Category: Office Space Gurgaon

The coronavirus outbreak has shuttered businesses and disrupted billions of professionals around the world. Meetings and conferences alike have moved online and this shift brings with it challenges, while at the same time offering new opportunities. For some, this shift may be permanent. Is the business world ready to accept this as the new normal?
Virtual meetings might lack many of the benefits of face-to-face networking and the brand new perspectives that can come from simply leaving one’s home ground. But there’s a lot to love, learn and gain when it comes to these online meetings.

Need Of The Hour
Meetings and conferences are moving online and this trend is likely to continue even after the pandemic fades. As soon as the lockdown was announced, remote work demanded a method via which employees could continue working without connecting in person. Virtual meetings saved the day and these meetings were also utilized by colleagues to continue social interactions.

Safety Is The Priority
Platforms that demonstrate their value in addition to a commitment to health and safety will be prioritized over others. Meetings will continue to be an integral part of doing business and virtual meetings remain an increasingly important component post – pandemic.

A Practical Road To Productivity
Today, virtual meetings are the most efficient way to hold meetings in business. Virtual meetings allow multiple people to participate in a meeting while staying a safe distance apart. Colleagues and staff members can connect by simply clicking on a specific URL, and hold meetings, training sessions and exchange important presentations. Information can be shared via text, audio or video, without additional expenses. Virtual meetings depend on the flow of information and ease of communication between team members which ultimately can lead to an increase in the overall productivity.

Anywhere At Anytime
Virtual meetings enable users on the web to connect and interact with entire teams, no matter where they are. Also, it is an environment-friendly communication method that reduces travel and paper printing and can be used by both small and medium sized businesses.
To grow exponentially and increase profits in the ever-changing business world post pandemic, virtual meetings serve as a powerful and reliable tool at your disposal. This real-time and fast-growing way to conduct meetings can be ignored no more.

Ever wondered what the business centre buzz is all about?

In the past couple of years, big and small businesses have started shifting to either co working spaces or business centres depending on their size and the amenities available. However, the question that still looms is WHY?

Contrary to popular belief the serviced offices industry isn’t just meant for small companies or freelancers. Many SMEs and multinationals also create dedicated spaces in business centres – creating not just an environment that increases their employee productivity but also becomes their center of attention from where to expand.

So what are all those factors that make these places such a hit and a preferred choice among people? Continue to read as we settle down this debate of business centres vs conventional offices for you!

Business Centres are more than just a fad!

Started many years ago, the business centre industry was considered by many a fad as conventional spaces were more prominent then. However, due to the incredible speed at which globalisation hit countries, big corporations and multinationals soon realised that the cost of opening a dedicated office space there would be too high. So, one can say that the advent of business centres was fortuitous and well timed.

The success of business centres clearly indicates that companies are shifting out of conventional office spaces. In fact, many studies show that the traditional office spaces create an environment that is low in terms of productivity and provides a restrictive work environment.

Business Centres offer more than just a table or chair

Unlike the redundant, conventional office spaces business centres are more than just four walls, a roof and boring cubicles! Business Centres are based on the concepts of inclusivity, community building, promoting innovation and healthy relationships. From infrastructure, flexible workspaces, to the abundance of amenities – business centres offer the perfect balance between working seriously and having a good time while doing so.

In a nutshell, where traditional office setup is all about monotony and robotic life, you experience anything but those things in a business centre.

Coworking is the future of workspace

Dubbed the future and alternate to traditional workspaces, business centres offer an environment that facilitate innovative ideas and build a healthy employee experience. From flexible and collaborative work environment, huge savings on the budget there is more than a single reason why people are opting business centres over regular offices!

Why join the Corporatedge community?

• Cost Effectiveness: In our experience, organisations around the world have started shifting to a modern corporate landscape. By reducing the operating cost in terms of office space overheads and maintenance fee, virtual offices allow the management team to invest more heavily in their core business.

• Expansion: The flex nature of virtual offices makes it an ideal option for any number of organisations and individual work styles. With an uncompromising attention to detail and client needs, virtual offices make day-to-day operations smooth and expansion plans easy to execute. By offering services like basic office amenities, front desk services and mail handling, scaling becomes more efficient when the worry of space or fluctuating headcount gets negated.

• Job Satisfaction: Virtual offices allow individuals to work on their own terms and how it suits them – allowing every single individual to achieve the work life balance.

Selecting a serviced offices inside a business centre is no cakewalk!

