By Vickey Li, Founder of Veery Offices
Last month, I wrote about the challenges landlords are facing to find new tenants and offer spaces that suit the ever-changing needs of a distributed workforce. Now it’s time to dive into the details on client retention, and how operators should be using technology to maximize their commercial real estate investments.
Over the past year, technology has grown rapidly to support all aspects of office space. Virtual offices and remote services are on the rise, with no signs of slowing down. In fact, most trends point towards a future that is flex: commercial spaces designed to accommodate companies’ immediate and long-term needs. This means workspaces of the future need to embrace new technology to operate the office, improve hospitality and tenant experience, and become more flexible, scalable, and efficient.
Office Hospitality is Irreplaceable
People naturally crave human interaction, especially post-pandemic. There is peace of mind knowing that there will be someone at the front desk to collect mail and greet your clients with a smile. Hospitality cannot be replaced by technology, but it can be streamlined. Operating systems such as meeting room booking, virtual office, and digital keyless access can create seamless operations in the office. The OnePiece Work digital space platform allows clients to schedule conference room bookings, so that our team doesn’t need to manually enter, decreasing schedule conflicts. Security cameras can also play a part in keeping the workspace running smoothly. Add-on amenities, like a Virtual Office, allow clients to digitally interact with our staff, while having all the benefits of being on-site.
Hospitality now extends beyond the physical office space. When quarantine happened last year, our team at OnePiece Work quickly had to transition everything from offline to online. Without the help of technology, managing our space and offering services to our clients virtually would have been tedious and ineffective.
Workspace Tech for Clients
The technologies that provide the most value to tenants are those that create a seamless office experience. Access to Virtual Offices, digital keyless entry, improved cleaning and sanitization services, and remote or low-touch onboarding provide ease of use for our existing client base. As companies expand to a more distributed workforce, on-demand meeting rooms, virtual networking, and multiple location access will enrich their experience. With locations across California, OnePiece Work utilizes a central management system to ensure we deliver consistent office services across multiple offices.
Client experience is highly dependent on providing a healthy and safe workspace. Take advantage of your operating system’s capacity management tools, workplace maps, and visit planning features to ensure a safe working environment for your clients and guests. Exploring various tenant benefits such as mental wellness platform access, in-office healthy snacks, discounted at-home workouts, meal planning, and delivery services can aid your clients in living a healthy lifestyle inside and outside the office. We’ve developed a Safety & Wellness Guide to assist other operators in creating a comfortable, safe work environment.
Scaling Technology to Maximize Investment
As flexible workplace experts, scalable technology helps us create a personalized experience for our members and our guests. Maintaining open communication with your client base and listening to their feedback is the key to a positive impact on your tenants. Client usage data can prove the success of new technology that is implemented. If people consistently utilize the tools, then you know it’s helpful for them. If more problems arise, you can re-evaluate the tool and quickly consider a different option.
Owners and operators must assess their long-term and short-term needs when it comes to maximizing their investment. Building trusted partnerships with an established flex office operator such as OnePiece Work can help to deliver fast turnaround, offer one-stop workspace services for underutilized spaces, and maintain high retention rates.
As the distributed workforce returns to the office, both landlords and tenants are searching for peace of mind. For landlords, this means quickly filling vacant office spaces and negotiating new leases in an emerging market. Companies are proactively looking for new spaces that can support a long-term flexible office strategy.
Vickey Li is the Founder of Veery Offices, a marketplace that matches companies with the right workspace for their teams in the changing landscape of commercial real estate. Veery was built upon Vickey’s extensive experience working with fast-growing companies for their office expansion in Shanghai, Hong Kong, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. With her passion for real estate, she executed her vision of a curated, scalable office leasing solution that would accelerate global footprints for today’s companies. Vickey is also the co-founder of OnePiece Work, a flexible workspace provider, which expanded to 10 cities globally and was ranked no. 8 fastest-growing private companies in the Bay Area by the SF Business Times.
