CXOToday has engaged in an exclusive interview with Sameer Singh, COO, 91Springboard.
Can you summarize 91Springboard’s journey so far in the co-working industry. What is the long-term vision of 91Springboard?
It’s been an insightful and action-packed journey. When we launched in 2013, it was one of the first coworking space in India, and our biggest challenge was getting the concept of co-working across.
Coworking was only seen as hot-desking, or an alternative to working out of a coffee shop. There was also the perception that coworking was only for smaller companies, or those that could not afford their own office space.
Today, co-working is widely appreciated in its true sense, and even large enterprises consider flex-space solutions a great option.
We’ve always been driven by creating success for all our customers, which has led to multiple initiatives. One such initiative is the introduction of Platinum Hubs – premium workspaces that blend cutting-edge design with warm hospitality to shape an exceptional customer experience.
We believe there’s a lot more to do, and our aim is to harness the power of design and best hospitality practices to deliver unparalleled customer experiences.
How does 91Springboard differentiate itself from other co-working space providers, and what unique features or services do you offer to attract members?
We do not categorize ourselves as just a real-estate entity; rather, we identify as a people-centric business. We harness the power of high-performance functionality, top-notch amenities, with a goal to cultivate an exceptional community driven overall experience.
We firmly believe in the influential role that physical spaces play in shaping thoughts, enhancing productivity, and optimizing performance. Hence our offices are a fusion of soft and hard element based experiences designed to seamlessly deliver a ‘curated ground for success’. Our design-thinking philosophy is that let our members focus on what they do best and we will be the wind-beneath-their-wings doing what we do best. Together, it is magic.
What specific market needs or gaps does 91Springboard address?
Companies of all shapes and sizes struggle to ace office management despite investing time, resources and finances, because setting up and running your own office comes with a long list of chores:
- There is a potential of losing focus of their business goals by spending time and energy on less critical, administrative tasks
- Inefficient office space management
- Higher CAPEX and volatile OPEX unbalancing balance sheets
- Inflexible leasing terms with long commitments
- Exhaustive documentation processes and legal formalities
91Springboard solves this problem by providing efficient office space solutions minus any of the administrative headaches, while also providing more flexible leasing terms to business owners. Signing up with 91Springboard means companies can let the experts take care of running their office while they take care of their business.
What type of professionals or businesses make up the majority of your membership base?
We have members from across industries and companies of all sizes, which goes on to prove that we actively create plans and solutions to cater to a wide demographic.
We have hubs ranging from small to large size catering to audiences who range from start-ups and large Indian and multinational corporates. Our range of offerings are from collaborative work-spaces to curated built-to-suit managed office products.
This is reflected in our hubs, in the regions where we operate, and in the clientele who work with us.
Can you outline the initiatives undertaken by 91Springboard to support entrepreneurs and startups?
Having been through the journey ourselves, we know the highs and lows of a start-up. We also appreciate the kind of guidance access to mentors can provide to start-ups. Ergo, our offerings extend beyond proficient office-management solutions, and it’s always been our endeavour to create an environment that fosters learning and growth for start-ups and their founders.
At 91Springboard, we do this through two kinds of initiatives:
Alliances and partnerships that deliver long-term value: A couple of the notable partnerships recently have been with EU-India InnoCenter (which helps European start-ups and SMEs launch and expand business activities in India) and Level-Up with Google For Startups, a programme in which women entrepreneurs from 40 cities received nearly 700 hours of mentoring sessions.
Workshops and events that facilitate professional learning: We recognise the pivotal role of employee-centric workspaces in fostering organizational growth. To help our members become better professionals, we host workshops and events in four broad categories:
- Social collaborative
- Social bonding and unwinding
- Interactive learning, could be founder/ mentor sessions
- Learning from domain experts via workshops
How has the co-working industry evolved in recent years and what trends do you see shaping its future? And what strategies is 91Springboard implementing to stay competitive in the evolving co-working market?
The paradigm shift caused by the pandemic in the flexible workspace industry can be broken up into three broad phases so far:
- When COVID 19 hit, businesses went into survival mode. Companies and employees were forced to adopt work-from-home models
- Some trends that emerged during the pandemic continued even as normalcy returned. This is because whilst their emergence was accelerated due to the pandemic, there were fundamental underlying causes that had created them in the first place. Access to talent, variable cost-structures, de-risked balance sheets, sharper focus on business core etc are some of these fundamentals
- The flex space industry rose to the emerging need of providing companies with the ability to scale up and down based on changing requirements giving solutions to not just the start-up community but also to corporate at large
The next phase in this evolution is likely to be a shift towards experience over function. It is our view that both the customer side and the operating economics of the flex industry will mirror the evolution of the hotel industry.
On the supply of inventory end, asset owners would double-down on having a mixed portfolio of flex and conventional products. On the demand side, flex inventory will be a solution for different genres of customers. What it’ll come down to is our agility to offer the right product at the right time at the right location to the right customer.
We believe that one of our biggest strengths is to be able adapt to market demands and curate workspaces that fit every business need. Our co-working spaces offer services that give administrative and guidance-based offerings to help them build their dreams. Our managed office services eliminate the need for administrative overheads whilst maintaining their cultural ethos. We have enterprise solutions that bring together the best of both worlds.
How does 91Springboard envision shaping the future of co-working in the coming years?
Our workspaces have always reflected our commitment to our customers. Our recently launched Platinum Hubs have created a new category in the industry. These hubs have set the bar for premium enterprise-co-working spaces that cater to both the start-up and large size companies.
Our customer-centric focus comes out of our experience in the hospitality industry, where under one roof we offer seamless experience to a diverse genre of guests. Distinct product categories catering to the apt customer segment, ensures effectiveness in delivery of our brand promise. This is echoed via our high level of repeat customers and customer satisfaction score. From a return on investment, there is a sharp, metric-driven focus on cost structure and yield. Likewise, our offering to our asset-owning partners is a consistent and superior yield for their assets.
