The Office Of The Future Is Here Today

You Can Work From Anywhere

(Thursday, April 01, 2004) - For any organization today, the cost of having an office is a major expense. The overhead for office space, a phone system and a receptionist can eat up a large portion of a company's profits - especially for smaller companies.

The worst part is with so many people working from multiple locations whether it be a hotel, meeting with clients or other work that takes you on the road – a good majority of the time the office space you are paying for isn't even being used. But for many companies they feel they need professional office space in order to be a "real business." They need a place where they can meet with clients, have packages delivered and utilize other centrally located business services.

Well what if I told you there was a better way . . . a more intelligent way to address your office needs? What if you could have low cost, high-quality office space and no long-term lease?

Imagine the flexibility of a virtual office combined with the image of a traditional one. Now imagine it's affordable too. Well you can stop imagining . . . because it's available today. It's called Intelligent Office - a new way to work from anywhere with more professionalism than ever before. Simply put it's a smarter way to have an office.


What is Intelligent Office?
Intelligent Office is a smart new alternative to a traditional office or an executive suite that combines the benefits of physical office space with the flexibility of virtual office solutions. It is truly the best of both worlds!
This unique service provides a prestigious address, "follow me" communication and a live receptionist for businesses, corporate executives and professionals, releasing you from the limitations and expense of a traditional office. Intelligent Office offers private offices, conference rooms and professional office services on an as-needed basis and at only a fraction of the cost of a traditional office.

I had the wonderful opportunity to speak with Ralph Gregory, the Founder of Intelligent Office, to learn more about his thoughts on the new world of work and all the services they provide. It was quickly apparent that Ralph and I share a passion for "working from anywhere" and the flexibility it provides.

"Going to work is old school," says Gregory. "Work is now something you do from anywhere."

"Most people in office buildings are in the knowledge business, shuffling papers, working on the internet and talking on the phone," Gregory explains. "Companies that implement our approach experience higher employee productivity and quality of life, as well as dramatically reduced overhead costs."

To help you better understand why I find Intelligent Office such a smart approach to business – let's take a closer look at the main components and how they can make you and your business more flexible.


Remote Receptionist & Follow Me Communication
All business and collaboration starts with communication and this is the cornerstone of Intelligent Office.
"In the business world there are two kinds of communication, written and verbal – everything else is just a subset of that," says Gregory. "There's lots of focus these days on the data side of things but the verbal tends to get overlooked. But when you think about it verbal communication is still the most efficient and universal way that business gets done."

"It all starts with having non-geographic communication in place," insists Gregory. Phone calls are answered live by a person in Intelligent Office called a Remote Receptionist. With the Remote Receptionist, you get just the calls you want, when you want them.

This provides what Intelligent Office calls "Follow Me" connectivity. The Remote Receptionist can seamlessly connect your calls to you on any phone anywhere, or put them into voice-mail. This means that whether you're behind your desk, working at home, on your cell phone or even out of town, you'll still be able to get professional phone reception throughout the day.

It sounds to the caller like you are in traditional office setting, but you can be in a completely different office. In fact when I called to talk with Gregory about Intelligent Office the receptionist asked who I was, contacted Gregory wherever he was working from and put the call through. I had no idea that he was not located in the same office as the receptionist.

"Telephonically, clients are 'in the office,' but physically they're not, so there's no rent, furniture expense, phone system cost or even a business phone bill," says Gregory.

For that, clients pay about $275 a month -- significantly less than they would shell out for their own space, receptionist and phone bill. This truly provides you with professional level communication.


Professional Space versus Work Space
These days working from home or anywhere is easier and better than ever. Using Intelligent Office, your "office" can now have the image and professionalism of a traditional office while providing you the flexibility to work from anywhere.
"There are really two types of space that most businesses need, professional space and work space. Our virtual office helps by providing professional space so your work space can happen wherever you want," says Gregory.

The first part of your professional space is a business address. Virtual Office Space starts with a mailing address at a prestigious office building in your area. In addition to receiving your mail and faxes, Intelligent Office also provides reception courtesies such as drop-off and pick-up services.

This ensures that during business hours you can transfer items back and forth between you and your clients without having to give up the privacy of your home address. Their reception staff handles these drop-offs and pick-ups for you, and they can also sign for your packages.


Offices and Conference Rooms
The other part of your professional space need is meeting space.
"When I'm talking with a client or colleague on the phone, they don't ask me if I'm in commercial space or if I'm wearing a tie," adds Gregory, "however if we're going to meet physically we would want to do so in a professional environment."

This is what Intelligent Office provides. When you have to meet your clients, Intelligent Office gives you the perfect corporate environment, in fact they are all located in Class A office buildings.

