What is coworking space?

Workplace has always been evolved to give business a support it needs to operate. Back in years when main function of office was a place where we put desks and chairs, provide meeting rooms for staffs to meet, people normally sit at the same desk spend most of the time working individually at a computer.

Then time evolved to have agile workplace to support the business that was more complex and needs of ability to mobilize quickly. Then the landscape changed again that business needs more flexibility than ever before. It need to be able to adapt quickly to changes, business are relying more on a network of value chain, collaborations between companies, outsourcing of activities, plus in terms of working life, people have more need that they can move around in the workplace, interact with people, or further need an ability to work remotely around the city, etc.

Most people will imagine that Coworking space is for freelancers or small startups who carries a laptop, sitting on the shared long table in a café-like setting. Actually, coworking space now has a lot more to offer. Whether you are a freelancer, startups with 2 persons in the company, SMEs, Unicorn startups, or corporate / MNCs. coworking space will have it there to serve your requirements. They can provide private rooms with full security control, or even tailor the space for you to suit your preferred working ways. They sometimes go unbranded that when your client arrived at the floor, it gives them an impression of a private office and they don’t even noticed that you are in the coworking space. This is why we see increasing number of corporates / MNCs become coworking space occupiers.

Key benefit of coworking space are :

Flexibility on lease length, space expansion.

Instead of typical lease term of 3 years as in the conventional office. Now you can choose a lease length from daily, weekly, monthly, 3-month, yearly, or longer. Also, they provide you better possibility to switch or expand the room when you need more space. This is ideal for lots of startups who are gaining grip in the market, and headcount growth is rapid and hard to predict.

No (or minimal) investment needed for office decoration or reinstatement.

coworking space or serviced office normally provide office furniture so that occupiers can just carry laptop to work there without hustle to deal with office preparation, decoration. When you move out at the end of the lease, you can just leave the space as it is. No need to reinstate.

Hustle-free – electricity, cleaning and other services included.

Like the header says, normally plus internet, drinks, receptionist service, etc.

Shared facility, common area – less investment, more facilities.

Coworking space commonly provide open area where members can carry a laptop to sit and work anywhere in the common area when they got bored working inside the office or want some interactions with people. Normally the pantry is provided with soft drinks and coffee. Printer, stationary corners, meeting rooms of various size, quiet zone or phone booth are also quite a basic facilities. Some provide extra facilities like child feeding rooms, prayer’s room, etc.

Co-working environment, support each other to grow.

Interacting with others are option. If you choose to socialize with people, coworking space facilitates you meet and know more people. They arrange events to encourage members to develop a close network where all can be benefited from wider connections. They recommend your business to other members to help you grow. Countless number of companies grow from this, they share knowledge, allocate / outsource their work to more specialized party who can get the job done faster and cheaper, get the skill they’re missing, then they grow together. Again, socializing with members are your options!

Provide business support, an ecosystem to grow.

Not only a community, some coworking space operator provides other additional services like business consulting, accounting and company registration service, etc. Some provide even more advance services e.g. fund rising consultancy, investor meeting for tech firms or startups, etc.

Great for all scales.

Normally small companies with 2-5 people can find it hard to find a space in commercial office buildings as most buildings offer the space from approx. 80 sq.m. or bigger. Instead of trying to swallow that space that is too big for utilization, being in a coworking space would be ideal. On the contrary, when you grow bigger, coworking space can still be ideal as many operators now have capabilities to house more than hundred seats in the fully-tailored space.

One membership with access to multiple offices around the city (or globe).

This is a very good benefit for people / staffs working in the field or need to travel around seeing clients. Normally when you are a member of a coworking space, you may enter their other branches to sit and use their facility to work on emails, grab drinks, etc. Some provider’s footprint are only limited to Thailand, some others have larger footprint regionally or globally. Accessibility to different branches can be very convenient for frequent flyers. No more finding a café for overseas working.

Enjoying benefits for members.

Some offer free fitness center, Grab promotion code, discounts to a class and other goods and services, etc. This small thing can be a free tool to attract and retain staffs.

While basic service of coworking space is to provide desk and chair, different providers have different products they are willing to offer. They provide different decorations mood and tone. If you are a tech firm, then you may like to be in a very vibrant, open-ceiling plan with chic and cool colors (then you may look at JustCo, WeWork, Hubba for example). If you are a law firm or consulting firm, you probably want something more established and calm (then we recommend you to consider Greatroom, Regus, Common Ground). The products available in the market have it all for you to choose.

Same as conventional office space, leasing of office is not simple as it seems (or being told by some providers) as it always come with different basis of space calculations, hidden costs which make it hard to compare choices apple-to-apple.

This is the reason why coworkingspacebangkok.com exists. We do not only compile choices of coworking space locations or brands, we also help you to recommend options we think should suit your business best, get the most updated quote from providers, connect you to them, then further support you to analyze, define possible hidden costs, point out points you should be aware of and support the negotiate with the providers.

Click here to explore the market and start making your list. Feel free to contact us anytime if you need help!

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