With many a business centre cropping up around the world and in India, it is quite a difficult task to find that ‘perfect’ workspace that is both unique and keeps up with the flex nature of brands. In addition, while freelancers constantly look for business opportunities in their workspaces to help them expand, large multinationals and SMEs leverage business centres and the opportunity to work out of serviced offices to save on expenses like rent and other overhead expenses.

However, the questions that remain unanswered are how and what factors do companies consider while zeroing down on a business centre? Regardless of what the reason may be, all companies need to a bit of research and keep certain factors in mind while selecting a place.

Keep reading and get to know the 5 major factors companies must consider before choosing a coworking space.

1. Location

One of the most important points that companies must keep in mind while selecting a serviced office inside a business centre is the location. After all, nobody likes their employees to waste time in travel! However, a good location also means ease of access to affiliate business and clients.

Also, finding a place in a prime location along with added credibility offers a business to showcase a world class office in a corporate outlook.

2. Plans and Pricing

It is essential for businesses to consider pricing models before joining a community of a business centre. Companies must ensure that they ask themselves the right questions while going about this factor. Frequent questions that one might ask are whether the place offers flexible options that fit your company’s framework and if basic amenities like high speed internet are included. It is paramount that you get the best value for your money and it fits into your budget.

3. Culture and Community of Place

The community culture may sound like a cliché however it is yet another important factor in selecting a business centre. The opportunity to work alongside like-minded hustlers helps you in working harder.

4. Services and Amenities

Have you finalized the location, the budget, and the community? How about the value added services and other amenities? It is important that the business centre that you select offers world class services and amenities that help you maximize productivity. Whether it’s unlimited coffee requirement, 24/7 access or a printer, you need to have everything in order to be productive.

5. Hidden Costs and Benefits

Some of the hidden factors that you might want to look into could be one or all of the following:

• Access to the pantry/cafeteria
• The speed of the Internet
• Access to the meeting rooms
• Printing facility
• Mail Handling
• Access to the place out of office hours

Contrary to the traditional understanding of creativity, and after having served both international and domestic companies, Corporatedge has found the true meaning of creativity. Creativity is driven by three key factors – Originality, Innovation and Functionality. However, creativity alone cannot drive the success of companies in the flexible workspace, co working and business centre industry, it must also be useful and functional. These have become the hallmarks for companies that are looking to shift their operations to a co working space or business centre

Experts suggest that for many people something as trivial as a doodle can light the fire of creativity. The idea generators, thus, must be given the kind of environment to work in that helps stimulate their creativity and allows them space for focused thinking. Identifying and welcoming these finds is paramount to successfully run a business centre or a co working space where the members can channel their creativity into improving their work in a productive, impactful and efficient way.

“The impact of a thoughtfully and creatively built business centre always influences creative thinking”

How Creativity Impacts The Future of Work?

Creativity, as we’ve noticed, will mould the future of work in three essential ways:

1. Establishing best practices and hierarchy of valued professional attributes and job functions
2. Creating a framework for long term growth and survival
3. Providing a system for innovation

As many experts suggest, true dynamism and creativity flows from continuous innovation, experimentation, adaptation, and change. All these factors put together raise productivity over time – allowing companies to pour gasoline in the creative fire of innovative thinkers in their companies. And while many might ask how they can find such creative minds, the ability of a company to create an environment that sparks creativity becomes central to the future of profitability and growth.

And so, this is how we help.

Creativity – The Corporatedge Way

With close to a decade’s experience in designing flexible workspaces, creativity plays a central and significant role in our designs. This involves pushing our boundaries and supporting any and all challenges that our members might face.

And since the most unexpected and unpredictable ideas come from the heart of the creative process, we are able to find and understand the needs and behaviours of our members and work towards helping build their dream workspace in away that is suitable to everyone.

Hence, all our Centres exude a level of creativity that stimulates productivity and efficiency by balancing the need for creative designs with the counter-intuitive quiet workplace.

Contrary to the traditional understanding of creativity, and after having served both international and domestic companies, Corporatedge has found the true meaning of creativity. Creativity is driven by three key factors – Originality, Innovation and Functionality. However, creativity alone cannot drive the success of companies in the flexible workspace, co working and business centre industry, it must also be useful and functional. These have become the hallmarks for companies that are looking to shift their operations to a co working space or business centre

Experts suggest that for many people something as trivial as a doodle can light the fire of creativity. The idea generators, thus, must be given the kind of environment to work in that helps stimulate their creativity and allows them space for focused thinking. Identifying and welcoming these finds is paramount to successfully run a business centre or a co working space where the members can channel their creativity into improving their work in a productive, impactful and efficient way.

