Deciding on the business address in Singapore can be a simple task, but when you are in front of 12 packages and one of them is three times more expensive than the other, you may wonder. It is much like a choice of a phone plan. They all appear to be the same, on the surface. Go down a notch and the disparities are large. Read more here!

The business environment in Singapore is credibility based. An address is not a line on your letterhead. It gives a positive indication to clients, banks and government agencies that you are a legitimate operation. A home address is a technically satisfactory address but it hardly ever evokes confidence when a person is meeting the person the first time.

Entry level business address packages are typically the simplest, which include a business address on a prestigious street, mail pick-up and forwarding. Easy, cheap and a big improvement already over publishing your apartment as the official address of your company.

Mid-tier package normally includes access to meeting rooms which is generally a couple of hours in a month. This is more than just an issue to many individuals. Taking a client to a professional boardroom looks and feels different than a coffee shop background on your Zoom call. One appears well-groomed and dressed. The other gives you a little indication that you have not really thought ahead.

The high-end packages go into the realm of full virtual office – their own phone and reception services and priority mail scanning. That is not a luxury to businesses that have to work with remote teams or in other cases with international customers. It’s operational infrastructure.

This is where the majority of people falter: they take the cheapest one, without verifying the ACRA compliance. The registered address has to be of a certain type according to the Companies Act, and this may not be provided as standard by all providers. Never sign anything before you are sure.

Whereas also makes a difference but not as you might possibly think. The Raffles Place and Shenton Way have a load in finance and professional services. Orchard and Bugis will have a better appeal to lifestyle and creative brands. Select an area that has visual language of your industry.

Prices in Singapore usually differ between SGD 50 and SGD 300 or higher per month based on the package and considerable discounts can be obtained on yearly packages.

A trick that might be useful to keep in mind: make sure that a provider is physically present. Others have virtual-only operations that appear shiny on the Internet but are unable to receive deliveries or courier packages – a nightmare that only manifests itself at the most inappropriate time.

The package which is the most impressive is not the right one. It is one that is appropriate to where you are in business today, and yet allows you where you are going tomorrow.