How to run the slickest workspace

As this report makes clear, co-working and shared workspaces are booming. Cushman & Wakefield estimate the sector now soaks up 8 per cent of all new global office space. There are thousands of providers and many new ones springing up all the time.

The challenge for the managers of these facilities is how to run the slickest operation. Hosting a shared workspace isn’t easy. There are hundreds of tenants, all of whom have their own specific requirements.

In the early days, administrators used whatever tools they could. They would run a plethora of applications side by side to manage their workspace, often using Excel and paper diaries to cope.

Our mission at essensys is to end this. We provide a complete solution for running a workspace – from membership and payments, to IT and meeting room management.

If something can be automated, it should be. This cuts down costs and admin time, and provides a much richer and frictionless experience for all parties

To help tenants get to know their neighbours and build a support network, numerous spaces operate a social network. Many startups and multinationals use shared workspaces because they love the social side. There are networking events, parties and guest lectures. It’s a big part of the appeal.

Like Facebook and LinkedIn, members get a homepage listing their profile details. They can chat with other members, post requests, photos, create events and build valuable commercial relationships with other tenants. Our platform is perfect for this; it has all the functionality workers need to become a friendly and productive community.

The core of our philosophy is automation. If something can be automated, it should be. This cuts down costs and admin time, and provides a much richer and frictionless experience for all parties.

So all back-office functions are automated. Sales, membership and payment is handled with the minimum of fuss. There is seamless integration with accounts systems. Late payers are automatically chased and end-of-month customer billing becomes a breeze.

And tenants naturally prefer to manage tasks themselves using a sleek app, rather than wait for a staff member to attend to it. With easy, on-demand access to products and services in your workplace, specific requests such as booking meeting rooms are done online. IT and communications provisioning is automated, as are wi-fi passwords.

The idea of having to do these things manually is painful. Workspace administrative staff should be freed up to concentrate on the issues that really matter, not bogged down in manual labour.

A real key is our analytics. The platform collects a wide variety of data. It enables you to spot trends and patterns in member behaviour, see which tenants use which space, and for how long. You can sell more space and provide better customer service. Key performance indicators on occupancy, revenue, sales, debtors and other areas are auto-generated, meaning you can finesse the running of the business.

The essensys platform has been built and refined over years, using feedback from our customers. It is at the heart of operations at some of the world’s most successful workspace operators. We are always upgrading our platform to ensure clients have the very best technology for every task.

In 2015, we were named a Gartner Cool Vendor and won the UK Tech Award for Innovation. We were proud to be named one of The Sunday Times Tech Track 100 two years in a row.

We are massive believers in the workspace revolution. It’s fabulous for business, from startups to blue chips. With the right platform, the experience of workspace providers and their growing community of tenants can be made so much better.

To find out more visit essensys.tech