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Big and small companies are realising the benefits of a round-the-clock virtual service.

Picture this: a customer calls a real estate agency to enquire about

selling his or her house. The call goes to voicemail because the phone is unattended, and it takes two days for the call to be returned. The customer calls a rival agency, which gets the million-dollar listing.

Another customer calls a busy small enterprise and cannot get through. The receptionist is overwhelmed by too many calls, and is abrupt when she does answer. The customer calls back at 5.15 pm, but the receptionist’s shift has ended. Sales are lost.

Meanwhile, the small enterprise pays $40,000 for the full-time receptionist who is learning on the job. There is no back-up when she is sick or on holiday,

and there is limited scope to train the young receptionist.

OfficeHQ founder and managing director David Atkinson has seen this scenario play out too many times. It is one reason that OfficeHQ, Australia’s leading provider of virtual receptionist services, handles more than 30,000 calls a day for more than 8000 small and large enterprises in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

OfficeHQ offers express messaging, virtual receptionist and personal assistant services, and add-on services such as providing voicemail or fax-to-email services, and virtual offices with prestigious CBD locations for only $75 per month.

It responds to 90 per cent of calls within 10 seconds, compared with the industry standard of 80 per cent of calls within 20 seconds.

‘A receptionist is an obvious cost to cut,’ Atkinson says. ‘A business can go from paying the wage of a full-time employee to paying as little as $15 a month for a virtual receptionist service, depending on call volumes. It also gets a better service because our systems can accommodate call overflow, operate 24/7 and use experienced local receptionists.’

Atkinson says larger companies are increasingly using OfficeHQ. ‘The myth is that only small businesses use virtual receptionist services, to look bigger than they are. Big corporates that had two receptionists on the front desk are also

OfficeHQ answers the call for cost-effective and efficient receptionists

David Atkinson

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realising the benefits of outsourcing this function, or having a virtual back-up service during busy periods. No business can afford to pay people to wait for the phone to ring.’

Technology is boosting demand for virtual receptionist services in different ways, says Atkinson. Websites effectively mean that businesses are open 24/7, yet many cannot answer phone calls outside business hours. ‘Companies must be able to take calls from any customer, anywhere, at any time. To do so, they need virtual receptionists.’

Antiquated phone technology is also encouraging more enterprises to use virtual receptionists. ‘Customers get annoyed if they are on hold for too long, have to choose between too many prompts, are asked to leave a short message, or keep going to voicemail. There is renewed appreciation for having a virtual receptionist to redirect calls.’

OfficeHQ is clear market leader

The Sydney-based company launched in 2004 to serve an untapped market. At the time, serviced office providers mostly focused on offering physical office services, and call-answer services took enquiries for business owners, usually quickly, but with little empathy.

After strong acceptance of its product in Australia, OfficeHQ launched in the United States in 2007, just before the 2008–09 global financial crisis. The timing was fortuitous, as American companies were looking to cut costs by outsourcing functions such as reception.

In 2012, OfficeHQ expanded to the United Kingdom – one of most competitive markets for virtual receptionist services – and made excellent early inroads. It now has 120 staff members and operations across three continents, and is growing at 20 to 30 per cent a year.

Atkinson says that a disciplined focus on the core business and high-quality service are behind OfficeHQ’s success. ‘We set out to provide a high-quality virtual receptionist service for businesses that did not want to

spend tens of thousands of dollars on a full-time, in-house receptionist. It’s a no-brainer for companies when they realise that they can save a salary, get a better service, have customer calls answered any time, and use our service when phone volumes are high.’

OfficeHQ’s state-of-the-art technology, which uses a cloud-based platform, is an attraction. ‘Our technology is second to none,’ says Atkinson. ‘We can seamlessly take large volumes of calls and redirect them, and we have developed phone apps to allow staff to update their details, or tell the virtual receptionist if they are unable to take calls at a certain time.’

The technology also provides detailed, real-time reporting on phone calls. ‘The business can track how many customer calls it receives each month, at what time, and from where. Through OfficeHQ, it can harness the same type of phone-call reporting technology that big corporates use in their call centres.’

The quality of its receptionists is another strength, says Atkinson. ‘We spend considerable time recruiting and training more mature receptionists. In many small enterprises, the receptionist is often the youngest employee, and may not have the experience to interact with customers at a different level, create a better experience, or find ways to help them if staff are unavailable.’

Strong growth plans

Atkinson expects continued strong growth in OfficeHQ as it expands its leadership position. Growth in telecommuting, where people work from home or partly from home, and the rise of virtual companies with no physical offices, are driving demand for its services.

Asian expansion is a key part of OfficeHQ’s strategy. It has signed joint ventures in Japan and Spain, and has been approached to license its technology in other countries. The company has established a hardware hub in Hong Kong to service the Singapore and Chinese markets, and to take its service to fast-growing developed and emerging Asian markets.

