A Better Virtual – USA Virtual Offices

When virtual law offices start getting recognized by industry organizations for the quality of life they enable, you know a trend has hit stride.

That’s just what has happened with Virtual Law Partners. The Bar Association of the District of Columbia presented the virtual law firm with its annual Constance L. Belfiore Quality of Life Award. Constance Belfiore called Virtual Law Partners a “new type of law firm that offers an appealing alternative for lawyers. VLP is exploring a new frontier and is doing so successfully.”

The award recognizes legal employers who demonstrate innovative efforts to promote quality of life, both professional and personal, within the firm. The award honors the firm for providing an exceptional quality of life in the workplace through policies that support significant flexibility and autonomy for its attorneys and staff.

“It is an honor to be recognized by the BADC,” says Cathryn Chinn, CEO of VLP. “Our firm was founded with a goal of creating a new type of law firm that provides a platform for our attorneys to have sophisticated legal practices while maintaining balance between their professional and personal lives.”

Since 2008, Virtual Law Partners has been working to create a firm that allows its attorneys to pursue their individual interests while practicing law at the highest level. The BADC pointed to the firm’s innovative compensation model as one reason for the recognition. Virtual Law Partners attorneys determine when and where they work and how much they work.

BADC also noted the firm’s “state of the art” technology platform that promotes collaboration. Virtual Law Partners’ model allows attorneys to work from the office location of their choice. For attorneys who choose to work from home, this eliminates commute time and gives the firm’s attorneys and staff more flexibility to balance their client work, business development activities, pro bono and community projects, and personal time.

“Working for VLP has increased my quality of life by giving me control over my practice,” says Lisa Stone, an Energy and Environmental Law attorney based in D.C. “Without minimum billable hours, office ‘face time’ requirements, and with compensation that is directly tied to my receivables according to a set formula, I find that I am able to truly focus on practicing law for my clients.”

Virtual PBX is on an award-winning roll—and it’s building major momentum in a competitive marketplace as it stacks up its industry recognitions.

In its latest pat on the back, TMC has named Virtual PBX Complete as a 2011 TMC Labs Innovation Award winner. The award was presented by TMC’s Internet Telephony magazine.

The TMC Labs Innovation Award honors products that display innovation, unique features, and significant contributions toward improving communications technology.

“The Innovation Award exemplifies the best and the most unique products and services that this industry has to offer,” says Tom Keating, CTO and TMC Labs Founder. “Virtual PBX has proven its commitment to quality and the further development of the IP communications industry through its Virtual PBX Complete solution.”

In case you aren’t familiar, Virtual PBX Complete is a hosted PBX solution that aims to meet the needs of both traditional and VoIP telephony customers. You might call it a hybrid solution, and it’s certainly unique. The new product promises flexibility, easy installation and a strong feature set at an attractive price. Virtual PBX Complete differentiates itself from competing virtual PBX services by blending analog and IP telephony while at the same time incorporating open SIP peering.

“This recognition demonstrates the significant impact Virtual PBX Complete innovation has had on our market,” says Greg Brashier, COO of Virtual PBX. “This award, coupled with the enthusiastic responses from our customers, is a testament to Virtual PBX’s hard work and commitment to provide services that meet the wide range of customer needs.”

Talk about a vote of confidence. Canada’s leading telecommunications carrier just handpicked RingCentral to provide a cloud business phone system for its small business customers in Canada. That’s quite a win, considering what Rogers Communications does.

Rogers Communications provides Rogers Hosted IP Voice—and RingCentral now powers it. Using RingCentral as a platform, Rogers offers its customers all the features and functions of a business phone system without the high cost or set-up headaches of old-fashioned on-premise hardware.