"When a client comes to see you, the first thing they see is a lobby directory with your business listed on it. Once inside, your clients are greeted by our courteous reception staff. If you're already here, we'll notify you of their arrival. If you're running a few minutes late, they can wait comfortably in our waiting area," explains Gregory.

Private offices and conference rooms are available with 24/7access and can be rented by the hour, day, or week, with longer term rentals also available. These rooms come with everything you need for successful meetings and conferences, including high speed internet access and copying/faxing/printing capabilities. Copiers, fax machines and printers all work by code, so your usage is automatically tracked for you. And at the end of the month, everything is conveniently itemized on a single bill.

From a prestigious business address to impressive offices and conference rooms, their Virtual Office Space allows you to work more professionally from home or wherever else your business takes you.


Reciprocal Privileges
Virtual Office Space is even there for you when you go out of town. Once you sign up, you can enjoy the same professional meeting space and reception courtesies at any of Intelligent Office's around the country. This currently consists of 18 locations in nine states but many more will be available soon as they are rapidly expanding.

How do People Use Intelligent Office?
According to Gregory it usually starts as an economic decision but then a month later most people realize, "forget the money I'm saving, this is just a better way to live and work!" Gregory says, "They are happier, more productive, have less stress, and are getting more business done. It's very satisfying running Intelligent Office because everyday clients come in and tell me how much they love it and it has changed their life."
Gregory told me that many people mistakenly think Intelligent Office is like a traditional executive suite where people come to work all day and then go home.

"People often come to us and sign up for the Remote Receptionist and some office space and still come into the office every day. Then one day one of their kids gets sick or they decide they want to have another cup of coffee so they are delayed coming in and we start connecting calls to them on an announce and screen basis." Eventually they start to really understand that they can work from anywhere and then they come in and say "its about this workspace . . . I don't need it," Gregory adds. "Sometimes it's hard to explain because everyone thinks of a traditional office. It's an office, but you don't always come here."

While about half of their clients never use the office or conference space, others use it on a seasonal basis due to a more cyclical business. Some of their clients are accountants who rent an office for a few months to meet with clients around tax time. Then after April 15th they go work from wherever they want and don't have to change their business address and phone number.

They also have a large chunk of clients who use office space on a more casual basis renting an office on an hourly basis when they are traveling or just need to get away from their home or family to focus and get some work done.

As for company size Gregory says that about 95% of all the companies that currently use Intelligent Office services are organizations with 10 or less people. They also have a lot of solo professionals like attorneys, consultants and mortgage brokers.

When asked why most larger companies haven't jumped on board Gregory explained "If you have 20 people or so you are probably already fairly entrenched in the traditional office. The change to this style of work can seem like a big hurdle. Companies that are even larger will often look to pilot telework and working remotely on their own."

"For a company with say, 500 employees, this kind of change can be daunting," says Gregory. "But it will come."

As a testament to just how little physical office space you might need when you work in a more flexible fashion, Gregory told me that the Boulder Colorado Intelligent Office currently services over 450 people but provides all of their space needs in only about 8 rooms.

"One client we work with has 10 employees. One person has a dedicated office with us while 6 work in the field and come in twice a week for meetings. The other three are software programmers and work from their homes. They are all united under one business phone number and address. Their monthly office space used to be around nine thousand dollars a month. Now with office space and all their communications services it's less than two thousand. Once they get rid of the dedicated space it will probably drop to around one thousand," explains Gregory.


A More Intelligent Way to Have an Office
After talking to Ralph Gregory and fully understanding his vision for Intelligent Office I was truly amazed. The services they offer and flexibility they provide are right on target for today's more mobile workforce.
Why waste all that money on overhead and real estate? With Intelligent Office costs are variable so you can keep your expenses inline with your revenues.

"As their business grows or contracts, they don't leave us and go back to the traditional office. They simply adjust their services to accommodate whatever changes are necessary. Half of our clients never use our address or space services. They utilize only our communications in some form. The variations of incorporating these ideas of working remotely are as numerous as there are companies doing it. There is no one size fits all. It's a permanent conceptual change of how an office works and it is different for every company, every individual, every time."

Most of their services are available on an a la carte basis, so that you only pay for what you and your business actually need and use. This keeps your infrastructure costs and monthly overhead to its absolute minimum and makes Intelligent Office as affordable as it is smart.

They blend the physical and the virtual, to give businesses and professionals everywhere the best of both worlds - all the image and professionalism of an office, plus all the convenience and affordability of working at home or out on the road.

The office of the future is here today . . . and it's called Intelligent Office.

For more information about Intelligent Office visit their website at www.IntelligentOffice.com. For prices and a complete list of options, Ralph Gregory urges you to please stop by your local Intelligent Office and take a free in-person office tour. They'll be glad to show you exactly how Intelligent Office can work for you.

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