Atkinson believes OfficeHQ’s United States business will be as large as its Australian operation within 12 months, and five times its size within three to five years. ‘The quality of our virtual receptionist service is as good as, or better than, anything offered in the United States, and our technology is highly scalable.’

OfficeHQ also expects to offer a web-chat service, where customers communicate directly with a company representative via a website. It is also considering providing a sales collateral support service. ‘We’re getting a lot of interest from the sales side to send marketing collateral to prospective customers when a company representative is unavailable. In this era of search engines, if customers cannot get through or get an answer, they move straight to the next company listed in the search engine.’

Higher demand from corporates is also likely, says Atkinson. ‘Big companies recognise that having a large, experienced system of receptionists can improve the overall customer experience, and help convert more enquiries into sales leads. Reception is too important a function to be left to one person. All companies benefit from greater front-desk availability and having timelier, more refined responses.’

A compelling offer

Atkinson says OfficeHQ has made it easy and cost-effective for businesses to use the service. Prices start from $15 per month; charging can be on a usage basis, typically around $2 per call; and there are discounts for higher phone volumes. A no-obligation, free seven-day trial is offered: companies enter their details online, and receive a phone number to use, or redirect calls to.

‘Within a week, businesses can see that more calls are being answered more effectively, and that the service is seamless and very cost-effective. Even if they spend $1000 a month to handle a large volume of calls, it’s a lot less than paying for a full-time receptionist.’

To learn more, visit www.officehq.com.au.

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Lower costs and fl exibility: the big benefi ts of virtual or serviced offi ces

Technology is changing how fast-growth small enterprises view their front-desk availability

It is often thought that small enterprises use virtual offi ces and receptionists to look bigger than they are: a postal address at a fancy offi ce tower in Sydney or Melbourne, for example, or an experienced receptionist who works off-site and is paid by the call.

That is true of many fast-growing small enterprises that use virtual offi ce services to enhance their brand and corporate reputation, or as a place to work in town and meet clients. But technology is changing how fast-growth small enterprises view virtual and serviced offi ces.

The emergence of the virtual organisation has led to many entrepreneurial ventures minimising or avoiding fi xed costs, such as traditional offi ce space. Growth in telecommuting, where business owners work all or part of the week from home, is also driving growth in virtual offi ces.

Consider entrepreneurs who start online retail businesses from home. They have suppliers in China, distributors in the United States and customers worldwide, thanks to the internet. As the hub of a global online retail network, they have less need for a fi xed offi ce.

Instead, they use virtual or serviced offi ces that provide off-site receptionists, and meeting rooms and offi ce space in town when needed. Through larger serviced-offi ce providers, they can access these services in locations worldwide.

They also use a virtual assistant to manage their diary, book fl ights, take calls and do other tasks that an executive assistant would normally complete – at a fraction of the cost.

Virtual and serviced offi ces have several benefi ts for entrepreneurs. First, they reduce fi xed costs and free up capital that can be used to grow the venture, rather than being wasted on unnecessary offi ce space. Also, short-term or pay-as-you-go contracts provide greater fl exibility for

fast-growing ventures that do not want to be locked into long-term arrangements.

Second, a serviced offi ce can help a ‘born global’ start-up venture quickly build a network of low-cost locations worldwide. The online retailer, for example, sets up postal addresses in Manhattan, Milan and London through the serviced-offi ce provider, giving added market credibility and a place to work from on buying trips.

The big benefi ts, of course, are cost and fl exibility. Virtual receptionists provided by Offi ceHQ, for example, start from $15 per month. Compare that with the cost of hiring a young receptionist whose salary is $40,000 per year, who may not be as experienced as the virtual equivalent.

A virtual-receptionist service can answer calls 24/7, meaning that the business can operate around the clock in markets worldwide, and never miss an important customer call after hours. This is a huge advantage of start-up ventures that cannot be confi ned to a 9 am to 5 pm workday.

Larger businesses, too, are recognising the benefi ts of virtual assistance. ‘All businesses can benefi t from greater front-desk availability,’ writes Offi ceHQ in a white paper on virtual receptions.

It adds, ‘Many larger businesses may assume that low headcount is an issue only experienced by their smaller counterparts. But what about after-hours or holiday periods, when most employees aren’t available; and peak-demand windows, when staff may face more inquiries than they can handle? Failure to maintain an adequate phone-answering service during these times can result in lost leads, missed opportunities, and reputational damage – no matter the size of the enterprise.

‘Professional virtual receptionists can be “on stand-by” to take overfl ow or cover for times when regular employees are unavailable. In other words, a call-answering service doesn’t have to be running 24/7; it can scale to your business’s capacity requirements whether you’re a start-up or an ASX-listed enterprise.’

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