Conventional office space vs serviced offices
October 3rd, 2008 | by Simon Rattray
Before the advent of Regus, serviced office space was pretty much an unknown quantity in the UK. BR (before Regus) there was just conventional office space or managed office space.
Even today, serviced office space represents only a fraction of overall office occupancy so there is potentially plenty of room for growth. In today’s difficult and uncertain economic climate, the serviced option is becoming increasingly attractive to businesses of all sizes. Some traditional office providers are looking to make their own offering more flexible by shortening leases from 5 to 3 years, perhaps realising that the straight jacket of fixed term leases is not viable for many businesses.
What I am going to examine today is why some business still may not be considering the serviced option and try to make the defense.
1. Serviced Offices are expensive
One of the most popular misconceptions is that serviced offices are expensive. This is usually a misinformed and irrational view taken by those who have not made a detailed cost comparison for their business. In times of increasing prices for gas, electricity and mortgages to name just three, the serviced option is a sensible way for a business to be able to budget their costs for the whole year.
2. I want to arrange the office to suit my company
Some serviced offices will allow you to brand your office with your own company logo for example. Clearly if you are small company in an open plan office then this becomes more difficult, but then a company of this size would unlikely to be taking conventional office space in any instance. If you agree a longer license agreement for a large requirement of workstations then you are more likely to be able to make modifications to the office space. Serviced offices vary in quality, with some using a very basic fit out while others will spend more on the interior.
I recently visited Regus on Oxford Road in
Manchester as well as MWB on King Street and they both had high quality interiors, furniture, lighting etc. I can’t imagine any business wishing to replace these for their own.
3. I want to employ my own reception and administrative staff
I have read of people complaining about the quality of some centre staff and feeling helpless to do anything about it. I know that 99% of business centre staff are polite and professional, it is in their interest to provide a good service to retain the tenancy of the businesses.
4. I don’t want to share office space with other businesses
Many serviced offices will have several businesses on one floor. This can be an excellent networking opportunity and in fact many office providers rightly use this as a selling point such as Lemonstudios.
However for an established corporate, this may not be suitable. Some serviced office providers may be able to offer you an entire floor however.
5. I want my own telephony and IT installation
Some companies may want their own IT and phone services. For example, a company that uses the internet heavily may want a very fast connection or they could make a lot of international calls and want to negotiate their own tariff. A company like this may find that a serviced office would not be suitable for them, but not in all cases. However for the vast majority of companies, the IT and telephony services that you get in a business centre will be more than adequate.
6. This is a permanent relocation, I don’t care about flexibility.
One of the benefits of serviced offices is that you can upsize and downsize easily with regard to the number of workstations you need. Some business will take a conventional office space that has extra space for future expansion. All well and good if that expansion actually happens.
So there is a rebuttal to some of the objections to serviced offices, if you can think of any more, please add them below
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5 Responses to “Conventional office space vs serviced offices”
By James Jones on Oct 3, 2008 | Reply
Yourspace now give free calls in some of their offices regarding to point 5.
By G.Love on Oct 3, 2008 | Reply
Here in Texas, there is quite a big push in the local business community for serviced offices. I think you need to get local business groups involved if you want faster success in the UK for serviced offices to really take off.
By Alan Siemonsen on Oct 3, 2008 | Reply
If you dont want to use the receptionists given by a serviced office company, you can always use your own.
By BakerG on Oct 3, 2008 | Reply
The best reason has to be taking more space as you need it. You just cannot do this in a traditional office.
By Maya on Oct 3, 2008 | Reply
Regarding point 5 of your (otherwise excellent!) article, I know that here at Thremhall Park we offer the full range of broadband solutions, from WiFi to the shared 2mb leased line that is provided as standard, to ADSL Max lines that companies can have patched directly to their office, for their sole use.