Top 6 things to consider when choosing a Serviced Office
If you and your team are uncomfortable in your current office set up, choosing a serviced office may be the solution to ensure you feel stability.
There are many providers of serviced offices - particularly in the business hubs of Greater and Central London – and trying to choose the right one for you can result in decision fatigue.
You will undoubtedly have your own criteria to check against, but being an established serviced office provider ourselves, we believe there are key factors.
Here, we have provided 6 crucial points you should consider when viewing a workspace to ensure you are choosing the perfect office for you and your team.
Get a quick glimpse of a serviced office in action:
6. The Location
After the time spent working from home, going back to a long commute may not be desirable. An office more local to home, in a fantastic location means you could cut your commuting time, whilst also being able to access city centres via strong transport links.
Serviced offices can be found in most major cities, so whilst having excellent transport connections, they can also have great proximity to cafes, bars, and restaurants.
This is perfect for hosting a lunch with clients, meals out with your team, or even grabbing dinner on the way home.
5. The Onsite Team
The onsite team are key components in delivering your business needs, and provide you with a warm introduction to the community within the office.
From administrative support, maintenance issues, greeting your guests, to just a friendly chat – they will be your first point of contact for most office-related issues, and play a huge part in increasing your operational efficiency.
You should establish what professional relationship you would be able to build with the onsite team. Reading reviews of the office can be an invaluable activity, and is a great source for understanding how the team support the clients in the building.
4. The Amenities
Good office amenities help maximise productivity whilst increasing the overall satisfaction of your team by keeping them comfortable.
What is considered important varies from person to person, and you should keep in mind what’s important for you when viewing the office space.
Some examples include: fully equipped meeting rooms, modern kitchen facilities, cleanliness, maintenance standards, individually controlled air conditioning, staffed reception, networking areas, etc…
3. The Technology
Establishing what technology is on offer is another key aspect of choosing the right serviced office for you and your team.
A serviced office should provide robust and reliable connectivity, allowing you to work efficiently in a secure way. The offered internet should have flexible capacity to accommodate your growing business, and reliably facilitate communications between your teams.
Don’t forget the security element – you should be checking for fully alarmed offices, monitored CCTV as well as proximity control systems to ensure safety.
2. The Flexibility
What we at Airivo believe to be one of the most important things to consider would be the flexibility within the contracts. Companies should not be tied down to long-term deals, unable to expand or reduce a workspace based on the pattens of their team or their changing business objectives.
Flexibility in a contract just means you take the office that suits your needs at that specific time, for however long or however short. A flexible contract is a cost-effective solution, and allows you to work on terms that are best for you.
1. The Feel
Whilst difficult to put in objective terms, the feel of the space needs to be right too. You are going to spend plenty of time in the building, so the atmosphere should be taken into consideration as much as other factors.
The aesthetics of the building, from its modernity to its cleanliness, can help you understand if the atmosphere will be the right fit for you and your team.
Bright and airy communal areas with modern touches and plant-life, for example, may be more desirable than darker communal areas with little to no ‘personal’ touch.
With offices available across London, Birmingham, and Newcastle, Airivo have been in the serviced office industry since 2003. We know what works, as well as the needs and wants of our residents. More importantly, we deliver these on the daily.
Please do get in touch if you are in the market for an office, if you have any questions or would just like to chat to us about our availability. We’d love to hear from you.
You can see our serviced offices in action below: