The future of work is now. The way we work has changed with more and more people and companies turning to flexible work models.
Working from home, from an office, where you can collaborate more easily or in a hybrid way. It comes as no surprise that some of the world’s biggest companies like IBM, Microsoft, PwC, and others are adopting flexible work models in 2021 and beyond.
Flexible work – what does it mean for companies?
Many companies may find themselves stuck in a long-term contract for an unnecessary big office space they are not fully utilizing as many employees are still working from home.
Also, when dissecting their budgets and operations, businesses that rent a conventional workspace may come to the realization that there’re numerous operational ledgers (beyond the office space) they need to take care of – from IT infrastructure to maintenance and facility management, beverages for the team, and many others.
To get a better idea of the differences, let’s explore some of the main characteristics of conventional and flexible serviced offices.
Conventional office
A conventional or traditional office is a workspace, which is rented directly from a landlord, usually at a price per square meter per year. Conventional offices are usually offered on long-term leasing and might be a good option for businesses looking for long-term space and facilities for their employees.
Yet, it should be noted that traditional offices do not include maintenance and other services. The company needs to hire in-house professionals to take care of all the moving pieces when it comes to managing your office space.
Also, the electricity, water, IT infrastructure, redundancy, and many other ledgers are not included in the pricing. This means that businesses that opt for a conventional office need to consider the expenditure costs, which can vary depending on the size of the space and the work, which must be executed to tailor the workspace to the organization’s needs.
Flexible serviced office
Flexible serviced offices provide spaces with the price being calculated per number of workstations as opposed to square meters of office space. This is more cost-effective as you pay for the exact space you currently need as opposed to big amounts of space you’re not fully using.
Also, usually, the pricing plans include various costly services like water and electricity, Facility and IT management, beverages, access to collaboration areas, and many others. This end-to-end experience takes the pressure off business leaders and provides a complete and hassle-free office experience.
Get a transparent full-fledged comparison between flexible serviced offices and conventional offices' prices and services through our True Cost of Operation tool.
Overall, the office-as-a-service solution has flexibility and convenience at its core. It accommodates companies’ growth and allows businesses to scale their teams up or down if needed with no extra hassle and additional costs. It is incredibly liberating to know that every little detail is handled by specialist operators - something that gives you more time and resources to invest in your key focus - team, products/services, and clients.
Operational Cost Ledgers to consider
So, what's the main difference between conventional office spaces and serviced offices? The end-to-end services and amenities are included in your serviced office plan. Let's take a look into some of the services that we often forget to consider as additional operational costs.
1. Operating expenses
Let's say you've hired a high-class conventional office space. Yet, have you considered other arrangements that might be needed to ensure the comfort and productivity of your team?
Flexible serviced office providers like Campus X offer 24/7 access, the highest level of security and safety measures, unlimited access to premier meeting rooms, all utilities, refreshing beverages, and much more covered in your plan. Thus, you don't have to worry about these additional moving pieces (plus, each of them can be costly and you need to be aware of these extra expenses, as well as of the expenses associated with hiring a dedicated Facility/IT Manager and other staff to provide these services).
As Neyko Belomachev, our Facility Manager with 15 years of experience puts it:
"The Facility Management we provide at Campus X saves companies time and unnecessary hassle so that they can focus on their businesses.
We take care of everything – in addition to providing fully serviced and move-in-ready offices, we manage all buildings and facilities, delivering the highest standard of security, maintenance, repairs, as well as safety measures during COVID-19. Also, the team ensures that everything runs smoothly, and provides fast and reliable support whatever members might need."
2. Infrastructure, IT, and Security
To streamline and enhance your business and operations, we offer full power supply and network redundancy, as well as custom IT services as opposed to conventional office solutions.
When renting an office or desk at Campus X, you'll get all of this included in your plan. Whether it comes to VPN access, private VLAN and SSID or complex on-premise and cloud solutions, and much more, we've got you covered. Last but not least, we'll be happy to deliver expert consulting services and best-in-class infrastructure.
"Hiring full-time senior IT staff to take care of your IT security policies, connectivity redundancy, or infrastructure planning can be costly.
By providing highly available enterprise-grade network services including Wi-Fi roaming, gigabit Ethernet, client, and site-to-site VPN, as well as firsthand experience-backed IT consultancy, we aim to equip our members with the tools they need to survive and thrive in the modern IT era," shares Sergei Biliarski, Campus X's IT Manager with 11+ years of experience in the field.
3. Capital improvements
There's a difference between renting a move-in-ready office (which comes equipped with workstations, including chairs, desks, and personal storage places) and an office space, which you need to equip yourself.
Serviced office providers like Campus X offer a fully equipped workspace, where you can move in the next business day. Also, we have gone far and beyond to ensure the highest standard of office safety measures (which also requires additional investment, in case the office provider you work with doesn't offer this).
Why renting a flexible workspace at Campus X?
At Campus X, Sofia, you can rent a flexible and fully serviced workspace. We take care of everything so that you don’t have to. At the Campus, you'll get access to inspiring collaborative areas and meeting rooms, best-in-class IT infrastructure and services, lightning-fast Internet, fast and reliable Facility Management, custom office design services, and many others.
"When setting up Wipro’s first hub in Sofia, we evaluated 3-4 serviced offices and chose Campus X for their customer-centric approach. The team spent time to clearly understand our needs and went out of their way to deliver everything within budget and on a tight deadline.
The building is well designed and offers great location, infrastructure and flexibility, ensuring a great start for us.
In my experience, Campus X is one of the best-serviced offices worldwide," shares Ramesh Phillips, Head-Operations Support-UK/Europe at our member company Wipro.
But there’s more.
Apart from the end-to-end office experience, which is tailor-made to your specific demands, we provide access to numerous intangible benefits - access to capital (two of Bulgaria’s leading venture capital funds are onsite at the Campus), talent (through the leading tech-ed organization Telerik Academy and our human capital partner BICA Services), mentorship, and an amazing and carefully selected coworking community of fellow innovators.
"We joined Campus X because we felt that it was not just an office space, but a community and an ecosystem, where we could feel at home and grow.
The professionalism, flexibility, responsiveness, and open communication that we have with the entire Campus X team makes it effortless to operate and grow our business and team," shares Simeon Galabov, Delivery Operations Director at our member company Unblu.
Do the math and enjoy your flexible office
Want to get the best value for your money when choosing your next office space?
Our True Cost of Operation interactive tool (LINK) uses the latest available industry data and helps you calculate the price of all elements, which should be considered when setting up your office space. Thus, you can easily and transparently compare between a traditional office and a flexible serviced office offering at Campus X.
Do the math now and enjoy all the benefits of our end-to-end office solutions.
