If you’re a sole proprietor or run your business out of your home, you may be interested in learning about what types of services the best virtual office companies have to offer.
In this article, we’ve assessed some of the most well-known virtual office companies. Now we’re sharing what they offer (and for how much) so you can choose the right one for your business.
What Is A Virtual Office?
Let’s start by defining what a virtual office is. It’s easy to confuse virtual office services with coworking spaces, but the two have some important differences.
A coworking space is a place you can go to work each day. It’s like a regular office, except that the people at the desks next to you are from other companies or businesses instead of yours. It provides a way for sole proprietors or small business owners to have an office and a desk for working, networking, and community-building purposes.
Conversely, a virtual office provides sole proprietors and small business owners with an entire office setting at their fingertips. You get everything a big office complex would provide such as a receptionist, conference room, a mailing address, printer and fax machines, etc. You get all that — but no actual office. Your desk is at home.
Basically, virtual offices provide services that give the appearance of having an office and actual office spaces that represent your company.
Some of the services you can get with a virtual office company include the following:
Receptionist Services
One of the specialties of a virtual office service is that they offer receptionist services. That means that when a client or potential client calls your business, they’ll have the perception of calling an office building.
Your receptionist will answer the phone, take messages for you, and more. You’ll have your own business phone number that will ring right to the receptionist at your virtual office.
The virtual office company will ensure that any calls to your business number are answered professionally and will help ensure callers that your business is legit.
Virtual office companies that also lease or own physical buildings have receptionists at the entrance lobby of those buildings. That way when someone visits the building you rent office space at, they get the appearance of a professional office building.
This is a great feature to take advantage of if you might have clients that stop by on a whim.
Conference Rooms
Another service that virtual offices promote is that of conference room services. Some virtual office companies provide online video conferencing with the appearance of a conference room setting.
Others offer actual conference rooms that you can use to meet clients in. Some services include conference room use in their packages, while others charge a separate fee to rent a physical conference room.
If you’re a business owner that sometimes has the need to meet clients in an actual conference room or other meeting space, this can be a great benefit to your business.
If you’re working with a virtual office company that provides conference rooms, your client will enter the office space and be greeted by a live receptionist.
And they’ll wait in a professionally decorated lobby while you prepare your conference room meeting.
A Connecting Place For Team Members
An additional benefit of virtual offices is that you can meet with team members there too. So many small businesses have remote-based staff on board.
Keeping your staff based from home and using virtual office services instead of renting a building is a move that can save your company thousands of dollars a month.
However, it’s still important for employees to connect in person and to feel as if they are truly a part of a team. With a virtual office, you can reserve the conference room to have meetings at your leisure.
Or you can reserve actual office space and have the team come into the office space to work on a once-a-week or other basis. This type of a work setup can help you as the business owner balance the best of both worlds: cost savings and employee satisfaction.
A Business Address
Another feature that virtual offices promote is the use of a business address. Having an official address as a sole proprietor or small business owner is important.
As a small business owner/sole proprietor, you may be running your business from home. Not only can it make potential clients uncomfortable to know you don’t have an actual office space, sharing your home address with people you may not know can be a security risk as well.
If you have a legit mailing and meeting address through a virtual office company, you’ve gained an air of both professionalism and security. You’ll have a place you can meet with your clients in a business setting, and a place they can mail packages as well.
Business Phone And Voicemail
Virtual office companies can also provide a business phone number and professional voicemail system for you. You can choose to use this system along with or in lieu of a live receptionist.
The business phone line can direct clients as to which number to press to get individual team members and areas for your business. And it can offer voicemail services when you aren’t available to talk on the phone.
Again, this is another nice feature that offers a professional touch to your small business.
Best Virtual Office Companies
As we reviewed virtual office companies for this article, we chose them based on a number of factors. We took into consideration features such as:
- Availability
- Price
- Services offered
For each company, we’ll share details regarding how they work, what they cost, as well as any contact information. That way you can choose the right company that fits your business needs.
Related: Best Virtual Assistant Services For Your Business
1. Davinci Virtual Office Solutions
Best For: Businesses looking for comprehensive services, a wide variety of locations, and a fair price.
Davinci Virtual Office Solutions is one of the most well-known virtual office companies. The company was founded in 2006 and operates in all 50 U.S. states.
Davinci also has locations around the world. This company offers the most expansive list of services including:
- Virtual offices
- Full-time office spaces
- Coworking spaces
- Live receptionists
- Meeting rooms
- Event spaces
- Address usage
And a host of other features. You can use meeting rooms and office space how you choose, renting by the hour, half-day, day, week, and more.
You choose which services you want to use, and how you want to use them.
Cost
Prices at Davinci depend on which services you use. Here’s a sample price guide:
Receptionist services: $99 to $319 per month depending on the features you want. The Business Plan includes either 50 or 100 minutes of live receptionist time per month.
It includes basic receptionist services such as call management and forwarding, live receptionists, auto-answering, and more.
Premium plans include either 50 or 100 live receptionist minutes per month and include order processing, administrative tasks, and more.
For office use including mailing address, you’ll pay different rates depending on the office location. Monthly rates can run anywhere between $50 per month and $200 per month, depending on the location of the office space.
Note that using physical office and meeting room space costs extra.
Davinci, like most virtual office companies, requires signed contract–six months is the minimum. Unlike many virtual office companies, Davinci also charges a setup fee of anywhere between $150 and $200.
There’s only one other company on this list that charges a setup fee.
2. Opus Virtual Offices
Best For: Businesses that are located in Premium Location areas and are happy with quality basic services.
Like Davinci, Opus Virtual Offices has locations in all 50 states–over 500 locations in total. That includes locations in Puerto Rico and several in Canada. However, there are no locations in other parts of the world at this writing.
