The year 2020 gave us great insight into the future of remote work. Working from home with a remote office became the new normal as COVID-19 forced us to find new ways to get our jobs done. So, what happens now that office space leases are coming up for renewal? Will enterprises renew those office leases or is the remote office here to stay?
Here’s why dedicated office spaces working together with remote work environments might be how enterprises approach work in the future.
Dedicated office space may not be for all organizations
Most enterprises have found that their employees actually prefer the home office environment of the pandemic. That’s not entirely surprising, but what may be surprising is how quickly that enterprises have come to adopt the idea. Here’s what SoundCommerce CEO Eric Best had to say in a recent interview about why they didn’t extend their lease on dedicated office space.
“We polled the team and, for the vast majority, they prefer to remain at home,” said Best, the co-founder of the software company since 2018. “We’re not making any decision for the long term right now. We’re thinking about what do we do for the next six to 12 months in terms of maximum safety of the team and maximum flexibility of the company.”
This seems to be in keeping with the general trends of tech companies. In the first quarter of 2021, vacancy rates have risen to as high as 14.9% for dedicated office space. It’s not hard to see why dedicated office space may not be suitable for most companies. Smaller tech enterprises have made similar moves even before the pandemic, but it’s the shift in larger companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Box that are really starting to make the remote office work culture become mainstream.
Office spaces can work well in tandem with remote work environments
Now that we have the internet of things and cloud computing, it’s never been easier to work remotely, share files, and conference with team members who don’t live in the same city as you. We’re proud to say that we’re at the forefront of this movement, with the Texas 2 Data Center providing valuable cloud and colocation services for many disparate enterprises.
Our facilities offer customizable office spaces at our premier data centers in Austin and Houston. These purpose-built, carrier-neutral facilities feature a fully redundant infrastructure with diverse power, water, and network feeds, making them ideal disaster recovery sites in addition to offering dedicated office spaces. With top-level security and access to special amenities, your staff can work in comfort, whether they use the space on a daily basis or as a secondary worksite.
These days many companies have realized that they don’t need a large dedicated office space to run their business at peak efficiency. Large work meetings that normally would have been held in person are now able to be done over Zoom or Microsoft Teams (or whatever preferred program your enterprise wants) in the comfort of a remote office. That’s a big deal, not just for the comfort of the employee, but for logistics. It’s never been easier to get ahold of someone, no matter where they live or what they do.
The future is most likely a combination of dedicated office space and remote office work
In all likelihood, we won’t see a dedicated office space totally go away. While many companies are shifting to remote office work, many still need a place for meetings or even a place for their employees to come in and work 3-4 days a week.
Data Foundry’s move-in ready offices allow enterprise teams to get down to business and be close to their critical networking equipment. Enterprises can customize any unfurnished office spaces to meet security and layout requirements. Employees can collaborate in a comfortable, safe, and private space.
It’s probable that we will see a shift to multi-use spaces that employees can use as either a primary or secondary worksite. Our Texas 2 data center has a dedicated office space with all the amenities that cutting-edge companies need, including carrier-neutral facilities, water, and network feeds, and top-level security. It’s likely that these types of dedicated office spaces will continue to exist while being augmented by substantial remote office work.
Curious as to how our Texas 2 Data Center can help with either your remote office or dedicated office space needs?