Virtual Incubation ... Helping Start-Ups From Afar

VHQ Article - Virtual Incubation (EA).pdf

IT and communication technology and internet services have dramatically fallen in price whilst offering vastly improved effectiveness. As a result working from home has suddenly become the first option for start-up businesses.

The potential savings, in terms of rent, business rates and service charges, may represent the removal of one of the barriers that stifle enterprise at a local level. For many start-ups and micro businesses the point at which they need to think about a move into a physical incubator, business support facilities or private offices has been moved far into the future.

There are question marks though. Working from home may bring cost savings but does it leave would-be entrepreneurs too isolated from customers and from sources of advice and support to survive the early years of development? And how do Enterprise Agencies and other enterprise development organisations maintain the effectiveness of their neighbourhood and community programmes if they aren't "plugged-in" to the virtual world.

Is Virtual Incubation the answer?

Virtual Incubation

Having "virtual tenants" isn't new. Many enterprise development and support organisations offer start-ups a real office address combined with a variety of services such as telephone answering and meeting rooms. Whilst this may help small businesses to project a professional image into the marketplace it isn't clear whether this;

1. Helps to develop a strong on-going relationship between support provider and "virtual tenant"

2. Provides a sufficient level of service to help start-ups through the difficult early years

But there's something different about today's situation. Ironically, the same IT technologies that are making the home-based business option so attractive can be used by enterprise development organisations to create a new offer: virtual incubation.

Technology and Support Packages

Enterprise Agencies and other enterprise development organisations now have the opportunity to offer combined technology and support packages that give business start-ups the ability to both work virtually and to use virtual support services (e.g. business advisors, mentors, finance, legal, HR and admin support services).

From the enterprise development perspective this has a number of key benefits;

With everyone looking for operating efficiencies, Virtual Incubation offers the opportunity to improve the support offered to start-up businesses. Online meetings and reviews can usefully complement face-to-face meetings to provide more frequent contact with clients, especially with those in difficult to reach or remote areas. Confidence and progress are directly related to the quality and quantity of contact in the early stages of development.

There is also the interesting promise of the development of trading communities, within a single enterprise area or even at a regional or national level, which could stimulate inter-trading, access to larger agencies procurement processes and knowledge transfer. This important aspect of enterprise development is often over-looked or avoided because of the difficulties of trading over distance, but the internet removes distance as a barrier and re-introduces it as a competitive advantage ... watch this space over the next few years.

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