A Better Virtual – USA Virtual Offices

A Better Virtual continues to track the trend of law firms opting for virtual law offices—and how these new breed virtual law offices are attracting top talent.

The latest in a string of wins come from Rimon Law Group. The firm is beefing up its New York presence with a new partner: John Boyd. Boyd marks Rimon’s second recent high-profile addition. Rimon added derivatives specialist Robin Powers in late 2010.

Who is John Boyd? A respect attorney that brings more than 15 years’ experience in intellectual property to the Rimon. Boyd has a strong track record of success in intellectual property transactions, due diligence, patent prosecution and litigation.

“John is a key addition to the team,” says Michael Moradzadeh, co-founder and managing attorney at Rimon Law Group. “Our other partners now have an in-house resource for intellectual property transactions, due diligence, patent prosecution and litigation issues, thereby creating synergies with the firm’s other practices and reducing client cost.”

Boyd joins the firm as partner in the Patent Law, Patent Prosecution and Litigation group. Boyd was previously a senior intellectual property attorney at Winston & Strawn. He has also served as Chief Intellectual Property Counsel at fast-paced companies in the biotech industry and in the semiconductor industry. And Boyd is helping to further validate the virtual law office model.

“Rimon Law is the future of legal counseling,” says Boyd. “While the large firms continue to struggle to maintain profitability with various sources of overhead costs, a new wave of aggressive, fast-moving firms like Rimon Law are using technology to deliver an unprecedented level of efficiency and value to clients. It is inspiring to become part of such a diverse group of interesting and talented experienced attorneys.”

Indeed, Boyd is helping Rimon Law push its aggressive growth pattern fueled by a winning business model that combines the efficiencies of a virtual law firm with the quality control of a traditional, brick-and-mortar firm. Rimon describes itself as an international cloud-based law firm. Its clients range from Global 100 corporations to early-stage startups, and its attorneys have worked on deals ranging from corporate formations to large public offerings.

So, another high-profile attorney joins another virtual law office. Is this trend poised to push attorneys out of traditional brick and mortar office space?

NYC Office Suites is setting out to prove that you don’t need a Donald Trump-sized budget to tap into a Class A office space in Manhattan. Indeed, you can use office space on demand—complete with furnishings and equipment—when you rent a virtual office space.

That’s the message NYC Office Suites is sending with its just-expanded Web site: Virtualoffices.NYCofficesuites.com. When you visit the site, you’ll discover three subscription offers that aim to convince you how affordable it is to get a Manhattan address on an entrepreneur’s revenue.

“While the value of the virtual office subscription program is in its essentially limitless flexibility, we have found it helpful to focus our clients on the possibilities by designing three simple example packages,” says Daniel Entwistle, president of NYC Office Suites. “These options do reflect some of our clients’ more commonly desired features.”

Let’s take a quick look at the three packages, which include options at price points as low as $90 a month and as high as $490 a month.

We’ll start on the low end. For $90 a month, you can get a New York virtual office that gets you a Class A business address, a lobby listing, and access to a la carte products and services. When you need to meet a client in person, you can rent a day office or a meeting room. There are professional receptionists on site, a kitchen and lounge, wireless access and son on.

Add another $200 to that price point and you can get all that plus a New York City telephone number, personalized phone answering, call forwarding, one day of private office use per month, and one hour of conference room use per month. And if you are a high roller, you can shell out $490 to get all that, plus five days of private office use a month. That’s still quite a bargain for the Big Apple.

OK, so what types of Manhattan virtual office addresses are we talking about? Here are the options:

• The Graybar Building at 420 Lexington Avenue
• The Commerce Building at 708 Third Avenue
• 1350 Avenue of the Americas

You could be proud to call any of those three buildings home. Plus, NYC Office Suites has a good reputation. The company has been operating in Manhattan since 1988.

Delegating. It’s one of the secrets to small business success, but it’s also one of the downfalls of perfectionist small business owners who don’t know how to let go.

That’s why Liz Parker, CEO virtual assistant recruitment service VA Placements, just rolled out a new e-book called “How To Delegate Effectively.” Of course, she’s got a stake in you learning how to delegate. Once she can convince you to delegate, she hopes you’ll turn to her virtual assistant services.

Maybe you’ve tried virtual assistants in the past and it didn’t work out too well. Or maybe you are considering using a virtual assistant but you aren’t really sure how best to utilize the services. “How To Delegate Effectively” offers some tips to help you get on the delegation track with a virtual assistant.

