Office Space As A Service — A No Brainer
Co-working services are doing to office space what the SaaS model did for software. Why was SaaS so effective? It is pay per use without huge initial investments, its available on-demand and you can expand as you want.
Now let’s look at office space. They are a massive overhead usually on CAPEX requiring initial investments and leases. Office spaces need to be fitted and you cannot expand as you want.
Enter co-working spaces that have basically SaaSified office space. They also have cool member lounges, innovation spaces, community events, and if you are lucky chocolate chip muffins.
Co-working spaces have managed to create a sense of community, collaboration, and continuous learning that HR professionals of companies struggle to incorporate into company cultures.
So why are enterprises still holding onto massive offices? Especially during these challenging times? As with anything, there is an adoption curve. Even though SaaS has revolutionized how software is sold, it still doesn’t have 100% penetration.
But I believe 2020–2021 will be the year of co-working spaces. With budgets shrinking, and social distancing affecting us all, more and more enterprises will turn to co-working spaces. Resources will become shared as more and more companies struggle to retain staff.
Once COVID-19 clears a sense of community and belonging will become essential to recovery. We will need our human connections more than ever and companies can no longer afford to do that in isolation. Co-working spaces are the perfect alternative.