Is Regus Really the Pioneer of Coworking?

by officePROhub.com on 11/14/2011 - 10:03 pm

Tags: Office Space, Serviced Office Space, Virtual Office

Last week, Regus announced that it pioneered the concept of coworking two decades ago. This week, one coworking startup is humbly disagreeing—and there is  a lesson in this for business centers that are pursuing the coworking trend.

A Regus press release says the company is the largest provider of coworking spaces, with 450 in the U.S. alone. Regus announced plans to nearly double its coworking locations in the U.S. to 700 based on the demand from businesses of all sizes that want to work in a shared environment.

“We provide a wide range of coworking environments that match the needs of businesses regardless of their stage of development; from entrepreneurs and small businesses, to workers at the largest global corporations,” said Guillermo Rotman, CEO of Regus, Americas. “Businesses of all sizes and from different industries are drawn to our coworking space because of the collaboration and networking opportunities available from being surrounded by their peers.”

But Jerome Chang, founder of a coworking facility BlankSpaces in Santa Monica and Mid-Wilshire, doesn’t agree with Regus’ claims. Regus can say whatever it wants, Chang says, but anyone can walk into a Regus space and see that true networking isn’t a reality because each individual office is isolated from its neighbor.  

“Doors are closed. Where would one network, at the coffee machine? That's it? No networking, no community, no collaboration,” Chang says. By contrast, coworking facilities like BlankSpaces cater to a community of entrepreneurs, freelancers and start-ups with private offices, workstations and a workbar that sits 10. Coworking spaces also tend to have lounges or libraries.

“I would also say that all office design trends point toward lower walls, if any. Regus is outdated because they maintain hermetic enclosures. That's not to say they can't be successful,” Chang says. “Faxes are still effective and widely used. But like I wouldn't say that faxes are the new postal mail—e-mail—just because faxes are sent instantly, I wouldn't say executive suites are coworking either.”

Of course, Regus isn’t the only business center brand to hop on the coworking bandwagon. More and more business centers are incorporating coworking concepts into the floor plan, says Frank Cottle, founder and chairman of Alliance Business Centers, but there is wisdom in caution.

“As an industry we need to exercise some caution about ‘swapping’ brands and confusing our traditional client base. I’d say that if Regus or others choose to create a second brand that fully embraces all of the community elements of coworking, then they can succeed,” Cottle says. “However, if people simply say, ‘we’re now offering coworking space’ then they will utterly fail.  My guess, is that Regus and some of the other larger operators in our industry will end up with the second brand approach.”