Opus does things a bit differently than Davinci. They have one basic package that covers:
- Live receptionists answering and routing calls
- A corporate mailing address
- A company phone number and fax number
- Premium call transferring
- Voicemail converted to email
And other services. There’s just this one package available with Opus, but it covers most of the basic needs you’ll have.
Cost
The Opus package is $99 per month. There are no other packages to choose from, but this package does provide most of the services you’ll want. Opus does not charge a setup fee.
Opus makes no mention of live minute limits. The site simply states that a live receptionist will answer your calls between the business hours of 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Meeting rooms are available at premium locations for an additional charge.
Like Davinci, Opus Virtual Offices does require a contract. However, it’s a shorter contract at only 3 months, and it offers auto-renew.
The one limitation that could be a hindrance for some businesses is the lack of meeting rooms. However, although meeting rooms may not be in all states, there is still a large list of meeting rooms to choose from.
For instance, the state of Wyoming only offers one meeting room in its capital city, Cheyenne. However, Opus has several locations in the state of Arizona.
3. Regus
Best For: Businesses looking for virtual office services with flexible plans.
The Regus website says it has virtual offices in every major city in the world. That means you have thousands of locations you can represent your office from.
The company has been in business for over 30 years, which makes them one of the longest-running virtual office companies.
Regus runs very similar to Davinci in terms of its offerings, which include:
- Virtual office services
- Live receptionists
- Meeting rooms
- Office space
- Coworking spaces
And more. With the virtual office packages you can choose from a variety of different plans and contract lengths. Each plan allows for varying choices for most features.
For instance, you can have mail forwarded daily, weekly, monthly, or you can collect your mail in person. And the Virtual Office Plus plans allow for you to have a limited (or unlimited) amount of coworking space during the month.
Related : How To Get A Vanity Phone Number For Your Business
Cost
At Regus, the cost depends both on which plan you choose and which location you choose. Locations and plans can range from $40+ a month to over $200 a month.
The basic plans allow for a live receptionist who will answer calls and take messages, as well as mail forwarding. Upgraded plans include real office space rental and more.
Bonus: Some locations come with access to the building’s business lounge.
Regus is great for its flexible plan options. However, prices increase quickly once you veer away from basic virtual office services. The same goes for contract lengths.
The two-year contract is much more affordable than the one month contract Regus offers. Also, Regus offers an app that is great for last-minute meeting room or office space bookings.
4. Alliance Virtual Offices
Best For: Business owners who want receptionist services and a wide array of amenities to choose from.
Alliance Virtual Offices was founded in 1992 and has locations all around the world, including in all 50 U.S. states.
One nice thing about Alliance is that you can get a variety of services, including:
- a professional mailing address
- a virtual phone number with a live receptionist
- shared amenities
And more. Many locations offer other services such as meeting rooms, office space, coworking spaces, and conference rooms. Shared amenities such as copiers and wifi are available as well.
Another nice benefit is that most of the company’s plans include unlimited live receptionist answering minutes.
Physical office locations that offer meeting rooms and shared workspaces have live receptionists to greet you and your clients.
Cost
Phone numbers alone start at just $30 per month. If you want to add live receptionist services to your phone number, you’re looking at $95 per month as a starting price point.
Alliance’s Platinum Plan includes office and meeting room rental for an additional cost. Prices vary by location. The Platinum Plus plan includes 16 hours of meeting room or private time per month.
The prices are pretty reasonable as well, and there is a variety of price points in many locations. For instance, in the Phoenix area you can find prices from $50 per month up to $100 per month.
See the website for additional pricing information. There’s something for every budget here.
Alliance does require a minimum six-month contract. And like Davinci, there is a setup fee as well. The Alliance setup fee is $100.
Online notary services are included with most virtual office packages, which is a nice benefit.
5. Office Evolution
Best For: Business owners wanting a personal touch with their virtual office services.
Office Evolution was founded in 2003 with the goal of offering sole proprietors and small business owners tools to function as a “real” office.
They’ve got a customer service manager for each location that focuses on quality customer support for members.
The company only has 70 locations in the U.S. However, the locations span a wide range and include New York, Arizona, Florida, California, Michigan, Colorado, and more.
Along with business mailing addresses, Office Evolution offers:
- live receptionist services
- live phone answering
- package reception
- meeting spaces
- coworking spaces
And more.
Cost
There are three plans Office Evolution has for virtual office seekers. The Business Address Plan includes a business mailing address, private mailbox, mail and package reception, and discounts on meeting spaces.
The Professional Plan includes everything the Business Plan includes, plus a limited amount of meeting room access and shared workspace access.
The Professional Plus Plan Office Evolution offers includes everything the Professional Plan includes, plus live answering for calls.
Plan prices start at $99 per month and vary based on location and on the plan you choose.
You’ve got to purchase the Professional Plan Plus in order to get live receptionist phone answering services. This is the most expensive virtual office plan the company has.
The Business Plan offers live receptionist greetings for walk-in clients and workspace for you to rent as fits your needs. However, you will pay extra to use the shared workspace or conference and meeting rooms.
For a smaller company, the services are pretty competitive even if the locations are limited. A focus on great customer service is the big sell with Office Evolution.
Summary
Virtual office services can be a smart addition to any small business owner’s repertoire. Having a live receptionist answering your calls adds an air of professionalism, even to the smallest of businesses.
And having a business address in a well-known commercial location shows potential clients you’re a bona fide business operator.
Consider taking advantage of virtual office services for your company. You don’t have to purchase the most extravagant plan.
However, having a live receptionist answering calls and space for client meetings will help potential clients know that you are a professional in all regards.
