Office spaces after COVID: BlueID’s Multi Tenancy helps you switch to a flexible office space
25. June 2021
This last year has been a real journey for all of us. It is safe to say COVID has impacted all our lives, from our daily routine to our bigger choices, and it has demonstrated, in real-life, how innovation works: it may take decades with small incremental steps or be disruptive and transform everything from one day to another. Our office working was no exception, and neither how we collaborate in teams. Shifting to remote working was the only option we all had, a necessity in the beginning.
But now that the situation is getting better again, will we ever go back to what it was like before?
For many, the answer is no. Employees do not want to give up the flexibility of working from home, as it was proven that efficiency levels were not affected. Even if not a novelty for those who work in Tech, remote working is now no longer a concession from employers, but rather the very basis of employment relationships. In fact, people are already resigning from companies who are requiring going fully back to office, as highlighted in a recent Bloomberg article*. Physical and mental health concerns, avoiding or dramatically reducing commuting and the costs associated to it, and regaining control over time are amongst the main reasons.
Does it mean the office is dead?
Not really. Managers fear that remote work might result in losing company culture and therefore they plan to keep a balance between remote and office work. Activities like workshops and brainstorming sessions will most likely still happen in the office, while day-to-day routine will continue remotely. As a result of this new setup, offices might be restructured to offer less personal, but more collaborative spaces.
No major decline in office space is expected**.
Still, both traditional processes and office spaces need to adapt to this new paradigm and undergo a remarkable change. And because many companies do not want to give up their office space, but also do not need it back fully, co-working spaces are thriving – and so are digital space management platforms, which include all necessary features, from room booking to automatic payment.
At BlueID, we have been dealing with access control solutions for 15 years. Being fully focused on facility management and on helping asset owners digitalize their buildings, we know how important it is to have a solution that safeguards security, but at the same time offers extra flexibility to profit from unallocated resources.
Our development efforts are currently focused on a feature we call “Multi Tenancy”.
Multi Tenancy gives every customer the ability to share their unused spaces. It enables the creation of multiple tenants under their own account and to manage all of them from the same dashboard, while remaining in full control as the long-term renter or owner.
That means that it enables every company with BlueID-powered locks to manage different parties within the same building, so that they can share their office spaces fully or partly with other companies or professionals, entering the share economy and acting as a co-working.
With Multi Tenancy, you can log into your own customer dashboard, create a new tenant (for the company or professional who will co-use the office), decide who will administrate it, and finally assign locks or share existing ones. This process fully covers this use case as, for example, the entrance lock could be shared, while the private office lock would be available exclusively for the new tenant.
All in one, it can be said that some sectors have a higher potential of getting the best out of this situation. Hybrid models seem to be the winners, as analyzed by McKinsey*** in a research conducted in 9 countries, covering 800 different jobs.
The office dynamic will change for most of us even if some characteristics persist, such as those around sociality and creativity. We will only be able to see the lasting effects of it a few years from now. But until then, a multi tenancy allows to reap the benefits from switching to a flexible office space model.
For more information about our BlueID System, check out our Documentation.
Authors:
Marco Palazzo, Head of Product at BlueID &
Rochus Niemierko, Business Development Manager at BlueID
Sources:
* Bloomberg – Employees Are Quitting Instead of Giving Up Working From Home
** BNP Paribas Real Estate – Will the demand for offices noticeably sink? (DE)
*** McKinsey – What’s next for remote work: An analysis of 2,000 tasks, 800 jobs, and nine countries