Will Regus, serviced offices benefit from the credit crunch?
May 19th, 2008 | by James Jones |
With Regus being the largest provider of serviced office space, they are used as an indicator by industry watchers and are followed by some of the smaller serviced office providers as a way to grow their own businesses.
Mark Dixon has said in the press previously that Regus are well placed to withstand the effects of the credit crunch because people are less likely to commit to long-term office leases and an initial outlay of money.
We agree with this of course, and the huge size of Regus means that they can spread the benefits far and wide and many businesses over the next year or so will turn to serviced offices as a way for housing their staff. The downturn will actually have more businesses considering a different option, perhaps without currently knowing what a serviced office is and with Regus having more centres than anyone else, they should benefit on a grand scale as awareness grows.
However, how will some other serviced office companies ride the credit crunch? Will they simply ride on the coat tails of Regus, or is there another way for them to bolster awareness and take advantage of the downturn in the markets?
Are all of the smaller office space providers large enough to withstand it? What new ways will they try to generate business, maybe on provincial levels, as businesses themselves look for ways to be more frugal in times of great stress on their bank balances?
This is a criticism from Choregus of some of the smaller serviced office providers. Simply following what Regus does, whilst giving them a good blueprint, without ideas of their own is surely not a way to succeed over a long period of time?
Isn’t it time that some of the smaller operators started to come up with ideas of their own, so that they and in time the whole industry benefits from an injection of innovation?
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2 Responses to “Will Regus, serviced offices benefit from the credit crunch?”
By Paul Carter on May 19, 2008 | Reply
I can assure you there are plenty of innovative providers world wide who offer a much wider array of services and environments to their clients. Regus does benefit from it’s size and it’s reach however they are now opening centers that look like airport lounges, not everyone wants to sit in an airport lounge all day.
By Phil Gardener on Jul 10, 2008 | Reply
If you look at the 4Ps in the marketing mix smaller providers like ourselves can compete on Price, Product and Place (less convinced about Promotion given the budget that Regus can spend). At Demute we believe we are offering a fantastic service to our clients who tend to be small start-ups and SMEs by offering a service close to where people live so they can walk to the office coupled with no leases or agreements or long term outlay/retainer and a door price comparable to a couple of Starbucks Lattes. We offer a slimmer choice of options than Regus but all that people need to get the job done. Just as people took time to get used to budget travel and budget hotels so more will have to get used to budget serviced office space. Offering a more attentive service may be the differentiator but with more people now exploring serviced office options it has to be good for all of us in the sector