“The impact of a thoughtfully and creatively built business centre always influences creative thinking”

How Creativity Impacts The Future of Work?

Creativity, as we’ve noticed, will mould the future of work in three essential ways:

1. Establishing best practices and hierarchy of valued professional attributes and job functions
2. Creating a framework for long term growth and survival
3. Providing a system for innovation

As many experts suggest, true dynamism and creativity flows from continuous innovation, experimentation, adaptation, and change. All these factors put together raise productivity over time – allowing companies to pour gasoline in the creative fire of innovative thinkers in their companies. And while many might ask how they can find such creative minds, the ability of a company to create an environment that sparks creativity becomes central to the future of profitability and growth.

And so, this is how we help.

Creativity – The Corporatedge Way

With close to a decade’s experience in designing flexible workspaces, creativity plays a central and significant role in our designs. This involves pushing our boundaries and supporting any and all challenges that our members might face.

And since the most unexpected and unpredictable ideas come from the heart of the creative process, we are able to find and understand the needs and behaviours of our members and work towards helping build their dream workspace in away that is suitable to everyone.

Hence, all our Centres exude a level of creativity that stimulates productivity and efficiency by balancing the need for creative designs with the counter-intuitive quiet workplace.

One of today’s biggest challenge that businesses face across the world today is the high turn over rate of talented employees.

HR and top business leaders are struggling to find ways in order to retain talented performers. The rise of consulting assignments/freelancing is making things worse and more difficult as this kind of culture is adding fuel to fire.

To stop high attrition, and attract the best talent from industry one needs to look at what kind of environment one has created in the workplace, along with the better employee benefits which are a no brainer. Top Multinational Companies are investing hugely in creating inspiring office spaces and create a positive vibe environment through thoughtful office design in order to retain top performers for a longer tenure.

Some of the key ways that can help keep the attrition level low and attract new talent are:

1. Building office design which helps collaboration and promotes team bonding.

2. Employee engagement studies and surveys depict that employees, when to feel engaged in their work and organization, can improve the bottom line up to 20%. Thus by simply incorporating informal break out areas and adding quiet zones in the busy open-plan office design floor, organizations can help employees bond over work challenges and create better engagement. Creativity and out of box thinking in modern design can help employees spend time in the office in a positive more connected and deeper emotional level and thus creating a stronger bond with their work, co-workers and Company at large.

3. Taking feedback from the employees on office design and layout helps too.

4. Personalization is of key importance even in a shared office infrastructure, and companies are keen on having their own branding, customized fit out and an office design which goes with their Office culture, Company’s values and vision. Thus their employees’ opinion on the new office is very important to be it color, accessories, lighting options, ideas about Cafe/ breakout and recreation areas, furniture options and so on and so forth. Serviced office Companies like Corporatedge are providing this flexibility and collecting all the ideas and creating inclusive design patterns that reflect a very high degree of personalization from the employees’ perspective. This approach helps create a workplace environment which promotes engagement, trust and belonging thus adding to employees faith.

5. Providing a workplace that increases the positive vibe and helps in uplifting employee health in a positive manner is of utmost importance.

6. Office design , infrastructure, platinum lead certified and green buildings are very important as organizations face increasing business challenges, competition and regulatory uncertainties in today’s business scenario. Companies are thus putting more importance on the wellbeing and retention of employees and top talent. Employee health and their engagement at work are now becoming major key performance indicators for assessing the overall health of an organization. Office interiors, ambiance, and design should focus on the quality of air and natural light inside the work floor area. Acoustics and heat load levels/air conditioning are also very important aspects of creating a comfortable workplace.

7. Adding soothing colors , bringing in nature and adding more greens in the form of live green walls, potted plants which keep the oxygen levels of the place in balance are equally important.

8. Antiseptically clean environment , aesthetically warm and fresh work areas are a simple basic need of today’s modern workspace. 

9. Offices are a reflection of your Home away from home and they need to depict this through their design.

10. Offices which do not compromise on such key elements and have an eye for detail, carefully bring about form and function in their design have more successful, happy employees who are more connected and committed.

The biggest problems faced by office people/ teams working in open-plan office space is the problem of noise. Other people chit-chatting, the office colleagues talking, telephones ringing and noise from other machines these all contribute to creating a disturbing and not so favorable office buzz.

This noise, in the era of creative thoughtful work, has become a big concern for employers and employees both.

