aim to help entrepreneurs, small and large businesses alike do business more efficiently. Whether you are starting up a new firm or expanding into new markets, virtual office technologies can help you do more with less.
Virtual offices are more than just a prestigious business address and an 800 number. Virtual office systems include live answering and call forwarding services, access to high-tech conference rooms and even the availability of video conferencing and Live Web Chat services.
Virtual offices are changing the face of the office scene as companies look for ways to cut costs, drive operational efficiencies, and even recruit talent in remote locations by allowing them to work from a home office in their current city rather transfer to your corporate headquarters. Virtual offices are also a professional option in today’s mobile world, where road warriors may not spend much time at headquarters, but still need mail pick up and call forwarding services.
So while the CTIA continues to showcase the latest technological bells and whistles, keep in mind that virtual offices may not seem sexy, but they are faithful to serve the communications needs of your growing company.
Google made good on its threats to exit China on Monday. The Internet giant had promised to shut down its search engine in the Asian nation in the wake of a cyber attack against the company in January. Seemingly in response to the attacks, Google began refusing to comply with the Chinese government’s mandate to censor search results.
Despite Google’s decision to shuttle traffic to its Hong Kong domain and shutter the Google.cn address, the search engine company said it plans to maintain an R&D presence in the communist country, signaling the importance of this strategic, high-populated market to Google’s plans.
What about your company? Do you have a presence in China? You can make it easy with a virtual office. Davinci Virtual offers virtual office space in key Chinese cities including Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Macau, Tianjin and, of course, Shanghai.
With a virtual office space in China, you can get a prestigious office address, professional reception service, mail and package pick up and delivery and access to meeting and conference rooms when you make your overseas trip to check in with clients.
Expanding into China doesn’t have to be a costly endeavor when you rely on virtual office space. Instead of renting a physical office, the virtual office lets you dip your toe in the water and establish business relationships before you official rent a bricks-and-mortar building in which to base your business.
And if your company offers services rather than products, or if you are merely having products manufactured in China for import back to the U.S., then a virtual office could be a permanent, cost-effective solution for your firm.
The House of Representatives on Sunday night approved legislation that aims to give every American access to medical care. The highly-controversial bill was passed with a near unanimous vote.
Although the Democrats designed the healthcare bill to preserve the employer-based healthcare system through which most workers get insurance, a federal law would mandate large employees provide workers with health benefits as a matter of course.
If the healthcare bill passes the Senate and President Barack Obama signs it, how will this affect your company? The answer is less, if you use virtual assistants. Most virtual assistants aren’t full-time employees, which means they government does not require you to provide them with health insurance.
Under the current healthcare bill, individuals would be required to buy insurance. That means virtual assistants would carry the cost of their own insurance, or if you hire a company like Davinci Virtual to provide virtual assistants that company would be responsible for dealing with the health insurance issues.
Virtual assistants can alleviate administrative burdens by handling tasks such as Internet research, billing, travel planning, project management, meeting planning and many other tasks. When you use a virtual assistant, you are basically sharing a secretary with other companies – but you aren’t paying for a full-time employee, payroll taxes, benefits or insurance.
What are your favorite sitcoms? They don’t make them like they used to. I mean, you don’t see George Lopez heading out the door with his briefcase in suit and tie ala Father Knows Best. If Jim Anderson were living in the 21st Century, he’d be might even be working from a virtual office.
Virtual offices let companies of all sizes—even one-man shows—do business more efficiently so they can spend more time with their family. A virtual office offers a prestigious business address, live receptionist services, mail sorting, call routing and even access to equipment that you probably would never invest in for a home office, like a copy machine and teleconferencing software.
What’s more, if you need to meet a client face to face the virtual office concept lets you schedule a presentation in a conference room. If you need extra help with your business, you can even hire a virtual assistant without having to worry about their professionalism because virtual office providers strictly screen their employees.
Imagine if the fictional characters Jim Anderson—or even George Lopez—could save all the time they took commuting to and from work. By using a virtual office, they could spend more time with their families, enjoy better work-life balance, and while they are at it, not waste money on gas driving through traffic every day.
Call me a traditionalist. I like the old family sit-coms like Father Knows Best, and I like traditional values that include family time. A virtual office can make it possible to pursue those traditional values in a hectic 21st Century.
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