By Susan J. Campbell, TMCnet Contributing Editor

Voicemail is a wonderful thing – if you have time to stop and listen to your messages. And, if you’re traveling abroad, you may be faced with substantial roaming charges that rapidly increase the cost of doing business on the go. With the capabilities of the virtual office, however, you may just find that the tools available can streamline communications in a whole new way.

As highlighted in this Phone (News - Alert).com blog, for instance, mobility is one of the perks associated with the virtual office. Voicemail can be tricky, however, when trying to conduct business in Europe while still staying connected in the United States. The time difference alone can make it difficult to complete direct connections. If the parties are never available at the same time, voicemail messages tend to mount and roaming charges add up each time a message needs to be retrieved.

When using Phone.com (News - Alert) virtual office, however, the mobile user can gain access to voicemail transcription services, enabling the email delivery of all voicemail messages. The user can then read and respond to these messages as needed. Directly from the email, the user can text or call the sender to respond. Such an approach not only saves time and money, it also can make life quite a bit easier for the mobile professional.

Is such ease of use worth $0.25 per message? It is if accessing voicemail messages is interrupting the standard flow of information and process completion throughout the work day. If the number of messages is high, however, the automated solution may be the more economical choice at $1.50 per month. Depending upon the importance of receiving clear messages, however, the muffled voicemail may not always transcribe well with the automated solution.

As a Phone.com customer, I have enjoyed access to the transcription service as it gives me the message right away. The only challenge is that the fast talker may be hard to understand for even the human transcriber. So, a message received even with a phone number included may not give me direct insight into who the message is actually from until I investigate it a little further.

One of the perks with Phone.com is that I have that capability. By simply accessing my account online, I can see the message in full transcription and even listen to the recording. This eliminates those roaming charges I could encounter on the go and gives me an opportunity to fully understand the message before initiating my reply.

Phone.com has a variety of options from which you can select the solution that best fits your immediate needs. And, the options are flexible so the virtual office solution will ebb and flow along with your work day and your mobility demands.