Dr. Gleb Tsipursky – The Office Whisperer
Nirit Cohen – WorkFutures
Angela Howard – Culture Expert
Drew Jones – Design & Innovation
Jonathan Price – CRE & Flex Expert
About This Episode
In this episode of The Future of Work® Podcast, host Frank Cottle speaks with Carlos Almansa, co-founder of Nexudus—the leading white-label software platform powering thousands of coworking spaces across 90+ countries. From automating operations to scaling global teams, Carlos shares insights on how data, AI, and flexibility are shaping the coworking world. The conversation explores Nexudus’ approach to using AI for predictive analytics, customer support, and dynamic pricing, while maintaining human-centric values like community and collaboration. Whether you’re a workspace operator, HR leader, or tech innovator, this episode offers a roadmap to the digitally enhanced, distributed future of work.
About Carlos Almansa
Carlos Almansa originally trained as an architect before co-founding Nexudus in 2012 with his business partner, Adrian. Since then, Nexudus has been helping workspace operators to automate and streamline operations, improve member experience, and scale up their businesses. Nexudus now serves thousands of workspaces in over 90 countries across the globe and has become the leading white-label software to manage workspace operations.
What You’ll Learn
- How AI is changing coworking operations, from help desks to pricing models
- Why flexible workspaces are core infrastructure in a distributed workforce
- Trends in enterprise adoption of coworking spaces post-COVID
- The role of data in decision-making, strategy, and community building
- Why community remains a core value—not a product—of coworking
- The future of AI-driven workspace services: from facial recognition to intelligent front desks
Transcript
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:00:00,000 ]Going to be the trend in the future, that the work is going to be more distributed. Also, I think technology is going to play a bigger role in the future of work. And at the same time, connecting to people will have a massive importance on this post or AI era.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:00:17,060 ] Carlos, welcome to the Future Work Podcast. I’m really excited to have you here today. Gosh, I’ve known your company since it started. One of the amazing journeys you guys have had is just a success story all the way.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:00:30,960 ] We’re here to talk about the future of work. As it relates to the flexible workspace industry.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:00:36,930 ] Just in general terms, how do you define the future of work today? What do you think it consists of today?
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:00:43,990 ] Well, thanks for having me, Fran. It’s a pleasure to be here today. The future of work, I mean, today— with everything that is going on in the world and AI and such— it’s very difficult to predict, especially the future.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:00:59,060 ] But I would say it’s gonna be more distributed. So we are already seeing that trend after Kobe— but I think that’s gonna be the trend in the future. The work is going to be more distributed. I think technology is going to play bigger role in the future of work. And at the same time, connecting to people will have a massive importance on this.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:01:27,630 ] Post or AI era, so to speak. So, in that sense, I think we’re in an industry co-working that is going to play a big role as well, being the infrastructure for that distributed, um, feature.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:01:43,520 ] When you talk about distributed, and you mentioned co-working. I think flexible workspaces, because distributed doesn’t just relate to co-working. It relates to corporate structures, governmental structures, all aspects of it. And I know your company has delved into co-working hugely. I mean, you’re the front end of that game entirely. But you’re also looking at other areas. Um, why do you think flexibility in the workplace matters more today than it ever did?
