For many companies looking to enter the Japanese market, it is usually not worth the investment early on to rent an office. Serviced offices present a much more attractive option because they are a furnished and fully functional office facility that accommodates multiple companies of different sizes and provides administrative services, modern office equipment and conference meeting facilities on demand.
One of the industry leaders is Australian company Servcorp which has had a presence in Japan since 1994 and currently offers floors in 22 premium locations.
One of the fastest growing sectors for Servcorp is the virtual office—“everything but the office,” says Haruko Kurashige, manager, Servcorp Virtual Office located on the 28th floor of the prestigious Shinagawa Intercity Tower A. “Clients receive a prestigious business address and local telephone number, enabling them to work from home or in another country. Servcorp provides dedicated bilingual receptionists who take phone calls and transfer them to wherever the clients are, and assist with secretarial tasks. Clients also get access to our worldwide business lounges, meeting rooms and the best IT solutions.”
Servcorp has 60 offices on the floor at Shinagawa Intercity Tower A. Occupancy is around 90%, Kurashige says. “Shinagawa is getting more popular. There will be another JR station near here and it is close to Haneda. Shinagawa has been chosen as the Tokyo station for linear motor cars – that means it will only be a 40-minute trip to Nagoya and one hour to Osaka. In addition, Shinagawa is becoming hub for IT.”
The Shinagawa location is popular because it is known throughout Japan, says Kurashige. It is especially popular with Japanese companies that are headquartered outside Tokyo because of its primary location beside a shinkansen station and easy access to Haneda airport.
Why is the virtual office business growing so quickly?
“It suits two types of clients,” says Kurashige. “Startups who can do business with just a phone and a laptop but they need a prestigious address, someone to answer incoming calls and have access to meeting rooms when required. The second type might be multinational companies headquartered outside of Tokyo, but which are looking to have a presence in Tokyo. I think virtual offices will become even more popular. After the earthquake, people started to wonder if they really needed to go to the office. Furthermore, we see more young people who want to start a business and then there are elderly people who are retiring, but are looking to start a second business life.”
To encourage prospective clients, Servcorp offers a great deal on virtual offices, beginning with a 30-day free trial. “We are confident that once you try it for 30 days, you will want to stay with us. You can cancel at any time with no obligation to continue,” says Kurashige.
Servcorp’s Virtual Office offers three packages. The Virtual Office package is a combination of all three at a lower cost.
1. The Virtual Office Package
The Virtual Office includes all the Address, Communications and Meetings packages as well as the following value-added perks. The Virtual Office package provides the highest value for money.
• Worldwide complimentary access to any executive business lounge for up to 3 hour per day
• Complimentary use of a day suite office in any other city for up to 3 days per month
2. The Address Package
• Prestigious corporate address that you can use on all your company correspondence
• Mail and courier management
• Worldwide complimentary access to any executive business lounge for up to 1 hour per day.
• Exclusive Servcorp Online membership putting you in real-time control of all your services and offering a portfolio of online business tools
• A virtual assistant for admin tasks.
• Membership flexibility with easy month-by-month contract
• No security deposit when paying with a credit card
3. Meetings Package
• Worldwide access to boardrooms, meeting rooms and day offices for as little as 10 minutes or the entire day.
• Exclusive Servcorp Online membership which allows you to book all facilities online and in real time
• 1 hour per day complimentary access to any executive business lounge
• Membership flexibility with easy month-by-month contract
• No security deposit when paying with a credit card
• Access to video-conferencing and online meeting hosting.
• 3 days per month complimentary use of a day suite office in any other city
4. Communications Package
• A local business telephone number
• A dedicated multilingual receptionist at your chosen location – no call centers.
• Calls are answered in your company name, then transferred to you anywhere in the world
• Adjust your receptionist instructions, online, instantly
• 24-hour-per-day interactive voicemail with press 1 for mobile, 2 for a colleague, 3 for home etc.
• Exclusive Servcorp Online membership putting you in real-time control of all your services and offering a portfolio of online business tools
• Membership flexibility with easy month-by-month contract
• No security deposit when paying with a credit card
A brand new addition to Servcorp’s call routing service is named “Find me Follow me,” whereby Servcorp can program a client’s extension to ring simultaneously or sequentially to multiple places, like a mobile, home number or a colleague – so the client never misses a vital call.
“We also have other exciting updates on our unified communication services coming up, such as Servcorp Onefone on iPhone,” says Kurashige. “Onefone is our exclusive software with which our clients are able to place a call from their dedicated business telephone number via Internet. Our current software only allows the program to run on a PC, but this will soon change to include an iPhone. This will be a great benefit to our clients, especially for virtual clients without a handset.”
Besides offering virtual and serviced offices, Servcorp provides a fun environment at its locations, organizing networking and social events for clients, such as Tanabata and Christmas parties. The staff are friendly, professional and ready to help you make your business a success.
Servcorp has 22 locations in Japan – 14 in Tokyo, 3 in Osaka, 2 in Nagoya, 2 in Fukuoka and 1 in Yokohama.
For more information on the company’s office network and its services, visit www.servcorp.co.jp or call 81-3-6269-3500 or 0120-894577.