“I wanted to create a resource, where all types of business owners and busy entrepreneurs, as well as fellow VAs, could learn how to delegate effectively in their own business,” says Parker, an former corporate CEO and national IT centre manager. “This e-book will help everyone, not just small business owners, but also supervisors, managers and newly appointed promotions.”

Parker started VA Placements to help entrepreneurs and small business owners find the right virtual assistant to help them manage their business better. This experience has taught her that  many business owners don’t know how to delegate or effectively manage a virtual staff. She has also witnessed some failing to fully leverage their virtual assistants time and skills. The book aims to solve that problem.

“How To Delegate Effectively” is the first in a series of e-books that will help clients who are looking to use the services of virtual assistants but are not sure how to make it work.

Parker may have gotten the idea from 247VirtualAssistant, which recently published an e-book called “Virtual Assistants For Dummies” to educate entrepreneurs about how to best use a virtual assistant in day-to-day business plans.

Well, the name of this remote receptionist company certainly got my attention. You will have to decide for yourself if Smiledog is barking up the right tree with its latest marketing efforts.

Smiledog is a Canadian company that bills itself as “Your Receptionist.” Like many other remote receptionist firms, the company’s philosophy goes something like this: We answer your calls so your clients feel welcomed and can connect with your products and services.

Smiledog is targeting small business owners and professionals that are trying to spruce up their image without hiring a full-time receptionist. Smiledog also offers itself as a strategic solution for larger companies that need a back up service to handle the overflow of calls during or after traditional business hours. Right now you can give Smiledogs’ virtual receptionist services a free spin for two weeks while you decide if this is the right fit for you.

Jeff Doyle, owner of Smiledog, says he’s offering the promotion to help companies “improve their customer service without investing too much.” Doyle also gives insight into how the company got at least part of its name: “The live receptionists have been trained to smile on every call and respond politely and professionally to leave a great impression on the callers.” Not sure where the “dogs” come from.

Doyle seems pretty confident that tapping into SmileDog’s two-week promotion is long enough to show how the virtual receptionist service can benefit companies. Once you are hooked, he hopes you’ll sign up for one of the business packages.

Price start at $125 a month. The Start Up Package targets companies that receive 50 to 100 calls a month while the Start Up Plus package handles 100 to 150 calls a month. Packages run all the way up to the Business Professional, which handles all of your calls.

No matter which package you pick, you get five amenities:

•    Free text to mobile notification
•    Free e-mail notification of each message
•    Free call in option to talk to your “Remote Receptionist”
•    Free Fax or e-mail of all your calls at the close of the day
•    Free voicemail with each new account

The virtual receptionist industry is proven—and it’s also competitive. Be sure to shop around before you settle in on a provider. Get references, and take advantage of a free offer or two before signing up long-term.

There’s a sea change taking place in the legal profession—and it includes virtual offices.

According to the “Report on the Task Force on the Future of the Legal Profession,” developments in technology have created the opportunity to form new kinds of law firms and legal enterprises.

Brick-and-mortar law offices are competing with small “virtual” law firms that shun traditional office space to serve clients more efficiently online. The report notes that multi-jurisdictional virtual law firms are representing clients across a broad range of practice areas, including transactional services, intellectual property, tax, commercial law, energy and employment. Of course, not all virtual law firms are small. Virtual Law Partners is one virtual law office that comes to mind that’s growing larger all the time by wooing big name attorneys away from traditional law firms.

More and more lawyers are using new social media technologies to connect with clients. Developments such as cloud computing are changing the technological landscape. But there’s a downside to technology. The report notes that many attorneys, especially those caring for both young children and aging parents, are seeking a better integration of their work and personal lives. Mobile devices, such as BlackBerries and cell phones, create expectations that lawyers are on call around the clock and on weekends, cutting into their personal lives.

The report says helping employees “detach from office demands” can reduce stress-related illnesses, burn-out and workforce attrition: “The benefits are likely to include enhanced performance and a more satisfying personal life. Law firms should institute a written policy recognizing the importance of vacations and make other attorneys within a firm available to handle client matters while an attorney is on vacation.”

The report concludes, “As the economy recovers, it is apparent to many observers that the legal profession will not return to business as usual. Competition for legal work will be intense. Law firms that do not understand and address these changes will have difficulty competing in the emerging marketplace.”