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:02:21,270 ] Yeah, I mean, we started back in 2012, and at that time, having distributed things was not that common, I would say.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:02:34,270 ] Now, companies are looking at the future with flexibility in mind all the time, so they don’t know what the team is going to look like.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:02:44,880 ] Two, three, five, years— so they look at this type of species and I mean, you mentioned flexible workspaces. Coworking.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:02:56,340 ] Any of these types of spaces that provide that flexibility.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:03:01,150 ] To, basically, built this operational layer that enabled them to have people like distributed in the same city, same country, even different countries.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:03:13,610 ] To give you an example, we started here in London.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:03:18,080 ] Um, then I mean, we have team not only in the UK but the US, so we have in Europe as well, Australia, and we use co-working spaces.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:03:31,160 ] As a tool, as a resource. When scaling up.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:03:36,480 ] Well, you know, it’s funny. I’ve seen the Gosh, I’m the old guy here. And I’ve seen this industry evolve now for 47 years. That I’ve been in it.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:03:50,440 ] Flexibility in business models in general— not just in the in our industry, but the need for flexibility in everyone’s business model today. Whether you’re a manufacturer, whether you’re a service company, a technology company, a two-person company, or a 200,000-person company. It just seems that that’s one of the key elements now that has to be mixed into every business model. And your services, what you provide to the industry, that’s the core for flexibility.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:04:21,630 ] Um, gathers a tremendous amount of data and sees a lot of trends, thousands of centers that you guys support. Um, What signals are you seeing that indicate there’s more and more enterprise users today.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:04:39,550 ] Then there was a five or pre-COVID. Let’s just go with pre-COVID. That’s a good line of demarcation.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:04:47,520 ] Are you seeing public sector demand, government also? And how are you seeing the shift in the user base?
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:04:55,110 ] Mm hmm. I think I mean that’s interesting because when looking at the latest data on this flex space that we just revamping, if you look at the inventory, 10 years ago, the type of services that these places provide hasn’t changed much.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:05:15,120 ] They still have offices and, in 2016, they had the private offices, they had dedicated tests, they had hot desking. What has changed is the scale.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:05:30,240 ] What it used to be like— offices for smaller teams— now they take a whole flow, so they have bigger companies that uh they have a big, bigger part of the portfolio dedicated to to offices. For example, so pre-COVID, we are talking about, according to the data that we have, around 50 percent now it’s close to 60 percent, but the same goes with flexibility. So hot desking before the the pandemic it was around three four percent of the overall portfolio and now it’s around 13–14. So both enterprise and flexibility, meaning hot desking, has has increased.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:06:18,320 ] No, I think you’re absolutely right. We’ve seen massive shifts and changes through the years as well. Overall.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:06:27,390 ] One of the things that we’re noting is— but large enterprises, enterprises of all size, a one-person enterprise or two-person enterprise, has the same challenge, but it’s really a battle for talent, too. The. If you are Google and you want to hire the best.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:06:50,920 ] You can’t always get everybody to move to Cupertino.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:06:55,610 ] You know, the huge cost of living, huge expense of moving, family disruption, etc. So even before the pandemic, we were seeing a trend shift in winning the battle for talent. We worked with a number of large HR companies. Um, that if you didn’t have a flexibility in your hiring program, you couldn’t get the best people.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:07:18,910 ] So I think even pre-pandemic, which kind of threw everybody across the threshold. We were seeing the same trending occur, and it was all about winning the battle for talent. First, second, about flexibility and cost maintenance management. Uh, because oftentimes, that battle for talent comes with not just the cost of the individual, but the cost of relocation, the cost of family disruption, visas, as we know. And that all has changed. Technology knows no borders.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:07:54,390 ] Oh. And today, in today’s world, it seems like that is a massive driver for what we’re seeing.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:08:03,750 ] Do you think, how do you see the changes in the the sector and the flexible work pace sector, let’s just let’s call it co-working from now on, keep it simple. Um, how have you seen the changes in the industry over the last decade or so, that you all have been running so many centers.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:08:24,520 ] Yeah, I mean that’s that’s also interesting when I mean when looking back in time. Um, we put together this dataset for 10 years. I was just out of curiosity looking at the blog that we have in the company.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:08:42,880 ] In 2016, we published this article about what to expect in 2016 in co-working. And looking at the trends that we mentioned or we highlighted on that article. Many of them we still talk about them today, like things like corporate co-working or news co-working, co-living. These were already trends at that time. I think what happened in the last 10 years that those trends or some of them they consolidated.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:09:14,580 ] and scale up as well, so I think in the last 10 years what we’ve seen is the consolidation of a particular model, which is co-working, or the variance that is discussed.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:09:29,220 ] There seems to be a divergence in the growth of the industry between coworking facilities or operators, who are very real estate focused, and other operators that are very much more service focused. Um, as really the industry is a service industry in my view, at least it always has been, it’s real estate dependent, but it’s still a service service industry. Are you seeing one group or the other? outperforming. is the service-based operators that are doing seem to do better, have longer customer life cycles, achieve premium rates and revenue structures versus the real estate. Which maybe has a lower operating overhead in some cases.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:10:15,800 ] But still, which group are you seeing being the most successful?
