Office As A Service, Virtual Office And Coworking: A Solution For New Challenges

One of the concerns nowadays is the fixed costs that are associated to an Office space. Which are the strategies companies are developing in this domain?

Besides a redefinition of their location they are betting on the spaces rationalization and on new models which translate, on the one hand, a charges reduction and, on the other hand, a balanced cost-benefit relationship.

It is precisely here that the turnkey office solution comes up, also designated by "Office as a Service", a still recent concept, but that is gaining more expression facing the added values it offers, both for small and big companies.

The "Office as a Service" consists on the renting of an Office in a Business Center, included in the monthly amount a gather of services essentials to the entrepreneurship activity: 24h/7 days a week access, reception service, personalized telephone answering, Internet, telephone line, furniture, maintenance, electricity, water and daily cleaning. In the monthly rent is also included the use of meeting rooms equipped with state of the art technologies for presentations and training sessions.

The "Office as a Service" is a model offered by Office Centers located in prestige addresses with good accesses, both by car and by public transportation being this also a credibility factor facing the possibility companies have by being based in Premium locations and use of modern Office facilities.

Many of the companies hiring this service have the need of telephonic and face to face service, without having to hire people for the job – this service is included in the rent – other added value is being more focused in their core: when the personnel is absent, the Business Center’s secretariat assures the answering, receives the correspondence and forwards the messages and calls externally, in real time.

Besides the image, the flexibility is another advantage of this model: companies may open an Office with two collaborators and if they need to increase the structure they may move to a bigger space within the building, keeping the address and the contacts: the criteria of the amount associated to the Office is the area and not the number of work stations; besides the Virtual Office or the Coworking may also be a solution, in the case the company chooses the telework or to reduce to the minimal the personnel structure.

In the current recession context, differentiation is the keyword, besides cost control. Companies betting on the space rationalization but that keep as a demand the comfort and quality of the facilities, the office’s central location, the client’s proximity and the service’s efficiency, are those which will gain the new challenges.

About Avila Business Centers:

Avila Business Centers is located in one of the most prominent areas of Lisbon (Portugal), at Av. da República and Av. João Crisóstomo (near Saldanha-Central Business District), in modern buildings. It has is own dynamic conception, betting on a quality and personalized service in diverse areas, such as, Office Renting, Virtual offices, Training Rooms,Work Meeting Rooms and Coworking space. The business world requires furthermore practical and rational solutions. Avila Business Centers was one of the companies created to fulfill this modern economy requirement. It is a business centre, structured for small and large companies, independent workers and other activities that do not require a physical space to operate. The Office Centers offers Telephone attendance, voicemail-to-email, reception desk administrative and logistic support. Avila Business Centers integrates an international network of partners located in countries like Brazil (Rio de Janeiro/Sao Paulo), United Estates (New York), Spain (Madrid/Barcelona), England (London), France (Paris) and Italy (Rome), Germany (Berlin), Belgium (Brussels), among others. For more information: www.avilabusinesscenter.com

Office as a Service: A Solution for new Challenges

by Carlos Gonçalves *

One of the concerns nowadays is the fixed costs that are associated to an Office space. Which are the strategies companies are developing in this domain? Besides a redefinition of their location they are betting on the spaces rationalization and on new models which translate, on the one hand, a charges reduction and, on the other hand, a balanced cost-benefit relationship.

It is precisely here that the turnkey office solution comes up, also designated by "Office as a Service", a still recent concept, but that is gaining more expression facing the added values it offers, both for small and big companies.

The "Office as a Service" consists on the renting of an Office in a Business Center, included in the monthly amount a gather of services essentials to the entrepreneurship activity: 24h/7 days a week access, reception service, personalized telephone answering, Internet, telephone line, furniture, maintenance, electricity, water and daily cleaning. In the monthly rent is also included the use of meeting rooms equipped with state of the art technologies for presentations and training sessions.

The "Office as a Service" is a model offered by Office Centers located in prestige addresses with good accesses, both by car and by public transportation being this also a credibility factor facing the possibility companies have by being based in Premium locations and use of modern Office facilities.

Many of the companies hiring this service have the need of telephonic and face to face service, without having to hire people for the job – this service is included in the rent – other added value is being more focused in their core: when the personnel is absent, the Business Center’s secretariat assures the answering, receives the correspondence and forwards the messages and calls externally, in real time.

