Office Space News
Regus Reports Success with Businessworld Program
Published June 30th, 2010 by Jennifer LeClaire
Many times I’ve wondered how Regus’ Businessworld program was performing. It seems the serviced office giant has used the membership as a basis on which to launch many strategic alliances over the past year. Well, Regus is offering me—and all of the rest of the business center world—some answers.
Over the past year, Regus reports a nearly 50 percent increase in Businessworld program memberships. As you probably know, the Businessworld program offers its members four packages that give them access to more than 1,000 locations around the globe. Regus launched the program in 2008—as the recession was beginning—as a way for companies to cut costs and offer greater flexibility in officing.
“As the economy continues to show signs of improvement, companies are increasingly adopting the Businessworld program as a core part of their real estate strategy,” says Guillermo Rotman, CEO of Regus Americas. “U.S. membership in our Businessworld program has continued to increase over the last 12 months. During this period membership has grown nearly 50 percent as companies and individuals realized their potential to decrease their real estate costs and better serve an increasingly mobile workforce.”
Research Supports Regus
Regus is not surprised by the success of Businessworld. The company didn’t just forge out into the marketplace hoping its strategy would work. Regus has researched workplace trends and market potential—and it’s sharing some of those statistics with the world.
Regus points to an IDC study, for example, that reveals more workers are turning to mobile solutions. The Regus takeaway from the study: Companies need more flexible work solutions and the serviced office model is better equipped to offer that flexibility than are traditional office leases.
In another IDC data point that analyzes three core mobile workers—those in offices, non-office based and working from home—the number of mobile workers in the U.S. will grow to almost 120 million, or 75.5 percent of the country’s total workforce, by 2013. The study predicts that the global mobile workforce could grow to 1.2 billion by 2013. If those numbers hold true, and I’m sure the estimates are fair, that bodes well for Regus and companies like it who can offer companies flexibile office space solutions.
“Forward-thinking organizations are changing the way they see the work place and turning to Regus for their growing remote and flexible workforce needs,” Rotman says. “This growing trend has resulted in companies looking for more options that provide employees with the professional tools and resources they need to do their job, from advanced technology to decentralized offices and meeting space.”
Fortune 500 Namedropping
Regus says its Businessworld program played a major role in getting the newly-inked Global Service Agreement with General Electric. GE’s workforce can access professional workspaces at any Regus location. The result: productivity on the road.
Regus also cites Nortel among its customers. Regus claims it saved Nortel more than $190 million through 2,500 corporate employees using its business centers, lounges and meeting rooms. That savings came, in part, by Nortel losing more than 200 smaller sites and consolidating the other physical locations.
“Businessworld is a valuable solution for on-the-go professionals who want a working environment that doesn’t compromise productivity,” Rotman says. “It’s the only membership program in the world that provides instant access to more than 1,000 workplaces and all the tools the mobile workforce needs to operate productively and cost-effectively. Businessworld will really show its huge potential for growth in the next 10 years as flexible working becomes the norm.”
Regus does have a clear advantage here. Even if other serviced office companies launch a similar program, no single operator has the breadth that Regus does. Of course, outfits like the Alliance Business Center Network do have reach around the world and can compete head to head, as a group, against Regus. It will be interesting to see how this pans out, but it seems there’s room enough for everyone if IDC’s statistics hold true.
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Elizabeth Sanchez June 30th, 2010 at 8:15 am
Great write up on Regus. Looks like this Businessworld plan is really panning out for them. I was skeptical, honestly, because we weren’t hearing about adoption. I guess they were waiting for a full year of the program to gain some momentum. Still, they don’t specifically say how many members they have. They just say they’ve increased membership by 50 percent. 50 percent of 10 is five. So I’d still like to see more transparency.
Bill Brookshire June 30th, 2010 at 8:34 am
I think the fact that Regus has GE and Nortel on the Businessworld program is telling of its success. I’m guessing those are the two biggest customers and that’s why Regus decided to point them out. Or it could be that they didn’t get permission from other large Businessworld members to take their name public. I think the point is that the strategy is working. Large companies want more flexible office space arrangements, especially for traveling employees.