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:10:22,080 ] Yeah, I don’t have that much granularity on those two. I would say on each group you have people performing better than others, for sure. What I can see on the data set that we have is that tenure, for example, has increased. So people stay longer in the co-working and flex industry than 10 years ago. So tenures are longer in all the membership as an average.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:10:49,970 ] In that sense, I think the industry is being always very diverse. In, in, not only the business models but the offering that they have— different services catering for different communities, different niches and such. So yeah, I would say: The industry as a whole is in a very nice moment, a healthy moment. Um, Yeah.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:11:15,230 ] Well, you mentioned data. We both mentioned data a number of times.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:11:19,940 ] How is data collection?
Frank Cottle
[ 00:11:22,710 ] We have a little mantra in our own company. We say, ‘Get the data. Data becomes information, which becomes knowledge, which allows action.’ And we all sit around and we chant that every morning when we drink our coffee. So get the data, get the data, get the data. How is the data collection that you’re able to get? Across the massive footprint of the industry globally.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:11:46,010 ] Help. Funnel down and help individual operators to plan successfully for the future of work. So that they’re always there. In advance with their arms out rather than chasing.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:12:00,220 ] Yeah, I mean we think about data as you said to provide people with context. So many times the operator is looking at their own data, putting together this aggregated data set that provides the operator with context not only about the industry as a whole but specific regions as well. Um, I think it helped the operator to then make informed decisions. On anything from pricing structure to marketing campaigns. To members retention and such, so I think for us, I mean, data is critical, but also it’s important to look at data with context. So when people talk about data-driven decisions, we don’t think data should drive all the decisions, but it should play a role when taking the decisions, as context. Um, it will make sense.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:13:02,270 ] Yeah, no, I.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:13:04,680 ] I agree, but I disagree a little bit. In the I think, data itself is just numbers. Just a chart. How do you convert it to that information and knowledge?
Frank Cottle
[ 00:13:19,030 ] and apply it is what you have to do in order to make decisions.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:13:25,490 ] Uh, overall and that’s that becomes your combination that becomes your crystal ball, if you will, so that you can move into the future. So I think. But all decisions need to be data-based.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:13:42,890 ] But it’s not the data itself. It’s the information and knowledge you gain from the decision.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:13:48,540 ] That allows you to actually move forward. And that is it.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:13:54,330 ] Uh, that’s that’s.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:13:56,830 ] I won’t say a difference between us. That’s a refinement of what you’re saying, I think. In some respects. Do you all provide?
Frank Cottle
[ 00:14:04,570 ] Um, Or I wouldn’t say, because I know you do some of this. How do you provide advisory work back to the center saying, ‘We’re looking at your data.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:14:15,460 ] And we see data from a whole country or a whole marketplace.’
Frank Cottle
[ 00:14:20,650 ] These are the trends that we see, and we’re going to give you some advice on adjustments you might want to make in your operating model. Are you taking that guidance, almost consultative perspective today? Or are you?
Frank Cottle
[ 00:14:36,720 ] giving the operators a mirror of their data and suggesting that they’d look at it themselves.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:14:44,550 ] Yeah, so we have different approaches to that. Um, and we do in different angles. So first, I mean, this flex space observatory is a good example. We put together aggregated data, but then digest somehow and provide some insights to the operators so that they can uh see: What are the trends? What are we seeing?
