Dr. Gleb Tsipursky – The Office Whisperer
Cat Johnson – Coworking Marketing Maven
Angela Howard – Culture Expert
Drew Jones – Design & Innovation
Andrea Pirrotti-Dranchak – Competitive Advantage
Jonathan Price – CRE & Flex Expert
Jeremy Fennema – Tech Innovation Alchemist
The relevance of flexible offices and coworking spaces has never been more evident than in today’s uncertain environment. Thanks to short-term, flexible leases, companies are able to find a work arrangement without taking on the long-term risk.
However, while landlords and brokers see these spaces as valuable to a wider purpose, it’s difficult to quantify the value of these industries. But why?
One of the most obvious reasons is that there is little to no reliable source for industry data. Because much leasing information remains private, the public has to rely on the word of landlords and management companies to provide specific numbers.
While some companies have been able to aggregate this information from hotels, there is still none that does the same for the flexible office industry. Since there is no platform that is home to relevant data, such as local lease prices, vacancy rates and amenities, it’s hard to evaluate what the risks and benefits are for flex spaces.
However, there are some companies that are giving it a go. For example, CoworkIntel is attempting to compile publicly available information on coworking and flexible offices, then allow users to view anonymized data in return for additional data about their spaces.
“Landlords and lenders are interested in the space but they are sometimes still discovering this new business model,” said Ben Tannenbaum, cofounder of CoworkIntel.
Still, Tannenbaum says that the company needs more than just booking information to flourish — it needs raw revenue data that can then be separated across categories and provide authentic insight into each flex space company’s operations.