“We understand that for small businesses, seamless connections with customers are crucial to maintaining a professional image,” says John Boynton, executive vice president and Chief Marketing Officer at Rogers. RingCentral’s virtual PBX aims to meet the new business needs of mobile and distributed workforces—and even offers features and functions legacy PBX hardware can’t match. Here’s what Rogers tapped into with the RingCentral solution:

• A complete hosted phone and fax system
• Features and functionality, including multiple extensions, multiple voice mailboxes, call management and call routing for real-time call control, and Internet fax
• Instant activation that requires no technical skills to manage the phone system
• Unlimited local, long distance calling and faxing anywhere within the U.S. and Canada
• Pre-configured IP phones delivered ready with plug-n-ring capability
• Simple pricing model with a flat monthly bill
• Smartphone applications for Apple, Android, and BlackBerry platforms

“Domestic and international carriers are using our cloud platform to serve the needs of businesses. Businesses are not working the same way they were three years or even a year ago,” says Vlad Shmunis, CEO of RingCentral. “Yet, they have been saddled with on-premise PBX hardware systems that are expensive, and do not meet the new business needs of a mobile and distributed workforce. Rogers Hosted IP Voice service brings a solution to address today’s needs, at a price that any sized business can afford.”

Rogers is pricing the plans as low as CDN $29.99 per user per month.

I bet that headline got your attention, didn’t it? Opus Virtual Offices has opened 23 new virtual office locations in 2011 so far—and promises more to come. But what’s up with this “rent-free” location deal?

“It’s no longer necessary to rent an office to operate a business,” explains Yori Galel, CEO of Opus Virtual Offices. “For only $99 a month, a business can enhance its corporate image by utilizing our virtual office program. We’ve provided virtual offices in New York City and Los Angeles to businesses from small towns. It feels terrific when people thank us for helping them grow their business by opening in one of our more than 400 national locations.”

OK, if you are like me you didn’t hear read anything about a rent-free office in that quote. Is it a gimmick? Sort of. It might better be described as a clever marketing ploy to get the attention of local entrepreneurs working from home, such as contractors, attorneys, importers, web designers and the like. Who wouldn’t opt for a rent-free office with a phone like, fax line and even a live receptionist?

As Opus sees it, a virtual office offers an instant corporate identity and helps a busy person eliminate office management hassles, so the focus can remain on doing business. And here’s where they justify the “rent-free” promotions. With a virtual office overhead is drastically reduced. There’s no rent, no utilities bills, no hiring and managing employees. Get it?

And at just $99 a month for an impressive corporate address, local phone number and fax number, premium call forwarding and messaging, mailing and shipping, and advanced digital communications that seamlessly convert fax and voicemail to e-mail, it’s almost as good as free. Not quite, but probably about the closest you are going to get to enjoy the image of a professional office.

If you want a little more support you can opt for one of Opus’ live professional receptionists to answer customer calls with a personal touch and handle messages for you. Opus calls this the cherry on top of what is already a rent-free office.

It’s one thing to proclaim that you are an innovative virtual PBX company. But when Ernst & Young calls you out by name, it speaks louder than any marketing message alone.

RingCentral, a cloud-based business phone systems company, now has bragging rights that any entrepreneurial company would envy. Vlad Shmunis, CEO of RingCentral, was named an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2011 Northern California Award finalist.

“I am honored to be nominated as an Ernst & Young award finalist along with such an influential group of entrepreneurs,” says Shmunis. “I launched RingCentral to provide an easier way for businesses to communicate and with our great team have grown the company into a successful and thriving business.”

What does this mean, practically speaking? Getting named a Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year means the global account firm has recognized you as an entrepreneur who demonstrates “excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities.” It’s no easy honor to win, either. In fact, Shmunis was selected as a finalist from more than 160 nominations by a panel of independent judges.

RingCentral lets companies of any size access features typically only available via traditional enterprise class PBXes—and at a fraction of the cost. RingCentral solutions don’t require hardware or even setup costs. These are some of the reasons why RingCentral has grown to more than 200,000 business customers. RingCentral also inked a partnership with AT&T.

Impressively, RingCentral is backed by big names in the technology and venture capital industries, including Cisco, Sequoia Capital and Khosla Ventures.

A Better Virtual congratulates Shmunis and RingCentral. Keep up the good work.

Have you ever heard of Alicia Rittenhouse? She calls herself the “social media geek goddess.” I’m not so sure about that, but what I do know is that she just launched her summer virtual assistant “Geek Goddess Internship Contest.”

What’s it all about? Simply stated, the contest  is a global competition for virtual assistants. The purpose of the contest is twofold: (1) give back to the growing virtual assistants community and (2) develop technical talent.

