Hot Office Testimonial from Deborah Jones at MindSafety Limited

What is the difference between a Nokia 3210 and Conventional Leased Office Space.....?

TECHNOLOGY GRAVEYARD

The reason for the Nokia 3210 winding up in the technology graveyard (along with the Atari and Tamagotchi) is due to its inflexibility, out of date technology and lack of connectivity. As times have changed, so have people, more importantly so has technology and the way we now work.The Flexible Working Community can now run a million pound business from the comfort of a one-bedroom apartment anywhere in the world. With the assistance of virtual offices, telephone answering services and meeting rooms we can give the illusion of being located at an impressive office without the burden of heavy overheads. Serviced office space and Business Centres that provide many of these services (and often more) are now as current, useful and productive as our IPhone's or touch screen tablets.

A good example of a flexible but fun working environment is The Hot Office who operate four Serviced Offices based in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Hot Office Business Centres, much like your iPad or iPhone can take the stress out of work by offering the user very flexible, affordable and fun solutions to 21st century mobile working needs......CHOICE OF WHERE YOU WORK
Although the deceased Nokia 3210 is a gadget of the past, conventional leased office space still seems to be very present, but why?Has it not now had its time? Is it not time for conventional leased space to join the rest of the outdated technology and other junk that you have squeezed in to your 'Bits and Bobs' drawer?The short and simple answer is YES!

I understand the transition can be difficult as humans are very social creatures. For the most part, people need physical contact, human interaction and work better as part of a group. The office is not going to go away, because it is a convenient base for administrative function as well as meeting superiors, colleagues & clients, etc. The difference is that you now have a choice as to how and where you decide to work, such as cafes, hotels, flexible office space environments, trains, cars and even planes.The Hot Office is a prime example of the flexible serviced office space. It is not uncommon for these community spaces more commonly referred to as 'coworking hubs' to host services such as Telephone Answering, Virtual Office Addresses, Registered Offices, 24/7 Coworking Space & Meeting Rooms etc...Going to work in a Serviced Office space can now be just as exciting as unboxing your new iPad for the first time as both can help offer new and exciting ways to work......IMPROVE YOUR MULTI-MILLION £ EMPIRE

There is no doubt in my mind that flexible office space, including Coworking Hubs, Hot Desks etc. will soon become the new way to work and traditional leased office space will indeed become a thing of the past.So before you find the time during your busy day to read the 40 page contract on your new 25 year lease and pay the landlord £20k before any of your staff has sat on a chair, just think..... Is it time to future proof my business? Am I ready to remove the risk and hassle of building management from my daily task list and focus all of my attention on improving my multi-million pound empire?The answer in my opinion is obvious.....

Author: James Waterman - [Hot Office Business Centres]

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Hot Office Business Centres are specialists in flexible serviced office space and virtual services , delivering a broad range of services including private office suites, campus offices & c ow orking sp ace, v irtual t elephone a nswering, b usiness p ost a ddress services and meeting & training rooms. The Hot Office provides award winning services for over 3 ,000 growing and established business es across the UK including within its portfolio  Tesco, BT, Energiser Batteries, Tropicana, Voxeo, British Gas and Unilever

Meet our new Hot Office mascot

Meet our New Hot Office mascot - Mr Hot. He'll be providing lots of top tips from the world of mobile working trends and flexible working over the coming year. 

Hot Office Testimonial from Satish Pancholi at Opticall Limited

New Businesses at The Hot Office

The most common problem faced when starting a new business is ‘Cash flow’. Starting a new business can prove very difficult in the current climate. You have this great business idea and are so sure it will work, so you setup at home in your garage and get to work. A month or so passes and you feel it is going well. Your monthly outgoings are low and your income is reasonably steady, however, you now face your first problem; expansion. You feel in order to grow your business you need to better your presence within the industry and decide that a small office would work well for you. You take a look on the Internet, call a few agents and realise that to take responsibility of an office now could destroy your business within weeks. You don’t have the initial security deposit, you don’t have time to read through all the paperwork and arrange for the maintenance and upkeep of the new office and you are certainly not willing to sign a 10 year lease and not to mention the most important factor; cost! Around £2000 a month for an office which doesn’t seem to be much better than your garage. So you think that you are now all out of options and your business has no chance of growing…Wrong!

