The world needs sharing
Modern work versus traditional office offerings
In a constantly changing world, fewer and fewer people and companies want and can enter into a long-term commitment to space: the need for spatially and temporally flexible office space is huge, but the office market is rigid due to long-term, complex rental agreements. Spaces are almost never "tailor-made" - rarely at the time of renting and even more rarely over time: companies, organizations and businesses change, and the premises do not change with them. What is needed is a comprehensive, cost-efficient range of temporally and spatially flexible space - wherever and whenever workspaces are needed.
New construction - the hazardous waste of tomorrow - cannot do this, and certainly not sustainably. Just think of the sealing of land, the associated road construction and increased traffic. Coworking operators cannot meet the demand either, although they make a valuable contribution to making offices more flexible. Their business model consists of subletting workspaces, usually rented for longer periods, with additional services at a surcharge - primarily to people or companies who want to work with others in the premises. The space concept of coworking operators follows the logic of gathering as many paying customers as possible in the space, is usually comparatively expensive and inevitably limited to a few locations, mostly in larger cities. In addition, the coworking operator alone determines who can move into their space. The tenant has no say or right to choose.
The global challenge
The world population will grow by 2.5 billion in the next 30 years. Providing the world of work with sufficient and suitable space is a challenge. Buildings are responsible for 40% of the world's energy consumption. Land sealing, traffic congestion and climate change are among the biggest problems of our time. Real estate accounts for over 50% of global wealth. Space is valuable and is both a cost driver and productivity lever and a key factor in whether we achieve climate protection goals, in particular the necessary reduction in greenhouse gases to curb global warming.
Enormous potential: existing space not fully utilized
The key to solving the challenges mentioned above? Make the existing space (whether owned or rented) available when it is not available and use it more intensively on the market! Offices, workstations, conference, meeting and training rooms are not usually occupied 24/7, but are unused on average up to 50% of the time. For example, due to vacancy, part-time work, out-of-office days, too much space. And ready for plug & work. Over 500 million square meters in Germany alone. Many times that amount worldwide.
Sharing as a solution: Office as a Service
The sharing economy stands for more conscious, resource-saving demand behavior: shared, temporary use (collaborative consumption). The web is the enabler. It enables a huge reduction in the transaction effort of sharing and, not infrequently, the costs of use itself. Platforms based on the sharing concept, such as www.shareyourypace.com, make this possible in the office market by networking space owners and space seekers, structured searches, simple presentation, inquiry, booking and payment processes, mobile access, localization and local searches. The result: sharing brings flexibility to office and work environments.
In addition, the strongest possible lever for more sustainability in the real estate industry is being used - space is better utilized, resources and the environment are protected.
Cultural and value change as drivers
Sharing is also driven by a change in culture and values: using instead of owning, sustainability and being social are the focus. Sharing in itself is of course not an innovation - it has always been part of everyday life, is the essence of neighborhood help, ride sharing centers, libraries, a commandment of religious doctrines, a real challenge in raising children and, moreover, an undeniably nice human trait. But the focus of the sharing economy is not the sandwich that is only half the size after being shared, which the donor would have liked to eat whole himself. Sharing today stands for new, changed demand behavior: shared, temporary use (collaborative consumption). Translated into the real estate industry: higher space utilization equals more efficient use of resources equals less property for the same result. Interactions with people ("from strangers to friends") and community experiences have a positive reinforcing effect. Sharing is social! Increasingly: business is social! Last but not least, the economic argument is strong for those involved: save money, get money!