Research shows that the more complex and intricate your work is, employees need more time to re-focus and concentrate hard when distracted by noise. This also produces an unwillingness to take up and finish such serious tasks when people are aware of their noisy background. Providing control over how much noise to allow can help people focus better and improve workplace motivation to a much great extent. It definitely helps boost productivity as well.

Office fit out and design needs careful thought and in creating great office spaces one always needs to experiment and find new ways to provide form and functionality to control and keep a check on the ugly office noise. Globally the workplace authorities agree that use of quality acoustics in the office floors determines the performance factor and workplace wellbeing.

A great office fit out contractor and interior designer work towards incorporating important tools to create a noise-free office.

Some of the most effective methods used are:

1. Noise check/ control with thoughtful office design and plan.

2. Paying close attention to the different kind of work and work scenarios that happen in an office before they start the designing. Experts also develop a keen understanding of their clients’ work, their teams that need to work together and the ones that can work in isolation. Keeping in mind the various working styles and requirements, they place teams and individuals in proximity for better collaboration and keep isolated spaces for all the tasks and people that need the high level of concentration and strategic thoughtful insights.

3. Noise cancellation with thoughtful inspiring office fit out

4. To help all the larger teams collaborate better without disturbing others, office fit out consultants use office fabric, right acoustics material for ceilings and also use office carpet., vinyl flooring etc avoiding hard flooring which adds to noise created by regular walking of office users in the aisles and common areas. The use of such elements helps absorb noise and keeps other areas relatively peaceful. Aligning office storage and seating styles strategically, as they create barriers that block noise yet bring about collaboration without hindrance.

5. State of the art technologically savvy Cordless headphones for critical tasks. Many organizations provide and allow employees to put on headphones when they need their complete concentration for a task. Studies have proved that some level of noise does help to concentrate better when people are engaged in repetitive, structured tasks. Whether people use headphones for keeping them focused on their repetitive chores or use them to cancel other noise, the headphone is an excellent way of giving employees control over office noise.

6. Building quiet corners and telephone booths for better communication.

7. Apart from an intelligent office floor plan, office designers employ innovative and inspiring office equipment to include quiet corners in the office. Meeting pods for individuals or teams and office telebooths are such innovations that help people make phone calls and conduct short meetings peacefully and without any noise distraction.

Are we looking at Co working places to be apt for start ups , entrepreneurs, business networking individuals ? Do start ups really need the fancy set ups and ease of operating out of a hip place to perch themselves with laptops and start working in a space with Brazilian coffee or network over running beer right from the tap all bundled up and available at a low no really low price point ?

90% start ups fail and the ones which grow all of us know work day in and out compromising on the infrastructure and fancy aids to be able to sustain their costs yet keeping a steady watch on investing in their team, and working towards fund raising.

With my really long association of almost 15 years with the serviced office industry and understanding the needs of the ever evolving corporates , I do very clearly understand that Co working is all about a valuation game than a self sustaining profitable model. Are we saying that with the ever increasing real estate rentals specially in Grade A locations and buildings , one can provide low cost rentals without compromising on quality / service and can sustain the business for years to come without having the developer to share the burden or letting business bleed.

The deal structuring of such Co working places is mostly zero security deposits and rent free months to be able to offer hip and trendy fit out and a rate to lure the end user which means burden on the developer/ or a price correction on the real estate offering.

Most of these Co working spaces are either in buildings which were non functional or where rentals will be low, a compromised location , layout , less natural light areas or a distress property.

A Co working set up in CBD more like the well known set ups will not be a co working offering but more like a space leased out to one Multinational/ or Corporate who are primarily having the budget and wanting a spill over or project space , which as per my understanding isn’t a co working facility but a net space end use.

How many matured start ups with funding or Companies and MNCs would like to be a part of a Co working set up , where they will have an issue on creating their own brand identity or culture being set up in their own team, forget the closed cubicles / private offices which one would clearly look at to maintain confidentiality of business.

Who would want to be a part of a set up which cannot offer confidentiality / business ethics/ secured VLAN set ups still required by the ever growing demands of such corporates to secure their IT infrastructure.

I rather would feel that a Co working which works like an accelerator for business, an incubator, or the one which provides mentor ship on the likes of Silicon Valley are still to be holding the test of times than the ones only concentrating on ping pong tables, beer and coffee with colour full interiors .

An end user ready to pay will also not like to compromise on security, noise pollution, chatter, or rubbing shoulders with anyone and everyone .

With so many Co working facilities opening every day how many will stand the test of times or sustain business growth is doubtful to say.

Mona Shukla
Founder and CEO