“I am pleased and proud to be able to offer this paid internship and scholarship to my Technical Training Program,” Rittenhouse says. “It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity for one lucky virtual assistant.”

So who is Rittenhouse, really? Essentially a consultant. She teaches entrepreneurs how to become tech savvy in their business and how to use social media to grow their online presence. She sends out weekly social media tips that you can have delivered to your inbox, along with bonus tips on how to get the most out of working with a virtual assistant.

And if you win the contest, what do you get? Here’s a list:

• Complimentary seat in the Geek Goddess Virtual Assistant Technical Training Program (value $997) A training program that teaches virtual assistants how to become so-called Technical Geek Goddesses.
• All of the bonuses being offered in the Training Program.
• Training with a Business Coach to make sure their business foundation is set and solid
• A paid 90-day Internship starting August 1, 2011

And, finally, how do you enter to win? The short answer is “online.” Click here and submit the answers to the following three questions:

1. Where do you see your business going after completing the Geek Goddess Virtual Assistant Technical Training Program?
2. What your biggest fear is about becoming a Technical Virtual Assistant?
3. How would you Pay-It-Forward if you are given this opportunity?

Entries for the Summer Intern contest will be accepted up until June 20, 2011 at 7:59 p.m. EST.

Voice Carrier is looking to leverage customer satisfaction with its hosted VoIP PBX business. The company just announced a new Customer Referral Program to help market its award-winning Voice Carrier Office business telephone service.

“Our customers are extremely satisfied with Voice Carrier’s Office product. It is very easy to use, affordable and a full-featured hosted VoIP service that runs in the cloud, and can be set up in minutes to reduce business phone bills by up to 70 percent,” says Gary J. Johnson, president and CEO of Voice Carrier. “Our many satisfied customers who are enthusiastically referring our service can now save even more off their monthly phone bill.”

The new program is a win-win. Here’s how it works: If you are a current Voice Carrier customer, you can introduce a friend or business acquaintance to the hosted VoIP phone service. If they sign up—and if they remain a customer for 60 days—then you’ll get a one-time $50 credit on your next billing cycle. And here’s the best part: You can refer as many people as you want and cash in every time Voice Carrier wins a customer. That means you could potentially get free service for months.

One of Voice Carrier’s satisfied customers who is likely to cash in on the VoIP PBX referral program is David Saxby, CEO of Measure-X, a business performance measurement firm in Texas. With employees working in satellite offices, Saxby appreciates Voice Carrier’s intercom and call forwarding features.

“We can administer our PBX ourselves via the Internet versus having to call a phone company to have them do it, which enables us to make changes easily and quickly,” Saxby says. “Consistently excellent call quality is critical, and that’s one of the reasons we went with Voice Carrier. From our experience, the truly important thing is follow-through, and response to our inquiries is immediate. Voice Carrier is the only truly responsive VoIP provider I have found.”

Even e-commerce businesses need strong phone support. Indeed, e-commerce companies without phone support typically wind up on those consumer complaint boards because they are so hard to reach. FiftyFlowers.com understands how the phone complements the Internet.

FiftyFlowers.com is an online flower shop that relies mostly on the World Wide Web to drive orders. But all-around customer service also means having phone operators available to handle special orders—like weddings—or resolve problems.

FiftyFlowers.com turned to Virtual PBX Complete to help it keep its distributed offices running smoothly. FiftyFlowers.com started working with Virtual PBX in 2007. During the early stages of the relationship, the flower company tapped Virtual PBX for an 800 number customers from all over the world could call to place orders.

Like many businesses that do business across the country—or even internationally—FiftyFlowers.com needed a central command center where it could make changes to its PBX system at a moment’s notice. As FiftyFlowers.com continued to grow, the company decided to switch to a VoIP solution, opting to deploy Virtual PBX Complete this past February.

“Before Virtual PBX we relied on a simplistic 1800 carrier in Canada that frequently dropped calls,” recalls Blu Atwood, co-founder and CMO of FiftyFlowers. “We needed a PBX solution that was both scalable and affordable, and our search led us to Virtual PBX. By enabling us to pick from available bundled solutions, we saved a few hundred dollars within a month of deploying the system, while we benefited from all the great features of a traditional PBX.”

