Virtual Office and Virtual Organizations

Assignment 1

Virtual office is a business location that exists only in cyberspace. A virtual office setup allows business owners and employees to work from any location by using technology such as laptop computers, cell phones and internet access. A virtual office can provide significant savings and flexibility compared to renting a traditional office space. Meetings can be conducted via teleconferencing and video conferencing, and documents can be transmitted electronically. Some companies even provide virtual office services to give virtual offices the prestige associated with physical offices, such as an important-sounding address, a professional phone-answering service and even occasional rental of office space and conference rooms. If the business has employees, each employee can work from the location that is most convenient for him or her, and the business is not restricted to hiring employees that live locally. The virtual office arrangement thus expands job options for employees and hiring options for businesses.

To illustrate, if you work from your home utilizing a computer, modem, fax machine, email or other electronic means to perform your job and communicate with your place of employment, you work in a virtual office. In other words, you're telecommuting. Even though a virtual employee may use a company email address, mailing address and phone extension, he still works from an outside location. The virtual office worker doesn't necessarily need to be an employee. He can also be someone who owns his own business and works from his home or on the road via laptop and wireless connection. The owner of a virtual office can also be an independent contractor or freelance worker, with no ties to one specific place of business. The benefits of a virtual office are many. For instance, many overhead costs, such as electricity, are cut out or kept to a minimum for the company with virtual employees. Telecommuting also eliminates crowded offices. As an added...