Tablespace: Value will trump cost in managed workspaces in the new normal

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way we work. Perhaps forever. More than ever before, today a greater focus is on value, for employees, for clients and for the business.

For employees, an office that provides value through better-equipped workspaces and employee-friendly facilities will naturally drive up productivity and innovation. By extension, better employee productivity has a positive impact on the growth of the business.

"More and more clients are looking for value-based solutions rather than cost-saving solutions. TableSpace understands this requirement and through our liquid real estate philosophy we are able to provide clients tremendous value through flexibility, integrated technology and world-class standards in commercial real estate, says Kunal Mehra, Managing Director of TableSpace.

TableSpace is among the biggest integrated managed workspace providers in India, operating with 3 million square feet of leased area, with another 2.5 million square feet likely to be added this year.

With compes working hard to bounce back in 2021 in a stronger avatar, agility is the key. TableSpace enables their clients to attain agility and quickly adapt to their changing employee demographics and requirements, making 'liquid real estate' such a sought after proposition.

"We have managed to take a hard asset like real estate and make it liquid. TableSpace can build a brand new custom-built office within 45 to 60 days, whereas traditionally clients take 6 to12 months to find the right asset and build an operational office. Shorter time to market to get new offices will allow occupiers and clients to make more real-time decisions. Therefore choosing a managed office space partner like TableSpaceis a natural choice," says Karan Chopra, Co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer of TableSpace.

As the managed workplaces market expands, technology will a key differentiator.

"Grow as you go, scale when you need, and change the office to accommodate new work requirements; these value solutions require a robust technology framework to operate out of and enable productivity for clients. This technology framework is built into TableSpace's business," says Karan Chopra.

The framework that enables TableSpace to operate managed workspace so efficiently is their tech solutioning platform called REFORM.

"REFORM can build, design, procure, manage operations and utilisation under one platform. REFORM significantly increases speed to market, reduces operating costs, creates transparency and manages compliance. All these are critical to providing "A" grade workspace solutions to our top-notch clients," says Kunal Mehra.

A large percentage of TableSpace's portfolio are MNCs and Fortune 500 compes, who sign up for managed offices across cities.

Industry reports predict that 2021 will be a game-changer as large scale outsourcing of real estate will begin to take place.

Today, as employees start returning to office spaces, safety, station, air quality, and overall wellbeing of the employee is a high priority. Hence, outsourced real estate solutions need to go beyond just house-keeping services.

"Given the situation today, clients are asking for safer, spacious and well-ventilated environments, to make sure their staff feels good and at ease on returning to the office space. Through our integrated solution which relies on a strong technology backbone, the client can check the air quality, the station standards at their office, and the temperature in their server room on their smartphone on a real-time basis," says Kunal Mehra.

An integrated approach to outsourcing, which includes the lease, the design, the build, the CAPEX and the operations works well for CREs [Corporate real estate] consultants as well as for clients and real estate owners. "Conventional office space requires the client to stay on for a longer locked-in time. Add to that is the logistics of managing daily service operations like housekeeping, infrastructure management, compliance management etc. TableSpace offers a single cheque solution to clients to access A-grade real estate not just city-wise, but across cities. This helps clients focus on their core business, without having to invest time in the logistics of running an office," says Karan Chopra.

TableSpace has offices across Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Gurgaon, cities that are more lucrative for multi-national corporations.

"Since TableSpacelease large assets in A-grade real estate, we are able to carve out the exact amount of workspace the MNC requires, enabling smaller take-ups in larger assets, and thereby creating true value for the client," says Karan Chopra. "This can be replicated across cities for the same client since we only work with A-grade assets across India," he adds.

The managed office space industry accounted for 11 percent of all commercial real estate in cities in 2020 like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Gurgaon, Pune and Mumbai, which are the hub for MNCs. It is likely to grow to 15 per cent in 2021.

As , during 2020, flexible workspace operators leased about 2.9 million square feet of space led by technology, and banking and financial services (BFSI) enterprises.

In 2021, flexible workspace operators are likely to lease about 3 million square feet of space across the top six Indian cities.

The total flexible workspace stock in the top six Indian cities is almost 30 million sq feet, equivalent to 4.3 per cent of total Grade A and B commercial office stock. Bengaluru leads the tally with a 37 per cent share of the total flexible workspace portfolio, followed by Delhi NCR and Mumbai, with 18 per cent and 14 per cent shares respectively. By 2022, flexible workspace stock is likely to account for 5.4 per cent of the total office portfolio, led by demand for well-located, high quality and efficient flexible workspaces.

According to another Savills report on "," tech cities in India will lead the coworking activity and predictably enough, the heightened activity in the Coworking segment has been dominated by Bangalore and Hyderabad cities, where commercial office real estate demand is generated mainly by technology occupiers.

In Q3 2020, these two cities had a combined share of approximately 66 per cent of the total leasing activity in the Coworking segment. The other cities not far behind are Mumbai, Pune, NCR and Chennai. Leasing by co-working operators is expected to increase by 42 per cent in 2021 at 4.9 million sq ft over 2020 with shared offices likely to gain greater significance in the post-Covid world, according to the report.

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( With inputs from ANI )