Virtual and shared office sector growing in PH

THE business process outsourcing sector continues to dominate the take-up of new office space development in the Philippines, but a segment that is rapidly growing as an alternative market for developers is shared office space services, with just one local service provider reporting more than 30 percent growth in its client base.

The virtual and shared office concepts are an evolution of the old “answering service” idea, where businessmen without a regular office could hire a service providing a business address, telephone number, and reception services to receive calls or mail. As technology and business has evolved, the virtual office services have expanded as well, and offer e-mail, SMS message, and fax forwarding, as well as providing work and meeting spaces to those who need them.