This is where The Hot Office comes in. Hot Office Business centres provide flexible serviced office accommodation for new or existing businesses.

Whether you are looking for a 15 person fully serviced office to a single desk on an hour basis in our vibrant, Co Working, buzzing campus area; The Hot Office has it all. Why not give us a call to arrange a tour of any of our four Centres in the Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire area on 0800 019 8384

Author: James Waterman - [Hot Office Business Centres]

Hot Office Testimonial from Bill Murphy at Personal Protec Limited

Shared Space vs Private Space

Shared Space versus private Space has resulted in a body of research that explores the pros and cons of both approaches. After finding the perfect location which is often first on the checklist, it then really comes down to three deciding factors. These are Culture, Communication & Cost.
Culture can be broadly defined as “the way things are done around here.” It includes business values and behaviours, belief systems, management values, expectations and attitudes and employee values, expectations and attitudes. It is important for any business to consider these factors as for them, working in a shared space office environment can influence those factors and can change the way their employees currently work or can manipulate their attitudes which can result in moulding with other businesses beliefs and expectations. Other businesses will overlook this and it may not even make it on to their check list, but it certainly is a point that should be considered. Where that style can work perfectly well for one business (who perhaps is a new start-up business and currently has no ‘set in stone’ company morals) it may not work for another.

Some businesses will not suit Shared Space due to legality reasons i.e. client confidentiality etc... and will have no other option than to utilise private space. Other businesses will make that decision based on a number of factors. I.e. having a larger work force or needing their own physical space for client meetings.
Some may just decide that they would prefer to work within private office space as they are already based in a private office space environment and are simply looking to make a smooth simple transition. The minor few businesses left, in my opinion, will not agree with the concept of shared space and will out rule it for that one and only reason.

Shared space will often work great for either a start-up business who will decide to move from their back bedroom for reasons such as feeling isolated, wanting to socialise and network with other businesses or wanting to separate their home life with their work life. Other businesses will decide that working in a shared space environment offers a great atmosphere and gives off a real motivational buzz. Communication can be key for the success of their business and for them, the busier the environment the better.
Cost is often a little further down on the list. It will often work out to be a far more cost effective option to use shared space on a flexible basis i.e. the ‘CoWorking Hub Service’ at The Hot Office. This is akin to a Gym membership and enables you to come and go as you please and only pay for the time you are using.

To summarise, most people appreciate the sense of community a shared spaced environment can offer. Shared Space allows for better communication and exchange of information amongst co-workers. It is easier to ask each other questions in an open environment. This is a perfect example of a service/environment that Hot Office Business Centres can offer. On the flip side of that coin a key benefit of working in private office space is the reduction in noise and closed space can also translate, for some, into more room/space. To get a visual understanding of the Shared Space versus Private space at Hot Office Business Centres then please take a tour on our website, or why not pop in for a coffee and chat to see how we can benefit your business?

Author: James Waterman - [Hot Office Business Centres]

Hot Office Testimonial from Amanda Watkin at Lets Train (UK) Limited

The Importance of a Telephone Answering service.

Hot Office Business Centres offer Telephone Answering services for one reason – Businesses need them! Making sure you answer you get to your calls on time and answering them in a professional manner so vital to any business and can often be a service that is overlooked or perhaps considered unnecessary. It is a fact that 80% of callers will not call back if they hear an engaged tone or an answerphone and remember you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. Let’s for example imagine you are a tradesman working in a customer’s house. Your mobile rings but you are up a ladder or in the middle of an important job so you are unable to answer the call. You find a spare half hour at the end of your day to call back the dozen or so missed calls that you had. Most of those enquiries will have called another tradesman and more than likely decided to go elsewhere, some may have called on a blocked number so you have no way of calling them back anyway and you may get in touch with the odd one or two potential customers.  So not only have you had to add another half hour or so on to your already busy today but you may not even get any business from it.

Ok so maybe you think I’m exaggerating slightly so let’s presume you do manage to answer your calls. You have to stop the work you are doing to answer the call, search round for a piece of paper or anything you can get hold of to take a note of any important information and if you are on a busy building site or there is other work going on, it’s going to be a loud environment and this won’t sound very professional on the phone, not to mention the customer who’s house you are working in not being best pleased that you are taking calls when  they are paying you to work for them. Hot Office Business Centres can offer you the best solution. We can answer your calls all day long without you having to worry about a thing.

