Virtual Offices
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A virtual office is part of the flexible workspace industry that provides businesses with any combination of services, space and/or technology, without those businesses bearing the capital expenses of owning or leasing a traditional office. Virtual office services started in the 1960s as serviced offices and have evolved with technology to include a wide variety of personnel, physical space, digital storage and communication services. Customers pay a contract fee for these services which may be offered à la carte, as packages or membership subscription. The concept is popular with companies of all sizes, including self-employed entrepreneurs. One of the primary allures of the virtual office is the flexibility it offers for employees and freelancers to work from a satellite office, home office, remote location or even on-the-go via a mobile device. At the same time, a company can offer its clients and employees a stable home office with access to amenities such as receptionist, conference rooms, desk space, mailboxes, printing and
fax Fax (short for facsimile), sometimes called telecopying or telefax (the latter short for telefacsimile), is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material (both text and images), normally to a telephone number connected to a printer o ...
ing at a permanent address, which are owned and maintained by the virtual office provider or a third party. Virtual office providers may also include digital capital such as
cloud storage Cloud storage is a model of computer data storage in which the digital data is stored in logical pools, said to be on "the cloud". The physical storage spans multiple servers (sometimes in multiple locations), and the physical environment is t ...
,
web hosting A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that hosts websites for clients, i.e. it offers the facilities required for them to create and maintain a site and makes it accessible on the World Wide Web. Companies providing web h ...
, email and other web-based applications.


