OpenDesks Goes Mobile in 133 Cities with iPhone App

by officePROhub.com on 11/01/2011 - 06:55 pm

Tags: Cloud Computing, Laptop, Office Space, Tablet, Virtual Office

As the workplace goes mobile, so goes the office space—or at least the means of finding open desks.

OpenDesks, a shared workspace resource for professional mobile workers, just released a mobile app that makes 700 business class workspaces instantly available to professional mobile workers in 133 cities.

With the launch of its iPhone app, OpenDesks is officially declaring that the café era is over. The company is referring to the habit of mobile workers—whether they are entrepreneurs, freelancers, sales people, consultants, creative independents or some other type of roaming professional—setting up temporary shop at the likes of Starbucks.

“Starbucks is not your office, and hotel lobbies are not conference rooms,” says OpenDesks founder and CEO Chris DiFonzo. “It’s now possible to find a productive workspace almost anywhere you need one. It just makes sense.”

Mobile work trends, including coworking, teleworking, workshifting, and office sharing are rapidly changing how people and organizations define workspace. Indeed, the mobile workforce is now mainstream. OpenDesks’ free app works to empower mobile workers to find the space they need, when they need it, entirely on demand with no upfront cost.

“Apps like these will help add a broader client base to the entire serviced office industry,” says Frank Cottle, Chairman of the Alliance Business Centers Network. “In fact, these types of innovations may be the answer to a challenge business centers have been looking for: how to attract the growing audience of mobile workers.”

From Anchorage to Miami, San Diego to Montreal, and Quebec City to Austin, mobile workers from every walk of life can now easily search, book, and pay for work and meeting space via their mobile devices. The mobile app organizes workspaces by type.

“Being productive is more essential than ever, and everyone knows non-optimal settings hurt productivity. There are still holdouts who would rather be unproductive than pay for space, but this attitude is fading away. We see many entrepreneurs and self-employed workers opting to pay for productive space,” DiFonzo says, noting that even bigger companies are getting on board the on-demand office space trend.

“Employers tell us ‘If I can put my $100,000 per year employee at a desk for a few hours for $35 to $50, versus futzing around in a hotel lobby, it’s a no brainer.’ We hear this frequently.”