With Virtual PBX, FiftyFlowers.com saves money on its monthly phone bill and also reduces IT operational expenses and resource needs typically associated with traditional PBX systems. When switching over to Virtual PBX Complete, the company opted to use a mix of VoIP and landlines for maximum employee flexibility.

“FiftyFlowers is the perfect example of a growing business that needs a stable phone system in order to provide stellar customer service,” says Paul Hammond, CEO and president of Virtual PBX. “Our Virtual PBX Complete is an all-in-one solution that allows our customers to choose the plan that best suits their needs, without having to skimp on features and reliability.”

Virtual law offices have picked up momentum with lightning speed in the past few months. The latest to explore the virtual law office bandwagon is Savannah, Ga.-based Eichholz Law Firm.

Well known in Georgia, the Eicholz Law Firm recently made moves to restructure its office—and it tapped into virtual law office technologies to do it. Eichholz had two goals in mind with the change: increasing productivity and enhancing customer service via innovative technology.

“The restructuring was really necessary to update the office,” says Daniel Eichholz. “After my father retired my brother and I decided to bring the office up to date as far as technology is concerned, and we have already experienced very positive results. Our productivity has been increased through the implementation of new procedures and the time it takes to handle tasks has decreased, leaved attorneys with more time to spend with clients.”

Led by Daniel Eichholz, the firm’s marketing director, the restructuring has already driven improved efficiency. The firm expects the new technologies to continue improving working conditions and client relations as the next phases are implemented.

Brothers David and Daniel Eichholz recently took over the Eichholz Law Firm after their father, who opened the business in 1976, retired. David Eichholz is now a leading attorney at the firm and Daniel is spearheading the management of the company. Through this restructuring venture, Daniel hopes to achieve a more streamlined workplace that allows for the better care of clients.

Daniel Eichholz, who has a degree in Economics, developed a multi-phase plan to streamline the office and incorporate new technology. The first phase was completed a couple of months ago. Now, the office is moving to new management systems.

Soon, the firm will go completely paperless, a move that will save time by storing all documents in one virtual location. This will also allow staff to access the same documentation simultaneously, again increasing the productivity of the office. At that point, Eichholz will be riding on the virtual office technologies bandwagon.

“The main goal is to ensure that every client is well taken care of,” Eichholz says. “By restructuring the office, we have streamlined every procedure and made more time for the lawyers and other employees to spend with the clients.”

You’ve heard of virtual law offices. But what if your law firm isn’t quite ready to make that leap yet? You can meet virtual in the middle with Total Attorneys.

Total Attorneys is a cloud-based service provider that helps solo practitioners and small law firms with practice management, growth and development. The group uses cutting edge technology and the Internet.

Although the firm offers online marketing help, call center services, and custom software development, you don’t have to go full on with the firm. You can simply opt for the 24/7 virtual receptionist service.

I like this idea, because not just any virtual receptionist will do for law firms. Total Attorneys trains every virtual receptionist on its team to handle law firms calls, which can be more intense than your traditional incoming calls at most businesses.

Whether your law firm needs a full-time receptionist, after-hours coverage or short-term coverage due to staff schedules, Total Attorneys promises virtual receptionists that trained to accommodate your needs.

Here’s how a Total Attorneys virtual receptionist can help your small law firm:

• Trained legal receptionists
• 24/7 live reception coverage from our Chicago offices
• Call screening and hot transfer based on your criteria
• Real-time electronic message delivery
• New client intake day or night
• Dedicated toll-free number
• No set-up fees, cancellation fees, expiration dates or hidden costs
• Small call packages to match whatever volume is right for you
• Pricing based on calls, not minutes
• Full-service, after hours or sick day/vacation coverage
• Optional appointment setting using your calendar

What I really like about Total Attorneys is that the company offers solutions that you can tap into as your small practice grows—or even help you grow your small practice to some thing larger. There are plenty of webinars, videos and free information on the site to get you up and running on virtual law office concepts.

Total Attorneys virtual receptionist service comes in call blocks starting at $99 for 50 calls. You will also get appointment setting services to help bring clients through your doors. They can answer intake questions based on scripts you create, or just route calls to you.