Besides the image, the flexibility is another advantage of this model: companies may open an Office with two collaborators and if they need to increase the structure they may move to a bigger space within the building, keeping the address and the contacts: the criteria of the amount associated to the Office is the area and not the number of work stations; besides the Virtual Office or the Coworking may also be a solution, in the case the company chooses the telework or to reduce to the minimal the personnel structure.

In the current recession context, differentiation is the keyword, besides cost control. Companies betting on the space rationalization but that keep as a demand the comfort and quality of the facilities, the office’s central location, the client’s proximity and the service’s efficiency, are those which will gain the new challenges.

* Avila Business Centers

www.avilabusinesscenter.com

Low-Cost Premium Offices

The "Your Office Anywhere" conference, held in Lisbon in the past month of December, on a partnership between Avila Business Centers and OJE, confirmed that the new tendencies of work spaces management came to stay, with a special highlight to the virtual Office and the Coworking.

The current recession climate alerted companies and professionals to more efficient models, which allows reducing costs and increasing the productivity levels. In this domain, business centers are clearly leading in innovation, offering Virtual Offices’ integrated solutions, Coworking, plus the turnkey Office rental with shared secretariat and state of the art technology.

These solutions meet the current market needs: recent studies point out that, in average, only one third of the time is passed in the Office. Companies that do not need a permanent physical office and that can work anywhere, using temporary work spaces and punctual use of meeting rooms, besides other facilities, such as the personalized telephone answering, prestige address for headquarters and correspondence management, are increasing more and more.

In a context where the watchword is “costs reduction”, the amounts of this kind of services are quite attractive, varying from 50 to 100 Euros per month, according to the functionality needed. The offices rental, despite more expensive, continues to be a valid solution to many activity sectors and present a balanced cost-benefit relation for those who do not pass without a permanent physical space.

In our market, office centers assume itself more and more as business and networking centers, where companies and star-ups find support in the initial phase, but are also more and more searched by big companies which are downsizing and resizing internally. These companies choose smaller spaces, maintaining centralism and high quality standards of the facilities. “Flexibility” and “Costs Rationalization” are the keywords and these centers have managed to guarantee the desired premium services at low-cost prices.

Carlos Gonçalves

Avila Business Centers

http://www.avilabusinesscenter.com/

Grey’s Anatomy and the Virtual Offices

A recent article from Emily Sokolow published on the blog wixmobile.com highlighted the fact that the virtual office had been declared as Dr. Owen Hunt work space, from the famous American series “Grey’s Anatomy.”

"The way I see it, my office is where I am!" it was with this statement that Dr. Owen Hunt, recent promoted to head of Surgery, highlighted that the his work organization model is not based on a fixed place: what really matters is the works he develops and not place where he develops it. It’s not just about using new technologies in order to make our work easier, like tablets or remote access to office; the main objective is the productivity and efficiency increase of our organizations.

Analising this episode, we conclude that is only one example of how companies and professionals can deal with the challenges of modern economy and with the current recession contect. The new work spaces – whether the virtual office model, Coworking or teleworking – have to respond to two fundamental needs of the 21st century organizations: flexibility and rationality.

In the case of the Virtual offices, they allow professionals to develop their work in full, with more reduced costs and in a more productive way, wherever they are, in case they do not need a permanent office to work in.

A study made this year by the consultant Unwired Ventures concluded that 71% of the professionals of younger generations is prepared to adopt the virtual office, in contrast of the traditional office. Besides the habits we acquire in relation to remote access to information, the main advantages have to do with time spend in travelling, costs reduction, balance between professional life and the comfort of be able to work anywhere. They were, very likely, also these the reasons that took the surgeon Dr. Owen Hunt to choose the Virtual Office solution.

Carlos Gonçalves

Avila Business Centers

www.avilabusinesscenter.com

Avila Business Centers wins the 2011 Call Center 2011 trophy

The Company won in the category of “Costumer Care by Other Channels”, standing ahead of companies like Zon, Optimus and PT. This was the first time an Office Center achieved this award.

Lisbon 18^th November 2011 - The Avila Business Centers, company of turnkey physical work spaces for renting and leader in the virtual offices business, was the grand winner of the prize “Costumer Care by Other Channels” in the 2011 edition of the Call Center Trophy.

In early October, Avila Business Centershad been appointed by the organization as one of the finalists along with the services of Costumer Care by Other Channels by Optimus, CTT Expresso, Teleperformance, Zon, PT Contact-TMN, Liberty Seguros, Lanidor and Nestlé, among others, on a total of 22 companies competing directly with Avila Business Centers.

