of business centres? Why make such a thing about them? Well in short, the secret is this. Unlike traditional property, business centres offer flexibility in terms of how much space a company needs and how long it can take it for. But surely this is what happens anyway isn't it? No, it isn't. Usually if you want to rent an office you have to sign a lease, which is a legal document requiring a solicitor, and you have to sign up for 5 or 10 years even if you're not sure how long you want the space for. Business centres allow you to rent space for a month or for three months using just a simple contractual licence that anyone can understand and you're not tied in to anything longer.
Plus, and this is where it gets interesting, unlike a traditional office where you have to spend time and money sorting out the phones and cleaning services and paying the rates and all the other aspects of having a property, in a business centre this is all included, so that you can get on with running you business.
So business centres are in tune with the way people do business today. Fast changing conditions, few commitments and a high level of service.
Good job Jonathan and long live this business center focused blog!
I have hot news from the wire, as I am coming out of a meeting with Mark Golan , VP of Wordwide Real Estate at Cisco Systems, which followed a similar meeting I had with Glenn Cooper, Senior VP of Real Estate at Schwab, a couple of days ago in San Francisco. Both Cisco and Schwab are prominent Fortune 500 companies with -in my mind- thousands of potential users of hosted flexible office solutions.
In both cases the message was strikingly similar. They anticipate their company use of business centers to grow considerably in the future. They are also challenging our industry to mature with better standards, single point of contact, more dots on the map, and a few other requests that are actually not that difficult to meet.
They acknowledged that some of us have made real progress in that direction, and they looked favorably at the plans others are making to leapfrog to the next flexible office solution. I am obviously biased here as I presented aspects of our own growth plans that were met with enthusiasm.
The bottom line is that the picture is one of a bright future for our industry. But the future is not distant: there is no shortage of opportunities today.
So what's most needed in our industry to get to the next level? Not the entrepreneurial spirit alive in so many of us and not a lack of talent and creativity. New leaders are emerging, ready to take on the challenge by the horns, in all continents.
In my view, what we need the most are folks like you Jonathan. Investment bankers that can specialize in our industry and reveal the fabulous opportunity we represent to a diversified source of fresh capital.
We need visionary investment bankers who can help us emulate the U.S. commercial real estate industry of the early 90's, when the emergence of public REITs provided an efficient and disciplined access to public capital. Perhaps in a smaller scale, but why not?
A few of us have serious growth plans built on solid track records that inspire confidence and new formulas adapted to the times ahead. And the magic potion: the potential for excess return on invested capital, adjusted for risk. The ball in in your court, Mr. Investmennt Bankers, to unleash the opportunities.
Call me and my friends in this industry any time!
Laurent
[Laurent Dhollande is President of Pacific Business Centers, Inc, with 9 centers in California and growing. www.pbcoffices.com]