What is a serviced office in 2021?
In the last ten years, we have seen offices and workspaces evolve into the dynamic and professional industry it is now. With technology advancing and increasing internet availability worldwide, it has made it possible to work in our own comfort. A serviced office is a ready-to-rent space, completely furnished and equipped with all the amenities required for a professional working space.
The owner of that commercial building/floor will give access to clients on flexible payment options. Unlike traditional offices, renting out a serviced office saves you from long leases and a big chunk of expenses that come up in the form of maintenance, renovation, furniture and equipment. Serviced offices are well-managed and maintained with no hidden costs and offer monthly rental packages. Furthermore, serviced offices provide facilities for communal break areas and smart meeting rooms.
What are the benefits of a Serviced Office?
A serviced office can offer benefits for small-scale businesses to rank up by starting with a limited budget and offering a professional environment for their team. The benefits come in numbers for getting a serviced office; here are a few to discuss:
- Relief on payments and scalability:
Most serviced office spaces offer month to month payment methods which help newborn business financially and professionally. This helps brand new start-ups and entrepreneurs to expand and slowly scale up, which lines up with their business plans.
- Facilities that come at a fraction of the price:
Serviced offices cater to the basic needs of companies that complete an office environment which includes; staffed reception desks, fully stocked pantries, lunch and lounge areas, CCTV cameras for security and many more amenities. The operator of a serviced office will also facilitate you with cleaning and maintenance services. Since the costs all the facilities can be availed without the worry of being overcharged.
Businesses also tend to try and use as much of their office space as possible, in order to maximise the value of the amount they have spent. This means rooms such as meeting rooms, conference rooms and large lecture rooms are usually wasted as they are infrequently used and often do not justify their cost. Serviced Offices allow for companies to use meeting rooms by the hour, thereby ensuring they maximise their office budget to its full potential.
- A prime location, that sets your business apart:
These offices and business centres are located in the business districts of Central and Sheung Wan(with many more around Hong Kong island) which helps link up with other businesses. Location matters the most when you are setting up the address for a professional business. Prime addresses such as the International Finance Centre and the International Commerce Centre all have serviced offices in them.
- Incredible flexibility
Many firms prefer serviced offices because they provide more room for expansion. You can simply request more space as your company expands. You don’t have much room to add space to a standard office. When orders are sluggish to come in, you can quickly shrink. For firms who are unable to foresee their growth in the coming years, flexibility is critical.
- Less stressful
Regular office spaces are far more stressful than serviced offices. While the operator takes care of your office maintenance, you can focus on attracting and servicing your clients. You don’t have to hunt for an IT expert if your computer suddenly stops working. That’ll be taken care of with a phone call to your provider. Most serviced office providers have their own team of skilled professionals to cater to their tenants’ needs.
Is a Serviced Office suitable for a startup?
Serviced offices cater the needs of businesses of every scale. Entrepreneurs that envision a successful business from scratch usually have a minimized budget at the start to reduce their expenses and finance the company. With cost-effective rental options, tenants can share services to reduce their spending. This gives access to equipment that might come at a bigger cost, such as centralised A/C units and wasted infrequently used meeting rooms.
Business centers, executive offices, and serviced offices can be found in a variety of locations across the globe, allowing startups a wider range of options for establishing a base. This allows enterprises to set up shop at locations that would otherwise be costly, as well as get access to business centers that also offer relocation services in their packages.
Possibilities:
Serviced offices have extremely flexible license agreements. It can be rented out for a short period as well, as fast as one project. If the project goes on, then the contract can be extended without any hassle. Serviced offices allow you to bring in your pets; when there are pets around the workspace, it lowers stress and maintains a positive work environment. Most serviced offices have meeting spaces that can be rented out for an hour.
Serviced offices are the future. Its improvisation has given birth to many successful startups, especially in the tech industry. Since most software houses and e-commerce businesses are managed at home, service offices will provide them with a chance to revamp their whole environment with a professional touch at a very pocket-friendly cost. With the foundation of a strong business, many entrepreneurs would be motivated to move their businesses to a larger scale and pursue success.
The introduction of serviced offices to the world has allowed companies to experiment with a hybrid work structure. This means allowing employees to work from home whilst retaining an office, albeit smaller and more manageable in scale.
Another instance is when a company decides to keep its personnel headcount but lower its corporate real estate by implementing a hybrid work method. Depending on how versatile a company needs to be, hybrid models can take many different forms. From doing A-B shifts to having a specific number of people work from home and the rest of the team stay at the flexible workspace for a period of time
Providers who compete in this Marketplace
The competitors in this marketplace can be divided into four groups:
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Multinational global firms
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Regional organisations in a specific region
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National organisations based in one country
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Local serviced office organisations in one single locality
The serviced office market is a very specialised sector with established providers and professionals who are operating globally and are constantly increasing its market share. These bodies made it more convenient amongst themselves.
Instead of signing into long terms and agreements, they adopted a simple two-page agreement to establish companies easily while collaborating with them and including them in their network at the same time. The main advantage of a simplified contract is that it can be signed quickly, is flexible and makes it easy to start working in a fully operating and functional office.
Serviced offices are a big marketplace for tenants and large corporations and at the same time, a blessing for many startups and freelancers who wish to cash in on this low cost, yet still professional and bespoke workplace environment.