An interview with Martin Adolph (Aurelis) and Dr. Michael Toedt (Dailypoint) in the current issue of "Der Facility Manager" (10/2020). Article by Miriam Glaß.

The trend in the office world is towards more flexibility. That is why the digital platform ShareYourSpace (SYS) supports companies in making temporarily unused office space available to third parties. Martin Adolph from Aurelis and Dr. Michael Toedt from Dailypoint explain from the user's perspective why it makes sense to be represented on such a platform and how they envision future collaboration.

 

How did you become aware of SYS?

Martin Adolph: At the end of 2019, I attended a PropTech event organized by AIS Management in Munich. Start-up pitches took place as part of this event. One participant who presented his company there was Dr. Tobias Wagner, the founder of SYS.

Dr. Michael Toedt: It was similar for us, but through a newsletter that reported on start-ups. We were immediately won over by the SYS concept.

 

In addition to SYS, there are other platforms that handle the rental of space. Why did you choose this one in particular?

Toedt: It is simple, structured and user-friendly. The marketplace is not just a lead broker, but digitally maps the entire process for suppliers and buyers - advertisement creation, search, booking and payment processing. I particularly liked the personal aspect. The team is very friendly and accommodating, was also on site at Dailypoint in Munich and made it much easier for us to get the spaces onto the platform.

Adolph: We are not that different in that respect. It was important to us that the platform was simple and uncomplicated to use. SYS showed that it really is child's play: create an object and activate it with two or three clicks. That quickly convinced us. A very important aspect is that SYS understands our world and convinces us with its services. This is helpful because, for example, with daily use, a relatively small-scale business is efficiently possible.

 

Why don't you manage the temporary rental of your space yourself?

Adolph: As a property owner, asset manager and project developer, Aurelis has of course always managed space itself. But asset management also involves getting an overview of all the options that exist in terms of marketing. The trick is to recognize what makes sense for the company portfolio. Our core competency is renting out space. But if individual rooms are to be made available to third parties at short notice, e.g. on a daily basis, we can no longer do this, not only for economic reasons but also in terms of handling. That's why the online marketplace ShareYourSpace is practical for us and the logical conclusion.

Toedt: Renting out is not our core business. Dailypoint is a software provider for the hotel industry. Every space we rent out through SYS is additional income for us. If we have free rooms, then we have to do it as a simple side job.

 

How long have you been working with SYS?

Toedt: We have been working with ShareYourSpace since the end of 2019, shortly after the platform went live.

Adolph: We are still at the beginning of our cooperation with SYS and have only been working together since the end of May 2020.

 

How much do you have to give to SYS?

Adolph: That depends purely on success. A certain percentage of the actual sales must be paid to the platform. If we put spaces up for rent on SYS and they are not booked, there are no costs involved. This underlines again that it is simple and uncomplicated.

Toedt: Our company operates in the hotel industry. There, the "standard model" is that listings are free and you have to pay the platform a commission for creation and marketing, if you think of the well-known booking portals. SYS has translated this sharing principle into the office world.

 

How much space have you already rented out through SYS?

Toedt: Quite a lot. At the moment we are not providing office space and tables to third parties, but rather our conference rooms. We have already rented these out several times so that they do not stand empty. Our security precautions, such as B. separate WiFi lines, enable and facilitate this. Due to the Corona pandemic, there were of course some objections internally as to whether it might not be too dangerous to let external people into the office space. We had to do a bit of convincing and of course ensure that our hygiene concept was adhered to. After all, the rooms have to be disinfected after use, etc.

Adolph: For us, it is ultimately not measurable in square meters. As a landlord, we have several 100,000 m2 of floor space in Germany and are now expanding our marketing options. It remains to be seen how much our tenants will use this tool. So far, we have received mostly positive feedback.

 

Do you plan to rent out less or more space through SYS in the future?

Adolph: Definitely more. SYS allows us to give our existing tenants a little more flexibility. In this respect, we definitely want to rent out even more space through the platform. It is important for us to use the time when there is currently a certain amount of uncertainty to deal with the framework conditions required for platform use, especially the technical requirements. In this regard, we are currently in very close contact with our architects and specialist planners. We have already started to equip our properties with smart locking systems, among other things, so that no keys need to be handed over. Anyone who thinks that it costs a fortune to make buildings more digital and smarter is wrong. Here, you can implement sensible measures even with a small budget.

Toedt: It will certainly be more for us, because most employees have expressed the desire to continue working from home. As a result, only parts of our workforce are currently working in our premises. Accordingly, we will generally restructure the office situation a little and tend to make our unused office space available to third parties. This is because we have a great location in the city center, close to Munich Central Station, and we definitely don't want to lose the space so that we can work flexibly.

 

How do you see the future collaboration between SYS and your company?

Toedt: We are a medium-sized software company with employees in Hamburg, Augsburg, Berlin, Garmisch and Munich. It is very interesting for us to "book" other spaces and use the platform's offerings as tenants, for day events or similar.

Adolph: Aurelis is not just a provider of office space, but above all of corporate real estate, i.e. space in the areas of production, logistics and research and development. The exciting thing will be to gain experience from sharing office space and to consider how we can adapt this to such corporate spaces together with SYS. Such a model could be called ShareYourProductionSpace. We see great potential there. In this area, the issue of security will of course play an even greater role.