(Source: www.abcvirtualoffices.com/images/header/virtual-office.jpg)

Are you based in Russia and interested in reducing traditional office costs while maintaining the quality of your business? Virtual offices can provide everything you need – but do you know where to find them in Russia? We have put a list of the best and most reliable virtual offices in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

The idea of a virtual office started to develop with the Information Age, and the term implies a combination of the off-site live communication and address services that enable businesses to decrease the office costs. The first virtual office appeared in 1994 in Boulder, Colorado. “The Virtual Office, Inc” was set by Ralph Gregory and then expanded throughout North America. Now it is known as “Intelligent Office”. At the moment, the trend for virtual offices is gaining  popularity in many countries, as businesses want to cut down the expenses while keeping professionalism high. For example, by paying for space and communication infrastructure on an as-needed basis, some companies can reduce office expenses to a minimum. And in some cases paying for a physical office becomes useless, as businesses trend to a more “online” workplace and flexible work environment. Thus, traditional receptionists making $12–14/hour can be replaced with remote receptionist services at a fraction of the traditional cost. To sum up, virtual offices provide businesses with the opportunity to have a full range of professional live communication services – without an office space.

Communication services include:

Remote Receptionist
Virtual Assistant
Answering services/call centers
Voicemail
Virtual Office Space
Phone Answering Service

Space services include:

Professional address
Mailing
Reception Courtesies
Business Meeting Space
  Casual Workspace
Executive suite
On-site amenities
Virtual Office Solution
  Live Virtual Receptionist
Other services

Undoubtedly, virtual offices have their benefits and weak points. It might be very convenient to rent a conference room for meetings paying hourly, daily or weekly. But if we take voicemail services (a low-cost technology that stores voice messages electronically), studies show that up to 75% of callers simply hang up when their call is answered by a machine. Nevertheless, a virtual office is a good opportunity for those who blend home and work environment, but are more interested in retaining the image of a traditional, high-cost office. The most common users of virtual offices are home-based entrepreneurs, accountants, law firms, doctors, business consultants, trainers and instructors, incubators, and even Chambers of Commerce.

The Russian trend is that the largest companies located in the regions are starting to open virtual offices in Moscow or St. Petersburg  in order to have representative offices in the major cities of Russia.  A minimum package with a prestigious address and mailing service costs about 3000 rubles per month. The rent of meeting rooms will increase this number to approximately 18000 rubles. The average price for the Russian virtual offices is close to 5000 rubles. The largest virtual offices’ providers in Russia (at the moment only in Moscow and St. Petersburg) are the following.

Regus Offices
The leading lender of office space, providing support for large, medium, small, and home-based businesses worldwide.
What they offer: office space of all types, including hot-desking and part-time offices; virtual and mobile offices, conference facilities, video-conferencing, demonstration rooms, communications handling, support for international businesses, and more.
Where they are based: 1200 locations in 550 cities across 95 countries.
What do they offer in Russia: 5 office spaces in Moscow and 1 in St. Petersburg. All offices are located in the city centre.
How to contact: http://www.regus.ru

West Union
An international holding company which carries out a comprehensive business support to its customers since 1992. West Union’s network of representative offices is located in more than 32 countries providing services up to 46 countries.
What they offer: Mailing address of the place where a company is registered and ability to forward incoming mail there.  A secretary who answers phone calls during working hours and if necessary 24 hours in any desired language. E-mail address in the country of registration office with the possibility of forwarding correspondence. Personal fax number with the transfer of messages to the email address.  Individual telephone number with forwarding. An office or a meeting room rental is available on request. 
Where they are based: Office in Moscow: Strastnoy Blv, bld 8A. Office in Saint-Petersburg: Tchaikovsky str., 16
How to contact: http://www.wugroup.ru/en/contacts
         
Matrix Office
Rent of workplaces in Moscow: assistance in organizing effective business.
What they offer: rent of a workplace; rent of a meeting room; rent of a mini-office for 1-3 workplaces; rent of an office for 4 and more workplaces. A great choice of workplaces of an open-space type (from 1 place), mini-offices for 1-20 places, meeting rooms. Modern office furniture, telecom systems, etc.
Where they are based: Virtual offices in a business centre located in the Central District of Moscow within 1 min. walking distance from Shabolovskaya metro station.
How to contact: http://www.matrixoffice.ru/eng/contacts

Office-M
A Russian investment company specialising in providing offices’ rent and sale services.
What they offer: rent of a workplace, a meeting room, a mini-office, etc.
Where they are based: 5 office spaces in the largest business centres of St. Petersburg.
How to contact: http://www.office-m.ru