After more than three decades of limited change to office workspaces, sweeping new working models since the pandemic have necessitated renewed thinking from landlords and building managers. These include how spaces are designed and kitted out, and how modern necessities like Wi-Fi, dedicated bandwidth, private VLANs and other digital services are provisioned.

Many are still trying to figure out adequate and long-term solutions that might be effective in light of constantly evolving workplace strategies. To address all the emerging issues, building owners have begun introducing measures like flexible leases, that rose in popularity during the co-working space trend that saw such popularity in the last stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Flexible spaces, like flexible leases, can provide a great model for organisations that have yet to establish how they will operate longer term in the so-called ‘new normal’. Concessions have to be made and agility embraced to accommodate the rise in remote and hybrid working practices. Some staff might be based in the office all of the time, others might split working hours between the workplace and home, or third space.

Many startups and SMBs might rent flexible office suites, while increasingly, larger enterprises are looking at the growing subcategory of ‘flex spaces’. Flex spaces can be larger suites, typically ranging from 3,000 to 10,000 square feet, which offer improved workspace experiences and better amenities.

Enterprise flex spaces can have longer lease terms than those targeted at smaller businesses, enabling investors to forecast revenue better and determine the creditworthiness of tenants. The popularity of this model is catching on with an increase in flexible models being offered, much like the boom in small co-working spaces five to seven years prior.

Flexible spaces are a very attractive proposition, providing amenities, a shared sense of community, and a seamless experience for users. As organisations continue to look towards flexible models, digital services such as connectivity, Wi-Fi provisioning and secured access for example, all rank highly on the list of must-haves for any business operating out of a flexible or agile workspace location.

Enabling seamless connectivity throughout a space is no longer a nice-to-have, but a must. And it’s not just for flex space operators to think about. Commercial real estate owners need to consider how buildings can be better connected, and therefore how to create frictionless experiences across buildings, spaces and portfolios.

The requirements around provisioning digital services will continue to grow as the years go by, so landlords and space operators are under pressure to ensure their facilities are adequately prepared now and for the foreseeable future. This not only means ensuring that buildings are connected and can offer the digital services that occupiers demand, but that they provide resilient and secure digital services: in today’s world, enterprises face multiple cyber security threats.

Real estate developers and flex space service providers need to remove the complexity of delivering digital services. Relying on multiple vendors to supply multiple services – from network provisioning to Wi-Fi infrastructure to space management – can result in a fragmented services landscape that is harder to manage and maintain.

For over 15 years essensys has provided its customers with a powerful platform that simplifies and automates the delivery, operations and management of flexible real estate. The essensys Platform has been designed and developed to solve the complex operational challenges faced by landlords and flexible workspace providers as they scale.

Organisations with multiple tenants and properties can control and manage all of their sites through the essensys Platform.

The essensys Platform uses intelligent automation to streamline complex, manual tasks. This helps to simplify operations, complete tasks faster, reduce errors and enables the delivery of on-demand services – all of which can be handled via software by non-technical staff. It provides a simple way to control and manage digital services, devices and users.

Connected buildings are underpinned by essensys’ global private network, which provides enterprise-grade security. Data and connections are secured by providing every tenant with their own private network. In-building Wi-Fi is designed, installed and monitored 24/7 to ensure maximum throughput, performance and security.

Along with ensuring optimal wireless coverage, the essensys Platform is built to meet the needs of physical spaces that evolve into digitalised work environments. It provides space mapping capabilities, supported by real-time occupancy and workspace efficiency data insights, so that the spaces can be flexibly optimised according to needs. Beyond that it offers dynamic space booking capabilities and secured smart access controls for physical spaces, and there’s integration capability making essensys a core component of any building’s tech stack.

essensys is a leading provider of software and technology, designed to remove the complexity of managing digital services in-building and portfolio-wide. Digitally enable your building today with essensys.