History

The concept of a virtual office has roots before and during the
Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
, where parallels to current work styles, specifically working from home, have been drawn. The virtual office concept is an evolution of the traditional
executive suite An executive suite in its most general definition is a collection of offices or rooms—or suite—used by top managers of a business—or executives. Over the years, this general term has taken on a variety of specific meanings. Corporate off ...
. As an executive suite
lease A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...
became increasingly impractical for certain types and stages of business, it naturally opened the door to a virtual office concept. In the mid-20th century, professionals and executives began to examine ways to make more efficient use of the rising cost of real estate, personnel and other capital. Below are some milestones in the resulting evolution of the virtual office, along with the advent of technologies that help shape the industry. ;1962:The first known
serviced office A serviced office is an office or office building that is fully equipped and managed by a facility management company, also known as an office provider, which then rents individual offices or floors to other companies. Serviced offices, also referre ...
company, OmniOffices Group, was created. ;1966:Serviced offices and executive suites were rented by Fegen Law Suites. This included large blocks of office space with furnished suites, reception services, telephone answering, photocopies, conference rooms, and a
law library A law library is a special library used by law students, lawyers, judges and their law clerks, historians and other scholars of legal history in order to research the law. Law libraries are also used by people who draft or advocate for new l ...
. ;1972:
ARPANET The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was the first wide-area packet-switched network with distributed control and one of the first networks to implement the TCP/IP protocol suite. Both technologies became the technical fou ...
, the predecessor to the Internet, went public by connecting 40 computers in different locations. ;1973:Attorney Office Management, Inc. developed an "off-site" program in response to lawyers wanting to partially retire. Instead of a full executive suite, Attorneys could work from home while continuing a part-time presence through AOMI's
Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Bev ...
location. : Jack Nilles coined the terms "telecommuting" and "telework" to refer to
remote work Remote work, also called work from home (WFH), work from anywhere, telework, remote job, mobile work, and distance work is an employment arrangement in which employees do not commute to a central place of work, such as an office building, ware ...
. ;1974:Scientists with the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...
developed
Transmission Control Protocol The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is one of the main protocols of the Internet protocol suite. It originated in the initial network implementation in which it complemented the Internet Protocol (IP). Therefore, the entire suite is commonly ...
/
Internet Protocol The Internet Protocol (IP) is the network layer communications protocol in the Internet protocol suite for relaying datagrams across network boundaries. Its routing function enables internetworking, and essentially establishes the Internet. IP h ...
(TCP/IP), which allows different networks to communicate with each other. ;1978:Alf Moufarrige founded
Servcorp Servcorp Limited is a multinational organisation that sells Serviced offices, Serviced Offices, Virtual office, Virtual Offices, Coworking, Coworking Spaces, Meeting room, Meeting Rooms, Community, Community Packages, and IT services, IT Servic ...
in Sydney. To reduce his overhead, he began sharing his premium office space, receptionist and clerical staff with other growing businesses. Servcorp took its virtual office concept international in 1980 and in 1999 became a publicly traded company. ;1981:Released 1 April, The Osborne 1 became the first successful
portable computer A portable computer is a computer designed to be easily moved from one place to another and included a display and keyboard together, with a single plug, much like later desktop computers called '' all-in-ones'' (AIO), that integrate the sy ...
, designed by
Adam Osborne Adam Osborne (March 6, 1939 – March 18, 2003) was a British author, book and software publisher, and computer designer who founded several companies in the United States and elsewhere. He introduced the Osborne 1, the first commercially su ...
. Although it still required a power source, it was considered portable as it could easily be transported. This was a first step in allowing professionals to work away from the office. ;1982:ARPANET adopted TCP/IP, giving birth to the Internet. : The term "virtual office" was used by
John Markoff John Gregory Markoff (born October 24, 1949) is a journalist best known for his work covering technology at ''The New York Times'' for 28 years until his retirement in 2016, and a book and series of articles about the 1990s pursuit and capture ...
in an article published by
InfoWorld ''InfoWorld'' (abbreviated IW) is an information technology media business. Founded in 1978, it began as a monthly magazine. In 2007, it transitioned to a web-only publication. Its parent company today is International Data Group, and its siste ...
magazine. Markoff wrote, "In the future virtual office, workers will no longer be constrained by computer equipment or geographic location, according to this vision. They will be free to travel or to interact with others while communicating information freely. The office as we know it will cease to have the central importance it does today." ;1983:Chris Kern coined the term ‘virtual office’ in his column for the September 1983 issue of the
American Way The American way of life or the American way refers to the American nationalist ethos that adheres to the principle of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. At the center of the American way is the belief in an American Dream that is clai ...
magazine. Kern used the term to describe the possibility of ‘doing business while on the go’ thanks to portable computers. ;1984:The first
personal digital assistant A personal digital assistant (PDA), also known as a handheld PC, is a variety mobile device which functions as a personal information manager. PDAs have been mostly displaced by the widespread adoption of highly capable smartphones, in partic ...
(PDA), the Organizer, was released by Psion. ;1989: Timothy John Berners-Lee developed the
World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet. Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web se ...
, considered as being a key aspect of the development of the
Information Age The Information Age (also known as the Computer Age, Digital Age, Silicon Age, or New Media Age) is a historical period that began in the mid-20th century. It is characterized by a rapid shift from traditional industries, as established during ...
. :
Alon Cohen Alon Cohen (( he, אלון כהן); born in Israel, 1962) is the co-founder of VocalTec Inc. (1989) and the co-inventor of the Audio Transceiver () that enabled the creation of Voice Over Networks products and eventually the VoIP industry. Cohen h ...
invented the type of audio that later enabled the creation of
VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Internet t ...
.
VocalTec VocalTec Communications Inc. is an Israeli telecom equipment provider. The company was founded in 1985 by Alon Cohen and Lior Haramaty, who patented the first Voice over IP audio transceiver. VocalTec has supplied major customers such as Deuts ...
was the first company to offer Internet phone services and also became the first successful Internet IPO. Today, VoIP phones are a popular service that virtual offices offer. ;1990:The first Internet
search engine A search engine is a software system designed to carry out web searches. They search the World Wide Web in a systematic way for particular information specified in a textual web search query. The search results are generally presented in a ...
was developed by
McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...
. ;1991:The World Wide Web was released to the public. Also the first
webcam A webcam is a video camera which is designed to record or stream to a computer or computer network. They are primarily used in videotelephony, livestreaming and social media, and security. Webcams can be built-in computer hardware or peripheral d ...
, located at
Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
, was developed. ;1992:"Virtual Office" became a
registered trademark The registered trademark symbol, , is a typographic symbol that provides notice that the preceding word or symbol is a trademark or service mark that has been registered with a national trademark office. A trademark is a symbol, word, or word ...
for the first time when Richard Nissen registered the term with the UK's Intellectual Property Office. : IP-based
videoconferencing Videotelephony, also known as videoconferencing and video teleconferencing, is the two-way or multipoint reception and transmission of audio signal, audio and video signals by people in different locations for Real-time, real time communication. ...
technology evolved with more efficient video compression to allow PC-based use.
CU-SeeMe CU-SeeMe is an Internet videoconferencing client. CU-SeeMe can make point to point video calls without a server or make multi-point calls through server software first called a "reflector" and later called a "conference server" or Multipoint Co ...
was developed by Tim Dorcey at
Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
, which allowed users to videoconference and
instant message Instant messaging (IM) technology is a type of online chat allowing real-time text transmission over the Internet or another computer network. Messages are typically transmitted between two or more parties, when each user inputs text and trigge ...
other users. ;1994:Ralph Gregory presented virtual offices as a
franchise Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...
opportunity in the United States, turning the business into an industry. ;1998:At the
Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...
opening ceremony in
Nagano Nagano may refer to: Places * Nagano Prefecture, a prefecture in Japan ** Nagano (city), the capital city of the same prefecture *** Nagano 1998, the 1998 Winter Olympics *** Nagano Olympic Stadium, a baseball stadium in Nagano *** Nagano Universi ...
, Japan,
Seiji Ozawa Seiji (written: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , or in hiragana) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese ski jumper *, Japanese racing driver *, Japanese politician *, Japanese film directo ...
used IP-based videoconferencing to conduct the
Ode to Joy "Ode to Joy" (German language, German: , literally "To heJoy") is an ode written in the summer of 1785 by German poet, playwright, and historian Friedrich Schiller and published the following year in ''Thalia (magazine), Thalia''. A slightl ...
from
Beethoven's Ninth Symphony The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, is a choral symphony, the final complete symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven, composed between 1822 and 1824. It was first performed in Vienna on 7 May 1824. The symphony is regarded by many critics and music ...
simultaneously across five continents in near-real time. ;2000:The first Symbian phone, the touchscreen
Ericsson R380 The Ericsson R380 is a GSM smartphone developed by Ericsson Mobile Communications. It combines the functions of a mobile phone and a personal digital assistant (PDA), and was introduced at CEBIT on 18 March 1999. Released in November 2000, it wa ...
Smartphone, was released in 2000, and was the first device marketed as a "
smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...
". It combined a PDA with a mobile phone. ;2003:
Skype Skype () is a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for VoIP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also has instant messaging, file transfer, deb ...
is released to the public, allowing free IP-based communications using microphone, webcam and instant messaging to individual consumers. ;2005:The official first "
Coworking Coworking is an arrangement in which workers for different companies share an office space. It allows cost savings and convenience through the use of common infrastructures, such as equipment, utilities and receptionist and custodial services, a ...
space" opened in San Francisco by Brad Neuberg. That same year, the first Impact Hub coworking space launched in London. ;2006:Frank Cottle introduced the concept of
wholesaling Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. In g ...
virtual offices and services to third-party retailers. This launched an influx of virtual office companies that still operate today.


