How Your Small Business Can Benefit From Using A Serviced Office

Location and working environments are two major factors which can contribute towards a business’s success. Over the last few years, more and more small businesses have been using serviced offices in order to improve both their location and working environment. Serviced offices are owned and managed by professional companies which take care of everything from furnishing the space to cleaning the carpets, preventing business owners from having to do the work themselves. In this article we will explain how your small business can benefit from using a serviced office.

Serviced offices are often found in prestigious city locations, helping small businesses to improve their image and gain new clients.
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Greater flexibility
Traditionally when a business leases an office, they usually have to commit to a contract which spans over a number of years. This is not always a beneficial option for a small business owner like yourself, as if your grow your company over the years, the office you have leased may no longer be able to meet your needs and requirements. Getting out of a contract can not only be costly but time consuming and problematic too.
Today small businesses have the option to rent a serviced office on a short term basis. This will offer you greater flexibility, as you can simply choose to rent the office for as long as you want to. If your business’s circumstances change for one reason or other, you can simply move to a new office as and when you wish to.
Another advantage of hiring a serviced office is that it allows small businesses to test the water. Whether you were working at home before or are looking to target a new location, leasing a serviced office provides you with the opportunity to give your plans a fair trial, without having to fully commit to them.
Save on costs
The cost of serviced offices varies depending on what services and equipment are provided by the company. For example, some companies will manage the office and provide furniture, whereas others will offer additional benefits such as staffed receptionist desks, IT infrastructure management and refreshment facilities. The great thing about leasing a serviced office is that you will have the option to pick and choose the services you require, ensuring your needs and requirements are met within your budget.
If you think about it, using a serviced office enables small businesses to enjoy facilities that they may not otherwise have been able to afford. For example, you can have access to state of the art equipment which you may not have the budget for normally and teams of IT support staff, which you would not be able to afford to hire internally. Instead of having to invest in expensive infrastructures and pay out salaries, the cost of the services is simply covered in a single monthly fee to the provider.
Increase efficiency
Working from a serviced office can help small business owners, like you, to increase efficiency. Traditionally, if you were to lease an office you would have to cover the cost of rent, maintenance and utility bills. Even if you did not use all of the rooms in the building, you would still be paying for them. Today you can simply lease a serviced office and if you require additional space, like a meeting room once a week, you can simply pay a fee for the room, on top of your usual service fee. This means that you will never have to pay for anything that you do not use.

Got clients visiting you? Simply ask your serviced office provider if you can use one of their meetings for the day. You will only have to pay for the time you spend using the room.
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Improve image
Running business operations from a serviced office can also make small companies appear larger and better established; particularly if the serviced office is based in a prestigious location. Working from a serviced office can help your small business to maintain a corporate image, which can go a long way in helping you win new clients and grow your company.
Many serviced offices include the benefit of having a staffed reception desk. Not only will the receptionists answer your telephone calls on your behalf (making you look too busy and too important to take the calls yourself) but they will also meet and greet any visitors for you. This will make your company look more successful, as clients will think you are doing well enough to hire a receptionist and customer service team!
By leasing a serviced office, you will also have access to fully-furnished meeting rooms, which you would not have access to if you were running your operations from home. Showing clients into professional meeting rooms will impress them far more than inviting them into your living room. The more professional you look, the more likely people are to want to do business with you.
The fact your serviced office is likely to be based in a prestigious city location will also do wonders for your reputation. Potential new clients will immediately associate you with the successful businesses operating in the area and will therefore be more likely to want to work with you. As long as the products or services you provide can match the standard of your swanky new office, the future will be promising for your small business.
Stress-free solution
One of the best things about using a serviced office is that it will mean you do not have to worry about purchasing furniture, setting up an internet connection or hiring someone to clean the office every day. Instead you can simply state your needs and requirements to the provider and they will take care of all of the hard work for you. This will save you a significant amount of time, allowing you to get on with other important business tasks, such as reaching out to new clients.

Before choosing a serviced office provider, you need to decide on your requirements. For example, do you need office furniture and supplies to be provided?
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Choosing a serviced office
Today there are numerous serviced office providers and a great place to find them is online. Before you start contacting serviced offices, it is important that you have identified your business’s needs and requirements. For example, are you looking for an office that has meeting rooms and catering facilities that you can use or are you simply looking for somewhere that is fully furnished and managed by an external company? Knowing this information will make it much easier for you to find the perfect serviced office company to work with. Click here to read a fantastic article by business.com on how to choose a serviced office.
At the same time as identifying your requirements, you will also need to set yourself a budget. Think about how much money you can realistically spend on a serviced office in order for it to benefit your business. Remember that using a serviced office should help you to grow your business, whilst also benefiting from paying out lower costs than you would have to pay out if you were leasing a traditional office space.
Finally, it is important to check the credentials of the company you are working with. Always ask for references, to make sure that others have been happy with the serviced they provided. It is important to make sure that the company is reputable, so you can have the peace of mind that your serviced office will be everything you hoped for.