A Better Virtual – USA Virtual Offices

PALO ALTO, CA—Have you heard of LiquidSpace? It’s a mobile application that helps you find the right workspace for you. LiquidSpace just rolled out an Android app and an enhanced Web search interface to cater to the more than 1 billion mobile workers around the world.

With the update, LiquidSpace now gives you real-time access and the ability to immediately book spaces at more than 100 venues in the San Francisco Bay area and more than 1,000 workspaces across the nation. The venues on LiquidSpace let you rent space by the day or even the hour, and you can choose from coworking cafes to business centers to private offices to city libraries and local hotels. It’s a perfect supplement to the virtual office user’s world.

“We’re not only thrilled at the volume of spaces, but also the unique types of spaces we’re bringing on board,” says Mark Gilbreath, CEO and co-founder of LiquidSpace. “Workspace should be a personal choice. We all thrive in different professional settings, and there can be a great space for each and every individual. Now more than ever, our users have the freedom and resources to choose their ideal work environment right when they need it.”

Here’s how it works: You can browse based on various parameters, including location, venue, meeting space size, and availability—and you don’t even have to sign in to do it. The results include venue details like ratings, photos, location, hours, amenities and pricing. With the mobile app, you can zero in on the space that best suits your needs based on your current location. Once you find what you are looking for, you can book your space immediately with a credit card and get directions.

“With our latest platform improvements, you can book with confidence—confidence that the space you saw and chose is yours and will be ready and waiting for you,” Gilbreath says. “No one else offers that real-time functionality right now.”

SAN JOSE, CA—What’s better than a virtual office provider that can also offer a virtual phone system and experienced live receptionists? A virtual office provider that can offer a virtual phone system and experienced live receptionists—and meeting rooms.

Alliance Virtual Offices fits that bill with its up and coming service. Alliance Virtual Offices is readying to roll out Alliance Meeting Rooms in Jan. 2012.

“We are thrilled to be expanding our service offerings to our global clientele,” says Frank Cottle, chairman of Alliance Virtual Offices. “Making our global meeting rooms available to purchase online will give our clients much more flexibility and convenience when doing business in our centers.”

Cottle sees an opportunity to serve more mobile worker with its latest venture. It’s a direct response to the increasing demand for flexible working options. Cottle has long been a predictor that mobile workers would change business centers, and he is investing his time and effort in that area. His goal is to make it as easy as possible for clients to set up and run a meeting.

Alliance Meeting Rooms will be located in some of the world’s most impressive business. Each facility coming fully equipped and staffed. You can choose from all shapes and sizes and rent the meeting rooms online by the hour, half-day or full day.

Although the service will only roll out initially in the United States, Cottle promises to add international locations soon. It’s all part of his efforts to combine people, place and technology—the three key components needed to serve mobile and work-from-home professionals.

Here’s a cool virtual office technology. Universal Online Magic just launched a functional beta of VisualHQ, a new breed of web apps that creates a photorealistic virtual corporate headquarters so you can collaborate face-to-face with remote customers.

VisualHQ allows a company, whether composed of remote staff, local staff or a combination of both, to work together in a realistic-looking executive environment. The software offers an always-on webcam connection for personal and group meetings, presentations and collaboration, according to James Auld, president of Universal Online Magic.

“The software also allows a company to invite customers or clients into the environment with one click of an e-mail link — to provide for live, immersive client service,” Auld says. “VisualHQ has a small footprint, leveraging existing PC and Mac hardware and webcams.”

How is VisualHQ different from similar virtual office solutions? For one thing, it doesn’t mandate a real-time 3D video game interface to power it.

“Using photo-realistic, high-definition 2D imagery increases the professionalism of the environments and eliminates the motion sickness that is commonly experienced with real-time 3D,” Auld explains. “No company would want its clients or customers to feel like they were playing a video game. Quite the contrary—our clients want their customers to meet with them face-to-face in a beautiful space complete with ambient sound and stunning visuals, while maintaining a professional corporate feel.”

Auld paints a vivid picture: Imagine inviting clients by e-mail to a meeting scheduled within your VisualHQ space. They arrive in a reception area and are met face-to-face with a live receptionist. At the appointed time, the receptionist leads the group down the hall to the assigned meeting room and you begin your meeting. That, he said, is the VisualHQ experience.

VisualHQ also offers a realistic metaphor whereby users can schedule a meeting in a meeting room or office within the environment, then bring presentation folios. Each presentation folio contains an unlimited number of images, music, sounds, videos and PDF documents for sharing with the group.

So what’s it going to cost you? If you get in on the beta phase, you can pay a one-time fee of $450 for a program that allows 15 staffers and 15 guests. Once the program rolls out of beta, it will cost $120 a month. The software is browser-based, so it works with PCs, Macs and tablet computers.

Virtual offices and meeting rooms go together like peanut butter and jelly.

Nobody knows this better than Davinci Virtual office solutions. That’s why the company is rolling out a free DavinciMeetingRooms.com Member Access Card Program.

“We are excited to launch our member access card program,” says Bill Grodnik, President and CEO of Davinci Virtual. “Now clients can search and book professional meeting space instantly online and take advantage of all member benefits.”

This free card give virtual office clients, road warriors and home-based entrepreneurs access to Davinci Virtual’s global network of more than 750 physical office locations and more than 2,200 meeting spaces. The best part—you get discounted rates when you use the card.

What does this mean to you? Well, if you are a card-carrying member you can reserve professionally equipped day offices, conference rooms and meeting rooms at any of Davinci’s locations using its state-of-the-art online reservation platform—DavinciMeetingRooms.com.

If you haven’t logged on to DavinciMeetingRooms.com, give it a quick test drive. You’ll discover it’s one of the quickest ways to book a meeting room—it takes as little as a couple of minutes to customize the space you want. DavinciMeetingRooms.com lets you tap into instantly available, live conference room inventory, add-on services like LCD projectors and video conferencing, catering and business support services.

Whether you want a meeting room in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago or Miami, DavinciMeetingRooms.com helps you book it in a hurry. And the new Member Access Card program helps you level the playing field and stretch your budget.