Enterprise Co-Working

CRE-Driven Coworking Operator

Enterprise Coworking has leveraged the CRE portfolio of their parent company, Focus Property Group, to develop a flex-space proposition for the growing market lining up for flexible workspace. Their suites are adjustable and scalable to accommodate the needs of larger teams and corporate occupiers. The Rino site alone boasts 80,000 square feet with an approximate 70:30 ratio of private to common space. Meanwhile, the Greenwood Village location occupies 17,000 square feet split among 2 floors with plans to expand within the building. With commercial real estate space at their fingertips, Enterprise Coworking locations are able to offer more space than the competition, attracting larger teams to their business.

Enterprise Coworking has distinguished its brand in the Denver market with a myriad of amenities that cater to a wide range of occupier demands. They operate their own café – serving lunch and cold brew on tap – and they feature a library, gym, locker room, and a rooftop patio. Aside from coworking office space, they offer event space for up to a 150-person capacity, 14 conference rooms, and 14 phone booths.

THE CHALLENGES OF DELIVERING ENTERPRISE-GRADE SERVICES

Enterprise Coworking has overcome the common hurdles of launching and growing a coworking space. One of the most frequent and painful obstacles in this business is reducing or preventing customer churn. It was obvious to the Enterprise team why customers were threatening to leave: Their technology platforms weren’t working.

In reevaluating their approach to IT, tech and infrastructure, they discovered Connect, the software-enabled infrastructure platform by essensys. With Connect they have leveraged automated service provisioning and management, the power of control and flexibility to reduce churn and grow revenues, and the ability to offer an excellent member experience – easier, quicker, and smarter.

CUMBERSOME SERVICE DELIVERY

Onboarding new customers and delivering new IT services was a clunky process for the staff at Enterprise. Enabling customers with the services they needed to get to work was a challenge. They depended on a third-party provider and lacked access and knowledge to provision and manage services themselves. They were limited in terms of control and flexibility to offer private VLANs, password protected and secure Wi-Fi connections, and Public IP addresses, falling short of meeting specific requirements of enterprise-grade prospects and customers.

They relied on the third-party for comms room management and floor and switch port configurations. Their IT was out of their hands, adding an additional layer of complexity to service delivery and the ability to support members and troubleshoot issues without having to rely on an IT expert. With Connect’s easy-to-use web and mobile app, the team can now easily provision services with a few simple clicks.

SECURITY VULNERABILITY

Enterprise Coworking had initially contracted a third-party IT company to set up and manage their network. This consisted of an Internet connection through an ISP managed via the third-party’s ticketing system. Three general Wi-Fi networks were set up and made available for guests, resident occupiers, and meeting rooms. They were configured with common passwords, leaving users vulnerable to security breaches and often unable to connect to the network depending on their device.

When Enterprise began losing corporate prospects as a result of not meeting minimum network security requirements, they realized that the traditional office network set up was not conducive to an enterprise-grade multi-tenanted workspace environment.

With Connect, services are delivered over a private and secure cloud network, meeting the strictest compliance and security requirements.

POOR INTERNET QUALITY

Shared and open networks also meant that internet bandwidth was divided across numerous tenants and various user requirements. They had no way to allocate, limit or report on bandwidth usage across their membership base, which meant that heavy network usage began impacting the quality of the connection and network performance. They experienced frequent and long-lasting Wi-Fi outages – as many as four times a month for up to three hours at a time – and, naturally, escalating tension among members.

Without the ability to directly manage their network and services delivery, the Enterprise staff wasn’t able to pinpoint or resolve IT matters. They were at the mercy of a ticketing system when members complained. With Connect by essensys, the staff and their members have the peace of mind that services are securely delivered and appropriately allocated to prevent outages and ensure quality connections.

Reliable technology is the prime driver of today’s office environment. For Enterprise Coworking it was the focus of a necessary overhaul to deliver a better member experience, reduce churn, capture new business, and simplify complex operations.

Enterprise Coworking is leveraging the comprehensive capabilities within Connect, the purpose-built IT and technology management platform by essensys. Service delivery automation, simple onboarding, reliable Wi-Fi, telephony, and on-demand marketplace products and services are no longer obstacles, but advantages for Enterprise Coworking.

Connect has enabled Enterprise Coworking with real-time insight and control over essential services that their coworking occupiers rely on. Web-based and easy-to-use, Connect’s proprietary software and orchestration capabilities powered by enterprise-grade infrastructure are helping the Enterprise Coworking team to confidently grow their organization.

THE BENEFITS OF A PURPOSE-BUILT SOLUTION

Simplifying multi-tenancy – The operations team at Enterprise Coworking is saving time and energy previously spent liaising with a third-party ticketing system. Through Connect, they can onboard or move members across their workspace, assigning suites and switch ports, to ensure all services are active and accounted for and eliminating billing errors. Member onboarding, provisioning and managing technology services is immediate and does not require advanced IT know-how.

Add value to members

Connecting to the internet is secure and easy thanks to double authentication and security built into the essensys network. Enterprise Coworking members appreciate the ability to have an exclusive and secure VLAN, unavailable to users outside of their organization. The enterprise-class network architecture of the essensysCloud gives members across the growing Enterprise Coworking workspace portfolio the ability to seamlessly connect to the Wi-Fi network at multiple sites without the cumbersome process of requesting new login credentials. Their devices are automatically recognized, enabling them to roam across the multisite operation and get to work quicker.

Reduce churn, drive revenue

Since migrating to essensys, Enterprise Coworking can confidently promote reliable internet services to members and prospects without the hesitation of potential network failures and outages. Network security is a deal-breaker for many new coworking occupiers. The quality and assurance of security of the essensys private cloud network have helped Enterprise Coworking to add many new members to their workspace throughout this year alone.

A future-proof proposition

As in the case of Enterprise Coworking, shared workspace operators, landlords, and property groups are beginning to grasp the fundamental need for reliable and secure technology services to deliver a future-proof solution and an excellent member experience. The complexity of implementing and managing the multiple systems required to deliver those same services can put a damper on the ability of a coworking business to scale. With a purpose-built solution such as Connect by essensys, operators can effectively unburden and de-risk their business with the peace of mind that the technology will simply work.