We can do everything from taking notes and relaying this to you via an email or SMS service to taking bookings and orders for your business whilst managing your online calendar. If loss of potential business is important to you then give us a call. You can even trial the Telephone Answering service for free. This can be the difference between the success and failure of your business. Surely it is worth giving it a try? 

Author: James Waterman - [Hot Office Business Centres]

Cafe Coworker Cull: How Business Centres Can Capitalise

Cafe Coworker Cull: How Business Centres Can Capitalise

Coffee shops are culling the laptop worker trend. We’ve been watching this for some time, but it seems that now, more coffee shops are jumping on the Wi-Fi-busting bandwagon, and are getting creative with new ways to limit the amount of time workers can use their free connection. Some block or cover their wall-mounted plug sockets, while others are enforcing strict time allowances on free usage. Others have switched off their Wi-Fi altogether.

Flexible workspace operators should consider these ousted workers. While not every coffee shop worker will walk out of a free Wi-Fi zone straight into a business centre, there are select workers that may be in the right position to do just that. They may not be looking for serviced space, but a short-term pay-as-you-go solution – like a CoWorking space – could be right up their street.

We all know that coworking is growing fast. It has come a long way in a short space of time and is now something of a buzzword. Just look at the stats from Deskmag:

• There are nearly 2,500 coworking spaces available worldwide
• More than 110,000 people use these spaces
• There are 83% more coworking spaces than last year
• Coworking space members have grown by 117% in a year
• 4.5 new coworking spaces have emerged every weekday over the past 12 months

Those are big figures, and today, coworking is a big topic for the business centre industry. It made headlines at Ray Lindenberg’s recent WANY gathering, and took centre stage at the BCA’s ‘unconference’ in London recently. It’s big news because there is significant demand and it’s growing fast, and while some flexible workspace operators see it as a threat, others see it as a golden opportunity.

However, the question of how well business centres can blend coworking into their workspace is an interesting one. A ‘true’ coworking space is many things – collaborative, supportive, inspirational, and one that fosters a sense of community. There is no hard and fast rule, but these are some of the themes that regular coworkers have come to expect. Therefore, setting aside a spare office with a handful of sofas and bar stools just won’t cut it. A coworking space needs to be a dedicated investment, and it needs to be worked at.

One flexible workspace brand that has successfully integrated coworking spaces into its London portfolio is Workspace Group PLC. In its annual report released earlier this year, it cited its coworking brand – Club Workspace – as a successful part of the company, and that’s probably because it has invested just as much in developing the right community as it has in the physical space.

“Community in coworking spaces is key,” said James Friedenthal, Managing Director at Club Workspace. “It’s the heart of a coworking space. It’s not just about desk space, it’s about a system of collaboration and engagement. It’s a different mentality to serviced or managed office space.”

He should know. At Workspace, the company operates a range of workspace including light industrial, studios, workshops, serviced office space and coworking spaces. Club Workspace is the coworking arm of the portfolio, and it has been integrated into their buildings and yet remains separate, with its own unique buzz. Every detail is focused towards collaborative working, from the layout and positioning of the space right down to the furniture design with easily portable chairs.

“Our coworking spaces have various elements, there are large collaborative desks and smaller, one-to-one areas, and quiet zones where workers can get their heads down,” he said. “It’s about creating a space that people want to work in.”

Club Workspace has made the coworking/business centre amalgamation stick, and with five hubs in key central London locations, they are well placed to attract city workers – including ousted coffee shop workers.

Business centres and flexible workspace operators should consider whether their offering would suit entrepreneurs that are still using their local cafe to work and collaborate. 

One thing’s for sure, the coworking trend is a trend worth watching. We’ve covered numerous coworking topics on OfficingToday over the past year or two and still, coworking is showing no signs of slowing down.

Image source: Sura Nualpradid, freedigitalphotos.net - artical from Officing Today and writen by Jo Disney (published on 26th July 2013)

Telephone Answering Services

Sales Team member James Waterman attempts to explain what services Hot Office Business Centres can provide with some interruptions.

More information can be found at www.TheHotOffice.com 
or call 0800 109 8384