Virtual offices – saving the environment… and business costs

A virtual office undoubtedly makes it easier for your business to grow – as we discussed in last weeks blog. With the lack of any worry about handling mail or phone calls – you’ve got the time to take the reigns yourself and push on.

A virtual office can not only free up time, it frees up other resources in ways you might not necessarily think. A Virtual Office MadeSimple package can also make your business greener, whilst saving money at the same time.

If you’re ready to embrace green energy savings, then choose a package and sign up today – now let’s look at how virtual office space can save on the environment and business costs.

Saving Money

Switching to a virtual office is an interesting practice, largely enabled by the increasing capability of digital technologies. With such a huge amount of flexibility in terms of communication – it’s little wonder that many offices can get by without a physical office.

Reporting for The Guardian in 2014 Sabuhi Mir examined manufacturing company Bete – who managed to save £50,000 per year and improve their green credentials. A virtual office helped achieve this in the following ways:

• Enabling Them To Avoid Costs – By using a virtual office, Bete were able to avoid paying to buy or lease an office space. Their marketing director Ivan Zytynski reported that “the average UK office worker costs up to £4,000 a year in terms of office space”.
• Encouraging Them To Utilise Tech – Bete were able to implement a technologically sound virtual workspace using a cloud-based IT system.
• Enabling Employees To Work From Home – As a result of their increased reliance on IT, Bete were enabled “to take on more employees working from home” which then reduced the need of an office space further.

The use of virtual offices is essentially a way to remove the obstacles that a physical office puts in place. These are both logistical, in terms of attending and maintaining an office space, and financial in terms of costs.

Essentially a virtual office provides a tech workaround to saving on costs.

Saving The Environment

These days, if you’ve got a business – it needs to be green. People are much more switched on these days in terms of the environment, and they support it quite strongly.

Evidence of this is clear. Karl Mathieson reported for The Guardian that millions of people were dimming their lights for Earth hour in March 2015. The event, which started as a demonstration by the World Wildlife Fund in Sydney during 2007 has now expanded to more than 7,000 cities in 172 countries – so it’s clear there is considerable growth in awareness.

A virtual office has a directly positive environmental impact, with a huge amount of savings in terms of reducing energy consumption. Virtual office contributes to the environment in the following ways:

• Energy Consumption – A physical office brings with it some very serious energy consumption. Electricity, air conditioning and many other energy related outputs are reduced substantially in a virtual office environment with Bete estimating they save 8.4 tonnes of carbon emissions per year.
• Reducing Travel – By relying on a website more than a physical space to engage with customers a lot of unnecessary travel can be eliminated. Bete conducted their own research and concluded that they saved 60,000 miles per year.
• Eliminating Commutes – By enabling staff to work from home you eliminate the need for a commute. This saves significant amounts of energy, in addition to adding a degree of flexibility to the company that is encouraging for employees.

The reality of being a part of the business world is that you will most likely impact the environment with any kind of office space. It’s one thing that is unique about virtual office spaces – they eliminate both costs and environmental impact simultaneously.

Eco-Cost Cutting

The use of a virtual office can save a business in terms of costs, whilst additionally helping the environment. By having several different virtual office packages.

Virtual Office MadeSimple is able to create an experience that will work for any business – choose a package today and start saving on costs, as well as your environmental impact.

Please do comment and let us know if you found this post useful – and make sure that you have a look at the rest of our blog for more resources. Especially useful will be the ‘Virtual Office’ section.

By Alex Novakovic at MadeSimple – Find Alex on Google+

Resources

http://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2014/mar/06/virtual-office-smart-move
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/27/earth-hour-millions-switch-off-lights-climate-change-saturday