Services

Virtual office infrastructure may include a variety of physical locations and services, as well as digital services. The infrastructure is shared across individuals and entities allowing resources to be used more efficiently. This allows users the flexibility of only renting or using the services they need.


Physical

* A business address * Mail services (receive, pick up and/or forwarding) * Conference rooms * Desk space and private offices * Printing and related services such as
copying Copying is the duplication of information or an artifact based on an instance of that information or artifact, and not using the process that originally generated it. With analog forms of information, copying is only possible to a limited degree o ...
, binding, faxing, scanning,
laminating Lamination is the technique/process of manufacturing a Raw material, material in multiple layers, so that the composite material achieves improved strength of materials, strength, stability, sound insulation, visual appearance, appearance, or ...
, and shredding. * Receptionist services and answering services * Storage space * Photography studio


Digital

* A
phone number A telephone number is a sequence of digits assigned to a landline telephone subscriber station connected to a telephone line or to a wireless electronic telephony device, such as a radio telephone or a mobile telephone, or to other devices f ...
* Online phone system (VoIP) *
Virtual assistants Virtual may refer to: * Virtual (horse), a thoroughbred racehorse * Virtual channel, a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel (or range of frequencies) on which the signal travels * Virtual function, a programming ...
* Website domains and email * Instant Message, chat and other web-based RTC platforms * Video conferencing, including webinar-hosting or other screensharing platforms * Online digital storage * Cloud-based applications (e.g.
Google Docs Google Docs is an online word processor included as part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google, which also includes: Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Drawings, Google Forms, Google Sites and Google Keep. Google Do ...
,
Sheets A bed sheet is a rectangular piece of cloth used either singly or in a pair as bedding, which is larger in length and width than a mattress, and which is placed immediately above a mattress or bed, but below blankets and other bedding (such as ...
, and Slides or
Office 365 Microsoft 365 is a product family of productivity software, collaboration and cloud-based services owned by Microsoft. It encompasses online services such as Outlook.com, OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, programs formerly marketed under the name Mic ...
)


Emerging Trends

Coworking Coworking is an arrangement in which workers for different companies share an office space. It allows cost savings and convenience through the use of common infrastructures, such as equipment, utilities and receptionist and custodial services, a ...
is a related trend in flexible workspaces that places an emphasis on users interacting with each other to create an
organizational culture Historically there have been differences among investigators regarding the definition of organizational culture. Edgar Schein, a leading researcher in this field, defined "organizational culture" as comprising a number of features, including a s ...
without working for the same company. Similar to virtual offices, coworking venues offer serviced workspaces and customers can use these on an as-needed basis.
Virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), educ ...
technology is another trend that may soon impact virtual offices. Virtual reality applications have the capability of creating offices spaces that are physical spaces within the virtual world where users can meet and work side-by-side.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Virtual Office Business terms Office work