Don’t Let Your Center be the “NOKIA” of the Industry

“Acting fast enough in a fast evolving market is key.” – Kevin Benedict

Not that long ago, Kevin Benedict wrote an article on the importance of digital transformation and its role in mobility and competition, drawing attention to NOKIA’s situation when smartphone use boomed and they weren’t able to keep up.

In his article, Mr. Benedict goes on to say that NOKIA’s failure wasn’t due to them doing anything wrong; it was simply due the fact that they weren’t able to do “something right fast enough [for it] to matter.”

“NOKIA had a better vantage point than most competitors.  They dominated the mobile phone market for many years.  They were not, however, able to change their “thinking” and “pace of innovation” to keep up with both competition and the fast changing preferences of mobile consumers.”

What happened to NOKIA is the perfect example of what could happen to workspace operators that aren’t able to adapt to current work style needs. Our industry has evolved and changed significantly over the last few years, the market has expanded, workspace styles have changed, and workspace needs and requirements keep popping up.

Though in the past executive suites and private offices used to ‘dominate’ the industry, in the last years we’ve seen how coworking spaces have taken over the stage. Yet, plenty of debate has surrounded the whole private vs. open workspaces ordeal, and – like we’ve said before – it’s time to create and adopt a hybrid model in order to (quoting Mr. Benedict here) ‘keep up with both competition and the fast changing preferences of flexible workspace users.’

As an operator, you need to make sure that your center adapts to its users’ needs, and this means giving them the option to have the best of both worlds in your workspace location(s).

Take for example Industrious, the operator that saw a 500% in growth just last year. When OfficingToday interviewed them, they attributed a big part of their success and growth to their hybrid model. “We found the right balance between an executive suite and a coworking space,” Nipun Kant, Head of Growth and Strategy, said.

The time is here for other workspace operators to find their right balance in order to survive and get ahead of the industry’s growth and global competition. Workers from around the world are asking for spaces that offer them privacy as well as opportunities for networking, they’re asking for innovative and unique design, they’re asking for technology in the workspace, they’re asking for a dynamic and flexible space.

Other industries are living the digital transformation, ours is living and leading the work-life transformation. Make sure you continue to be a part of the work revolution, and to do that you need to adopt new trends and adapt to worker changes and needs.

Don’t wait too long, remember it’s about making the right decisions at the right time.

Feature image via Metro Offices – Tysons at Greensboro Station Pl., a center that offers both private and shared work space.