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:15:08,340 ] On the data, but when they look at those numbers, they may see something different, but we digest somehow the information. Then, when we put together something inside the platform, like new modules that are AI-driven and such, what we try to do is to make the data actionable, as you mentioned. So, for example, when we did some years ago this meeting room demand forecasting to predict the amount of meeting rooms. After that, we put together the dynamic pricing linked to it so that the operator could action the actual data. And the same goes with the marketing insights that we have within the platform or the members’ engagement.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:15:54,190 ] Only about presenting the operator with like a nice dashboard, so to speak, but also to give them actionables. On things that they could do with the data that they have, if it makes sense.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:16:08,450 ] Well, you know, when we all reference data.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:16:12,540 ] Five years ago, it was charts, graphs, numbers that we analyzed, etc. Today, data is consumptive, and I would say it’s AI.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:16:23,660 ] Um, AI consumes all data. All information. And allows us to play with it much, much differently. How do you think AI, what do you think the biggest impact? In the flexible workspace of the co-working industry.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:16:42,440 ] Of AI. Will be over the next I’ll say three years. We can’t look too far into the future because gets a little interesting. Contentious. But in the next three years, what changes do you think we’ll see? That will impact. Not just the way people operate centers, but the way the customer uses the centers and the services that are going to be provided.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:17:07,500 ] Yeah, again, very difficult to predict anything. AI is every way changing and developing so fast. But as you said, I mean, I would start with the operations. It’s already impacting operations. So we did a couple of years ago this AI help desk. Um, that it should be like hundreds of tickets every day based on the context of each operator and that’s already happening.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:17:41,060 ] Um, I would say the second area probably is going to be the experience. As you mentioned, the members’ experience within the space and how, for example, not only how they interact with the physical space, but how they interact with other people. I think AI will play a role in that. Um, the other area I would say it’s going to be expansion. So yeah, it’s going to help operators to expand and to generate more. More revenue and attract more members, I think.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:18:13,390 ] But you know, it’s funny. Um, in our company, one thing I’ve seen that’s kind of interesting, that’s a small AI use or use of AI.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:18:24,310 ] In Asia, I have a friend who operates some centers over there, and they’ve actually installed facial recognition in their center in the front lobby.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:18:35,960 ] And. When someone walks through the front lobby, it comes in through the door. Uh, they’re recognized the first time and they’re identified, etc and they’re assigned an alignment, basically.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:18:52,410 ] Mr. Smith walks through the door. He says, ‘Hi, I’m Mr. Smith. I’m here to see Ms. Jones.’
Frank Cottle
[ 00:18:58,800 ] Well, that is all recorded. And so the next time Mr. Smith walks into the lobby, up on the receptionist screen, he’s identified.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:19:09,980 ] Who he is, who he’s. Probably there to see, and the receptionist is able to greet him by name and ask if he’s here to see Miss Jones, etc. So it’s just a small enhancement of service to the through that recognition process that we’re seeing. That might seem invasive or like a security system on the front end, but the reality is it’s a service system. We’re seeing that. Another thing that we’re seeing that’s kind of fun is: We have a contact center ourselves at our offices at Alliance Virtual.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:19:46,860 ] Um, have many thousands of clients there. And one of the things in contact centers, as you know, if you’re working as a live receptionist for someone, is: The receptionist having all the information about the company.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:20:04,570 ] And usually you ask the owner who creates the account, can you tell us a little bit, and you give them a little box to fill in.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:20:12,400 ] Today, we consume 100% of all of their website and all of their social media. Structure. And then that’s reorganized into a giant FAQ about the customer. So that the receptionist, which after hours and on weekends is actually an agent, an AI agent. Has all of that information.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:20:35,480 ] And can really act as. True extension of the company rather than just a classic live receptionist answering service.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:20:43,920 ] So we’re seeing information about the customers.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:20:48,410 ] Being consumed by AI and restructured into service models that are enhanced as one of the ways that it’s impacting flexible workspace. And I’m sure a workspace overall, a retail workspace, will soon be doing the same sorts of things. A customer walks into an apartment store and the person behind the counter may be selling perfume will automatically know the customer’s name.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:21:14,480 ] and something about that customer, what their pying habits are, et cetera. We’re seeing all of that evolve.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:21:22,310 ] Certainly in the hospitality industry, we’ll see that.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:21:26,310 ] flexible workplace is very much like the hospitality industry in our experience.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:21:31,730 ] Mm-hmm.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:21:32,300 ] So. Are you seeing other aspects of AI around web development, e-commerce management, product creation?
