Avoid a White Out

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So, you work from a home office and love that it allows you to wear different hats throughout the day – both the “work you”, the “parent you” and perhaps the “caregiver” you.

And then it happens………. and it’s going to be one of those days.

Whether a parent needs help, kids are home sick or, like today, winter is here in a big way. Snow has to be shoveled, kids are home from school and you can’t give your full focus to anything – let alone answer the constantly ringing phone!

This is where our Virtual Offices come in!

Our Virtual Office packages allows you to maintain the benefits of working from home but shares the load on days when you really could use a second pair of hands.

Our live receptionists will answer your phone for you so you won’t miss any calls and free you up to deal with whatever the day has thrown your way.

Aside from the assurance that your calls will be answered immediately and in a professional manner, our Virtual Office packages also include perks such as:

• Prestigious Bay Street address for mail and deliveries
• Pay-as-you-go meeting and office facilities
• No leases, Mortgages and Rental Contracts

To learn more – and be ready when another one of “those days” hits – give us a call to learn how Virtual Business Offices can help.

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Bay Street is the Hottest Business Address in Toronto

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Bay Street has always been one of the best addresses in Toronto. It is known Globally as the Financial center of Toronto, and all of Canada.

We’ve long been offering the ability for any company, from the newest startups, to the largest corporations to get a virtual address with us at 20 Bay Street, and be recognized amongst industry leaders.

And that’s not just boasting. Microsoft has just announced they will move from their Mississauga Campus here to Bay Street. Right across the street from Scotiabank Arena. All about 3 minutes from us, and the TOWaterfront on foot.

And they’re not the only ones: Amazon, Apple, Google, RBC Cloud, Salesforce, VMware, and many more large companies are all located within a short walk of WaterPark Place, or a quick subway ride.

Your company deserves to be amongst leaders of the industry. So take a look at our available packages, and start today! 

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Cloud Virtual Office

Cloud Virtual Office

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Why do you need the Cloud to get your Virtual Office?

There are certainly advantages when looking at Cloud based system: It’s constantly updated with no need for your input, and it may be more efficient.

But of course, we need to look at the disadvantages as well:

It’s automated, there are no humans in most of the process, so if something goes wrong, it can go really wrong. Bugs in the system can go undiscovered for days or weeks, and some things may just not be possible for an automated system, like they can be for a person.

It also lacks personality. We are all just so sick and tired of speaking to machines all day, and unlike how Google is trying to push Duplex as the future, we think the future will continue to be based on human interaction. It’s just so much more pleasant to get a human on the other side of the phone, rather than a machine. No matter how smart it may be.

Additionally, when setting up a Virtual Office, it is just as if it was on the Cloud anyway. It works for you remotely. But you can rest far more assured that there are people on the other end making sure that everything is running correctly, and that your clients have the best experience possible.

In the end, “the cloud” is a very nebulous term. It has undeniable and positive attributes, and can help businesses grow at an unprecedented rate. But just as any other form of progress, it has it’s drawbacks. You’ll have to decide whether a simple robotic voice can be the thing that helps your business, or if the human touch just can’t be replaced.

When you finally you want your customers to have the best experience when they call in, then take a look at our Virtual Office packages, and don’t leave the future of your business up in the clouds. 

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Virtual Office

The Anatomy of a Virtual Office

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A Virtual Office is generally considered to be a package that allows the purchaser to use a business centre’s mailing address as if it were their own. These packages frequently also include services like live reception, a local number, and meeting room hours.

What a virtual office really is, though, is globalization writ small. How we conduct business has been fundamentally changed since our parents’ time, and the Virtual Office is a very poignant indicator of that. Companies, depending on the industry, can no longer afford to operate solely in one geographic area. In 2018, this expansion is also fundamentally internationalization, in a way that did not occur in, say, the 1950s – this presents numerous opportunities for firms; however, it also presents challenges. The Virtual Office is a symptom of this internationalization, and it arose in response to perhaps the largest of those challenges. For while, a business can be international and exist in many places at once, especially if it does not sell a physical product, its staff and its offices cannot be.

Enter the Virtual Office. They were first conceived as a way for companies to expand to other regions without having to hire local staff or leasing office space- perfect for branching out quickly into new markets. They’re still used for this today- people like seeing that the company they’re doing business with has a local address and phone number- even if that company is actually based half a world away.

So, Virtual Offices get used by companies who want to have a presence in other markets. But if you’ve heard of a Virtual Office before, it probably wasn’t being used that way. By far, the most frequent users of Virtual Offices are home business owners. With the advent of the internet, you no longer necessarily need a brick-and-mortar location for your business. People work from home much more frequently now than ever before, and Virtual Offices were enthusiastically adopted amongst that demographic.

Home business owners choose to work from home- but they may not want their clients to know that. Virtual Offices are the perfect fit for that sector; the convenience of no commute married to the outward professionalism of having live receptionists and an address that isn’t in a residential area.

Virtual Offices are the natural response to a variety of factors present in today’s business climate- they help new businesses look legitimate (previously very expensive), help others expand to new markets, and demonstrate that the business world’s borders have less and less to do with imaginary lines on a map than ever before.

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The May Scoop is Out!

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May Scoop Cover

Enjoy this month’s Scoop and learn about exciting events happening around Toronto’s Waterfront. If you would like to advertise in our growing newsletter we are always happy to showcase local companies and community partners. For more information on advertising, email marketing@rostiegroup.com

 

And you can download a PDF version here

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How Does The Mobile Professional Or Virtual Office User Leverage The ‘Cloud’?

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Has anyone ever tried to explain cloud computing to you? Were you left feeling a little, well… cloudy?

The best example of cloud computing I can think of is an email service like Gmail or Hotmail. There’s nothing to download. All you need is an internet connection and you can start sending emails. The server and software is all on the cloud (internet) and is totally managed by the cloud service provider. All you have to do is use the software and enjoy receiving and sending off those emails.

‘Why buy a cow when you can have the milk for way way less?’ 

 Just to send an email (the milk) why should you have to buy a software /hardware (the cow) ?

The Cloud can make your business more efficient than ever!

A cloud is actually just someone else’s server. Imagine a document on your computer. It’s local, you can access it. The cloud would be someone else’s computer, with a link so you can access it through the internet.

Like Gizmodo says: ‘Cloud” is a buzzword that vaguely suggests the promise and convenience of being able to access files from anywhere. But the reality is that the cloud is hardly floating like mist above our heads — it’s a physical infrastructure, its many computers housed in massive warehouses all over the world.’

But that’s just for data storage. What about other applications?

Well, that’s where the term “SAAS” comes from: Software as a Service. There are some examples of this as well: Buffer and Hootsuite for social media, Mailchimp and Constant Contacts to send massive amounts of emails at once, or even things like Google Analytics and Adwords to create and run campaigns online. These are all run by, and based on, “the Cloud”.

Software like this tends to cost less, a small monthly fee or pay-per-service model. As well as being constantly updated with new features and capabilities, and have more uptime. As compared to maintaining your own software, and your own servers, and be prone to power outages  as well as higher costs.

And just like a good SaaS or a good Cloud storage provider can help you save money and focus on your business, so can we here at Virtual Business Offices. Get a Bay Street Address – Internationally recognized as the Business Center of Toronto – mail collection and forwarding, phone answering services and more!

 

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