Service firms were among the first to tap into the benefits of virtual office space—and they are still turning to the alternative workplaces today.

SPM Solutions, a small business marketing firm in Cupertino, Calif., inked a deal for virtual office space from Pacific Business Centers.

The possibilities for virtual office space in Cupertino are plentiful, so why did SPM Solutions choose Pacific Business Centers? According to Steve Moore, principal of the marketing firm, words like spacious and hassle-free accommodations come to mind.

OK, next question: How can a virtual office space be spacious? Well, because virtual office tenants can also visit a Pacific Business Center location to use conference rooms and day office space.

Moore has access to seminar rooms, VoIP telephony, unified messaging, answering solutions, IT assistance, admin support, bookkeeping solutions, a legal library, and other amenities. That means when a client wants to meet him at his office, he can direct them to his Pacific Business Centers virtual office address and meet them there, ready to  impress.

“Using Pacific Business Centers decreased the stress and issue of shelling out start off up monies for administrative expense extras,” Moore says. “All of the facilities are incorporated in the lower rental cost paid month-to-month. The cost consists of Internet entry as well as a receptionist. With this solution, you’re free to focus on your business instead of maintaining a professional office environment.”

Like other virtual office providers, Pacific Business Centers reports a rising demand for virtual office space. That demand is driven by factors such as widespread adoption of cellular connectivity technology and increasing price consciousnesses among small businesses.

What do you get when you cross a virtual office telephone service with an NFL legend? A marketing partnership that’s bound to get some attention. Phone.com just inked a deal with Tarkenton Companies that fits this bill.

Founded by serial entrepreneur and NFL Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton, OneMoreCustomer solutions will work with Phone.com on a joint marketing partnership. Essentially, OneMoreCustomer will offer Phone.com’s solutions, and Phone.com will offer OneMoreCustomer’s solutions.

“For the small business economy to bloom, small businesses need to take advantage of the features and functions that have been available only to larger organizations,” says Ari Rabban, CEO and co-founder of Phone.com. “By partnering with the Tarkenton Companies, we recognized a common goal and valuable ally in our efforts to help our economy grow through the enormous engine represented by small businesses.”

In case you aren’t familiar with OneMoreCustomer, it’s a small business advocacy and educational network site designed to provide entrepreneurs access to the tools, resources and knowledge needed to start, run and grow a business. OneMoreCustomer has hundreds of educational videos to help small businesses get information they need to succeed. The company also offers a suite of web-based CRM applications for small businesses.

”Companies with fewer than 10 employees are the businesses that are fueling our recovery from the current economic recession” says Tarkenton, CEO of Tarkenton Companies. “Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy, yet there’s a scarcity of resources and tools available to help them grow and thrive. Phone.com is a solution for enhancing communications—the life blood of small business!”

This is a win-win for both companies. I visited OneMoreCustomer. It’s a virtual treasure trove of information—trusted information from credible sources—for which you would typically have to pay a pretty penny. Tarkenton makes it available in categories like sales and marketing that help you find what you are looking for quickly.

And while you are watching the videos, you can depend on Phone.com’s virtual office solutions to handle your calls for you so you can tap into this video knowledge base without interruptions.

On the CRM applications front, there are many options to choose from, but working with OneMoreCustomer means working with a company headed by a man who has launched more than 20 businesses. That means he understands the small business mindset and has developed a CRM app with those needs in mind.

Davinci Virtual Office Solutions is one of those companies that is proving over and over again what a strong demand there is for virtual offices, virtual receptionists, virtual assistants and the like. The company just keeps expanding.

Davinci points to a single significant driver for the spike in demand for virtual office space: rapidly changing work patterns. What is driving those rapidly changing work patterns? As Davinci sees it, a challenging global economy. So while many other business models suffered through the economic downturn, virtual office providers like Davinci actually benefited.

Indeed, virtual offices are one of the fastest growing segments of the office industry. Instead of renting a traditional office space for hundreds or even thousands of dollars a month, a start-up can start up with a virtual office space for as little as $50 a month. This is an amazing value proposition.

“Demand for virtual services has been so strong since the beginning of 2011 that we have been forced to relocate to larger office ourselves so that we can bring in more staff to handle the volume of enquiries and continue to deliver what we’re known for, an exceptional and consistently high quality end customer experience,” says Steve Golding, Davinci’s UK General Manager.