Frank Cottle
[ 00:21:43,320 ] Things of that nature, that you think will be advancing into the flexible workspace in the coworking industry.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:21:50,520 ] I mean, what we’ve seen in the last few years, working with these technologies, that the technology is as good as the context. That you provide to it. Also, I think, in my opinion, in this industry, I think AI is still on a very early stage. Um, and what we’ve seen is that the technology is as good as the context.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:22:20,730 ] That you provide to it. One of the misconceptions, in my opinion, is that this is a technology that solves all the problems. And as you mentioned, it’s, it’s good in very specific use cases at the moment. Um so I think the the key point here is to find those use cases. We’ve seen very successful ones, for example, I mentioned the helpdesk automation. So when people provide this system with a repository of FAQs that is comprehensive, then you have a tool— an AI— that is able to have customers 24/7, in different languages, and such. I think one of the keys is to find those specific use cases. Also to deploy always on a safe and secure environment, because there is so much changing every day on AI, so it’s really important that when you deploy these technologies, you do it like safe on a safe.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:23:29,610 ] Secure environment, but yeah, definitely our side. We are now working on a new version of what we call the Members Portal, and we are playing with these technologies to improve the member experience.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:23:48,720 ] Do you think that?
Frank Cottle
[ 00:23:50,390 ] Or, I guess, not. Do you think, because I’m sure you would. What?
Frank Cottle
[ 00:23:56,090 ] New technologies or new service structures that maybe are technology driven.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:24:01,860 ] Do you think?
Frank Cottle
[ 00:24:03,730 ] Providers of co-working centers or operators, as we call them in the industry of co-working centers, what do you think they should be experimenting with today? What do you think they should be pushing out for the next generation of services? To honestly, to make sure that the industry stays relevant.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:24:21,720 ] I think I mean, in my opinion, before getting to those experiments, to use AI to provide new services and such. Which it will come, I think, in the pretty soon. But before that, there is a layer of operations where AI can be very effective in specific use cases. So what I would say is to look at internal processes and see where AI could potentially help. Um also, when looking at those processes, you need to understand if the process is something first that it’s got the right structure, or maybe it’s something that you don’t need to do, and that’s another debate. When implementing AI, if you use AI on an inefficient process, you have like a 10 times more inefficient process when you apply AI to it.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:25:21,780 ] It accelerates the problem, doesn’t help the problem.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:25:24,940 ] Exactly. Um, I think on the next phase, putting AI and to help like members and to help members, like engaging more with the space. I think there are specific use cases that operator could be good at. Um, starting with, I mean, like self-serving. For example, you mentioned about reception.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:25:54,030 ] The front desk of many spaces is the website. So you could potentially have an assistant on your website that’s got all the information about your pricing structure.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:26:07,740 ] Any FAQs that comes every now and then. So that they don’t need to wait for you to get back to them on the email or by phone. Those are things that AI can help with. No.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:26:21,060 ] Well, you know, we.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:26:22,900 ] As you know, we’ve been in the industry a long time.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:26:26,800 ] We see two of the largest operators in the industry currently experimenting with AI. Office managers.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:26:39,610 ] Basically, maintaining a person at the front desk.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:26:44,130 ] But having an AI agent as the office manager themselves.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:26:49,110 ] Oh. Obviously that. Creates another level of efficiency on the one hand. On the other hand, it depreciates personal service just a little bit or at least today it does. But that office manager then. has the capacity to provide a whole variety of services.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:27:07,710 ] Two. pull upon other agents to manage social media, to pull upon other agents to manage, perhaps, bookkeeping and accounting services, et cetera, a whole variety of services. That are primarily AI driven, ultimately overseen human agents. But that are. The work The flow itself is very AI driven.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:27:30,390 ] That should bring back a whole variety of services into the industry from the center to the customer level if it’s done correctly and create extra value for the customer. Which strengthens the industry. Are you seeing any of that experimentation with maybe not the largest operators, but across any platform in the industry yourselves?