At the ceremony, held on November 17th, the Avila Business Centers would become the grand winner of the Call Center Trophy in the category of “Costumer Care by Other Channels”. In 11 editions of the Trophy, never a prize had been assigned to a Business Center before, which reinforces the merits of Avila and the recognition of the quality of customer care in the context of Virtual Offices and Office rental solutions.

“This distinction fills with proud the Avila Business Center’s Team and confirms the professionalism of our personalized service, which includes also the contact by mobile component through the virtual offices app myOffice. We weren’t expecting to come out as winners, because the finalists were all very powerful, however the prize is entirely fair. Now all we have to do is keep providing the same quality service and always seek for the best opportunities and technologies in order to progress in the field of customer care," said Carlos Gonçalves, Avila Business Centers’ CEO.

Which is the best choice? Serviced Office, Virtual Office or Coworking?

LIBERAL PROFESSIONAlS

Which factors have influence on the choice of an office? The answer is simple: all those contributing to our well being and productivity.

We know that the “price” factor is more and more decisive, but more competitive professionals and companies face the office as an investment: the work they develop always passes through the office (whether a serviced or a virtual one) and we know we spend most part of our time in our work place.

Let us star by the location. The ideal solution is to install our office close to home and at the same time close to our clients. Despite the technologies development, the personal contact with clients and partners still continues to be fundamental in many activities, and for those the time spend in dislocations is always important. The choice of renting a place seems to be the right one, facing the current conjuncture and the flexibility this model offers.

Serviced Office, Virtual Office or Coworking? Depends on the defined objectives. Regardless of the conventional office is the most common choice, there is a growing tendency for the Virtual Office choice, not only for the inherent price (average amounts of 70€/80€ per month in our market), but also because it is the most rational choice for those who do not need a permanent office and want to use punctually work and meeting rooms, as well as to guarantee a secretariat support and a personalized telephone call 24h/7 days per week. On the contrary of what you may think, it is not only liberal professionals who choose the virtual office; multinationals use this model for a long time now: they can settle in a country in less than 24 hours insuring a prestige address to establish the companies head office (image and credibility reinforcement) professional secretariat and meeting rooms with state of the art technology.

Responding to the new market tendencies, Business Centres are betting also on the Coworking, which may also be the right choice for many professional who work at home or at the client’s premises. This model consists on renting a work place in an open-space, in a daily or monthly basis, with a turnkey service which may include internet connexion and access to work rooms. Main advantage? The cooperation environment which potentiates the networking among users and the possibility of using secretariat services rendered by the Business Centres.

*Avila Business Centers’ CEO

www.avilabusinesscenters.com

The Office is where you want it

The new functioning models of work spaces was the central theme of the Annual Conference of the Office Business Center Association International (OBCAI), made this month in the USA, to the extent of being voted the change of its designation to Global Workspace Association.

In practice, it’s just a name adjustment to a new reality: the offer of global solutions, which goes far beyond the traditional office and which contemplates the new solutions: the virtual Office, the shared work spaces (Coworking) and the distant secretariat (Virtual Assistants).

Since a while ago that Office Centers are not just to rent rooms: nowadays they are true Business Centers and of Networking, where companies and professionals find support in the business initial phases, and also in a growing period, by making upgrades and downgrades accordingly to your needs, using a turnkey service, of punctual work spaces and meeting rooms.

Flexibility and costs rationalization are the key words. The latest data published in the USA refers that 40% of the country’s work force may work remotely, being that new technologies have been giving an effective answer to the professionals and companies needs, with a special highlight to the mobile applications which have been appearing in the market, like the American LiquidSpace or another one which is 100% Portuguese – the myOffice – the first virtual office worldwide application for mobile devices, available in the Apple App Store, in the Android Market and soon optimized for Blackberry and Nokia.

Analysing the themes presented at the International Conference and the new consumption tendencies, one concludes that Portugal, despite its reduced market, presents a good performance at this level, not only at a facilities quality level but also in to what concerns the innovation and adoption of new concepts in expansion throughout the world, like coworking, for example. Portugal presents surely one of the highest growth taxes of Europe in what concerns the opening of coworking spaces, not only in Lisbon and Oporto, showing that our entrepreneurs are aware of this market’s evolution, which is no longer an exclusive of the entrepreneurs working within four walls and in one place. Today the Office is where you want it: with all the advantages at the balance level between your personal and professional life, productivity, costs rationalization and mobility increase.

Carlos Gonçalves

Avila Business Centers

www.avilabusinesscenter.com