Golding says he’s seeing a growing number of dynamic start-ups coming onto the scene, as well as changing work patters among larger organizations looking to deal with staff commuting problems in the face of rising fuel prices and train fares.

“Increased flexibility in working hours and locations are also being implemented by organizations worried about the implications of impending changes to legislation covering parental leave, where the temporary loss of key staff could have a major impact on small businesses,” Golding says.

Golding represents Davinci’s UK operations, but there is a similar story in the U.S. Davinci Virtual recently opened a new headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah to accommodate its growth stateside. In all, Davinci has more than 750 virtual office locations in its worldwide network.

If you want to know how virtual offices work, some vendors offer a free trial. Others offer a set-up fee that makes it prohibitive to try their service. So, again, be sure you understand all of the restrictions and contracts before you engage with a virtual office provider. All that said, virtual offices are a dream come true for many entrepreneurs because they can offer convenient services, a professional image and cost-savings that brick and mortar competitors can’t match.

You might not know the name j2 Global Communications—but you probably know some of the services it offers. If you use an online fax, for example, you are probably familiar with eFax. Or if you use a virtual phone you might be familiar with eVoice.

J2 Global Communications has a suite of cloud communications services that also includes Campaigner for e-mail marketing, Fuse Mail for hosted e-mail services, KeepItSafe for online backup and Onebox for unified communications. It’s a pretty attractive suite whether you use all its components or just one or two.

Now, j2 Global Communications has launched a new Web site to help more people learn about its cloud-based communication, messaging and backup services. J2.com aims to make it easy for you to get details on how each service might benefit your company, as well as sign up for the services.

“Businesses are looking for answers; they want to know more about the efficiency, mobility and scalability that the cloud offers,” says Mike Pugh, vice president of marketing for j2 Global Communications. “J2.com gives them a great place to start.”

J2.com is user-friendly. It’s easy to choose one of the services, get a quick overview, and even sign up for a free trial. Essentially, J2.com serves as a portal for all the company’s services. Once you click for more information on any one of them, it just links you to the home page of that particular product. There are written and video messages around each product on those home pages, so you can quickly scan what the service offers or see it in action.

The only been I have with this set up is that j2 is billing J2.com as a marketplace and a one-stop shopping environment. That’s not entire accurately since when I click on the “free trial” button for any service it takes me to a home page. I would have to click yet another button on the home page to access the free trial.

Although it’s rather intuitive, it’s not seamless. But presenting all of j2’s services on one home page does have one benefit: it exposes you to the whole suite in one place so you are aware of what the company offers and can choose to stick with one brand for all of your cloud-based communication, messaging and backup if that’s more convenient for you.

The company also publishes its Web sites in several languages, including Dutch, French, German, Spanish and English. Payments are accepted in currencies that include the U.S. Dollar, British Pound, Canadian Dollar, Japanese Yen, Euro, Hong Kong Dollar and more. So as far as international user-friendliness, j2 rates high.

Voice Carrier. It’s not a name I had heard, honestly, before discovering today that the hosted VoIP PBX business communication systems company won its fourth consecutive award from Internet Telephony magazine.

No, I haven’t been living under a rock. I cover this industry every day. But somehow Voice Carrier flew under my radar screen while the more vocal players in the virtual PBX industry, like Ring Central, Virtual PBX, Grasshopper and Cbeyond, were winning my attention.

Apparently, though, Voice Carrier is doing something right. TMC honored the company for excellence in Internet telephony for the fourth year in a row for its Voice Carrier Office product. The award recognizes Voice Carrier’s commitment to developing innovative products and commitment to operational excellence and industry leadership.

Voice Carrier Office is billed as the ideal small- to medium-sized business (SMB) phone service. It’s a complete hosted VoIP solution with all the features you would expect from costly enterprise-level services.

Voice Carrier Office lets you customize your VoIP PBX extension through an easy-to-use Web interface. Features include follow-me, voicemail-to-email and a built-in conference bridge. The VoIP PBX system lets you manage your business communications from the office, home or even on the road using their cell phone.

Voice Carrier Office Enterprise Grade starts at $59.95 a month, which is not exactly the lease expensive solution on the market. But you do get unlimited extensions anywhere in the world, flat-rate pricing, a 30-day free trial—and the promise of slashing your current phone bill by 50 percent. The 30-day free trial includes two VoIP phones, two phone numbers and five extensions.