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:27:56,000 ] I think I mean— for us— One of the main reasons to start the platform back in 2012 was to enable teams, operators, and community managers to spend more time with the community. So one of the core values of this type of spaces, co-working spaces, is the community. As you scale and you have more layers of operation, more complexity. It becomes more difficult to stay in touch with people, like just to have a coffee with your members or to have an informal chat with them on a daily basis. It becomes more difficult. I think the role of technology is to help the teams to then spend more time automatically. The technology will automate those processes so that they can spend more time with their members and community.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:28:55,340 ] Well, if that’s the case, this is kind of a hard dividing line here, but do you think community is benefit of a coworking center or do you think it’s actually turned into a product of a co-working center?
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:29:13,340 ] I don’t see that. As a product, I see community as a core value of a co-working center.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:29:20,899 ] Movement, I mean, when we started the co-working was a movement, then it became an industry. But I’m very much attached to the core values of the original co-working movement and I think community is at the core of what co-working spaces do.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:29:38,180 ] Obviously, the industry has evolved into a much more diverse offering.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:29:45,560 ] Different types of spaces, niches, and such, but to me, the community is still at the core. So I wouldn’t say it’s a product; it’s one of the core values.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:29:58,800 ] Myself, I have experience and, so to speak, co-working. From different—i mean, from a hot desk, then a dedicated test, now an office— so I taste all the flavors from Qwerky and those interactions. For example, that you get, um, on a hot desk environment, when you get um on a hot disking environment when you get to to talk to people that you don’t know at all, and it kind of creates even collaborations. So you start like talking to other professionals that may complement what you’re doing.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:30:34,610 ] That, to me, is one of the core values and benefits of being part of a co-working space.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:30:42,750 ] You know, co-working is an evolution of what came before it.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:30:48,720 ] Serviced offices, business centers, executive suites, all of which have been around since really the 90s. The first business centers or executive suites that I saw, I didn’t see them myself, but that I find through research, really go back into the 1940s.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:31:06,420 ] I know we started in 1979.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:31:10,370 ] Building centers. That were very technology driven. We didn’t call it community back then. We just referred to it as networking.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:31:19,230 ] Um, the same outcome, though, was the same outcome. Events, activities, things that brought people together and we shared in a shared environment. Uh, and I think the industry has always used that as a platform. I think Coworking House.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:31:35,580 ] The co-working structure as a brand promise within the flexible workspace industry. Its brand promises to combine people, place, and technology into a collaborative community which stimulates business growth.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:31:52,170 ] Um, that’s a real simple, very simplified approach to it, but and it successfully does that. And I think it has become, I would agree with you, that it’s become the industry brand name, if you will.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:32:08,220 ] Although, Anthropic.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:32:11,580 ] Uh, just uh, is in the process of stealing the name. Because it now says all of its AI is a co-work structure.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:32:22,320 ] Thank you.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:32:23,170 ] So their new bot structure is co-work. It will be interesting to see whether Anthropic ends up, when you do a search for a co-working center, whether you get an Anthropic bot or whether you find a a nice center in London. Uh, that’s a battle that has yet to be defined and and yet to be established, but I think that’s coming down the road quite honestly.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:32:48,650 ] The final area is.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:32:52,940 ] We know the battle for talent is important in structure.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:32:57,780 ] We see a big Uh.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:33:00,260 ] Um, not shift a big Um, Well, I’ll say shift. Enterprise customers. I’ve been around in the industry since, well, since I’ve been around, since we started, and even before me, I know. But it was always tactical. They were using it for a project or a team or something like that. The shift has become strategic.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:33:25,080 ] Overall, to the greater need for flexibility that we see.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:33:31,040 ] Do you see that?
Frank Cottle
[ 00:33:33,180 ] Shift. And I’ll use our own company as an example. Alliant serves or we service over 250,000 clients. And 70% of them are enterprise clients.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:33:46,160 ] Okay, so we’re very entrenched in the enterprise side of the industry. It changes the way we look at things. It changes the way we create products or where we focus things. Do you think the industry at large will be impacted and react to needs and change materially? Where do you think the industry’s foundation ends? Um, smaller businesses and enterprises and startups, etc will be maintained, and that the enterprise clients will create a different model or go to a specialized provider. We know some providers are very focused on enterprise clients. Um, do you think there’ll be a division there?
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:34:35,100 ] No, I think, I mean, as you mentioned, these types of customers, they Thank you. They are more and more frequent within the industry.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:34:43,530 ] Anything in the last i would say five to seven years the industry has been embedding into the the overall offering. So we’ve seen more and more providers facilitating to large enterprises.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:35:02,820 ] Even like entire buildings or different floors. And as you said, the industry kind of adapted to different requirements and different needs, but I think it’s it’s not creating like a different offering or like a different segment. It’s kind of embedding within the actual industry.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:35:27,600 ] Um, Yeah, I think in general the industry is quite adaptive and we’ve seen that after COVID the flexibility and resilience that the industry has. To adapt to new requirements, new needs, new trends, it’s amazing.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:35:48,220 ] Well, you know, it’s funny. I saw one shift— a competitive shift, if you will. Between a large operator and a aggregator of small operators.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:35:58,900 ] On a contract. A while ago. And it was simply contract terms. The large operator. So.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:36:07,670 ] Net 60.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:36:11,740 ] None of it. Smaller operators could do net 60.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:36:16,380 ] So. That one term won a massive contract.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:36:21,240 ] Net 60. So it’d be interesting to see how the competitive plays for these larger clients, especially when they say, ‘I need 100 offices at 100 cities and 100 countries.’ How that plays out, because we’re starting to see that sort of structure. The last enterprise, large enterprise client we did, took 117 different cities. In one track. Uh and that, um, I think that’s where not where the industry is going, but I think that’s a lot of the growth from the industry will come from those large contracts and it’s very exciting, really. Very exciting. Every one of those big companies does something.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:37:00,390 ] They lay people off.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:37:02,690 ] When they lay people off, especially talented tech people.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:37:06,700 ] They all become entrepreneurs.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:37:09,180 ] And they’ve all worked in coworking and business centers.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:37:12,710 ] So it’s just going to expand the industry exponentially, I think, cycle after cycle after cycle. It’s a very exciting time. What excites you the most? Where do you think? We’re kind of running on time here.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:37:25,100 ] What’s the one thing that excites you the most about where the industry’s headed?
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:37:30,600 ] Thank you. I think diving into what you were saying, one of the exciting things of looking at the industry for the last 30 years that you see the whole cycle and you talk about freelancers that then they start a company, they grow the company, and all that is happening within the same ecosystem. And I think now, for example, you get more operators that are spam— not only the same country, but also about the expanse. In different countries, to provide their customers with a network of spaces in different countries. Uh, what excites me the most so we’ve been 12 years in the industry, but it still feels like it’s it’s starting off. It’s like it’s new. Everything is new. There is always like a new thing. And now, it’s all to do with AI, and see how this is going to impact. The nurse, three to five years or ten years in the industry.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:38:34,670 ] But yeah, I mean, what excites me the most is that this industry is never it’s always evolving. So, in the last 12 years, I haven’t been born a single day.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:38:45,560 ] To be honest, Well, I think the thing that excites me the most is that AI will allow us to provide.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:38:57,420 ] More tailored services.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:38:59,980 ] And therefore, help our customers, our clients, our members grow their businesses more successfully. In a very cost-effective basis.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:39:09,910 ] Of those tailored services that we can develop as an industry. I think are very exciting as we look forward.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:39:18,360 ] I think Nexodus will be foundational in the way that’s done because you’ve got the information, you’ve got the data. And candidly, you have the ear of all your operator customers, which are in the thousands. You can make a massive impact on the way the industry grows.
Frank Cottle
[ 00:39:34,700 ] Very, uh, grateful to you for your time today and I thank you very much for your comment.
Carlos Almansa
[ 00:39:40,520 ] Thanks so much, Frank, for having me.
