IWG

In an interview with PropTech Outlook Europe, Alex Teteris, Director of Global IT and Center Technology at IWG, highlights the latest trends in the proptech space and how it is transforming the way businesses explore innovative workplace options to boost their adaptability to market changes. 

What is your role at IWG? Could you please walk us through your responsibilities?

I am the director of global IT and center technology in IWG, the largest provider of shared workspaces or co-working spaces globally and home to several brands like Regus or Spaces. My responsibilities include managing all aspects of our internal operations at our centers, apart from the global backend for infrastructure, the cloud, and security.

What are the challenges that IWG and the PropTech industry are facing? 

In the post-pandemic landscape, there has been a remarkable surge in growth and the ability to scale operations, generating favorable revenue and value for consumers at a rapid pace. This trend has been particularly evident since 2022 and continues to shape the business landscape in 2023. As part of our growth strategy, we have made significant investments in adopting a franchise model, which has facilitated our expansion. However, this approach also presents its own set of challenges.

To ensure success in implementing a franchise model, it is crucial to establish well-defined procedures and a standardized method for efficiently setting up additional centers across various locations, whether it is in South Africa, Tokyo, the US, or London. This enables consistent growth while maintaining operational excellence and customer satisfaction.

Some challenges we face are not exclusive to the pandemic but rather related to the evolving nature of how people work. An increasing number of individuals are embracing co-working spaces for collaborative work, shifting away from the traditional five-day office routine. Hybrid work models are becoming more prevalent, necessitating the provision of consistent and reliable internet services to support voice and video collaboration tools. Customers now expect the same or even better performance when entering an office, irrespective of their location. As a result, scaling out internet services to accommodate the growing demand for Wi-Fi connectivity in collaboration rooms without relying on network cables has become a complex task.

Moreover, the industry is experiencing a multitude of disruptions caused by shifts in customer behavior and expectations regarding how centers should operate. From an application standpoint, our focus is on delivering a more digitally integrated experience, where users can easily book services within the same application. With just a few clicks, they can find the nearest and most convenient location.

This unified application should also enable users to seamlessly access office facilities, connect to Wi-Fi, and even invite guests, all while being able to utilize and purchase various services available within the office, such as printing or making payments for coffee, without the need for external credit cards.

By addressing these challenges and fostering a digitally cohesive and customer-centric environment, we aim to meet the evolving needs and expectations of our clients. This approach empowers individuals to work flexibly and efficiently across different locations, providing a seamless and integrated experience that enhances productivity and convenience.

“When exploring new solutions in the PropTech industry, it is crucial to carefully evaluate the revenue potential and return on investment they offer.”

How do you mitigate these challenges?

To address the challenges of supporting operations at scale, we have undertaken several initiatives that examine these issues in-depth. One notable change we have made is shifting from a traditional and reactive approach to a proactive one. This shift enables us to anticipate and address potential issues before they arise, ensuring a smoother and more efficient operation overall

We are actively increasing internet bandwidth everywhere we have implemented and retrofitted many of our centers with technologies for smart access management and IOT sensors. IWG is also investing extensively in the digital platform domain to be prepared for the next generation of services that will be more like Airbnb, where we will be much more agnostic to the world and expand the network footprint at a much greater scale. Essentially, we are completely fixated on and focused on two topics: scalability and client experience.

Is there any upcoming technology that you are interested in or you are optimistic about?

We're concentrating on a few significant initiatives that aim to limit the number of phones in centers through more soft phone-related activities. We are also investigating the IoT as a whole to see how we can automatically determine how an office is used and optimize it at every level. 

From being able to automatically provision catering for customers or understand how frequently a certain region of a building needs to be cleaned based on the foot traffic. Rather than focusing solely on booking services, we are now exploring the implementation of additional sensors to track and measure the consumption of articles by our customers. By capturing this information, we gain valuable insights into customer preferences and behavior, enabling us to optimize our offerings and enhance their overall experience.

We're also paying close attention to the collaborative environment. There are some intriguing developments and we're looking for more agnostic solutions as opposed to, say, your typical Cisco, Microsoft, Zoom, and others that are targeted. Our client bases use a variety of collaboration systems, and as a result, we require something that can naturally integrate with all of that and offer a fantastic experience so people can seamlessly connect to those platforms and collaborate. 

What advice would you like to give out to budding entrepreneurs or the CXOs in the sector?

When exploring new solutions in the PropTech industry, it is crucial to carefully evaluate the revenue potential and return on investment they offer. It is crucial to recognize that the PropTech sector may not necessarily yield high margins. Therefore, prioritizing scalability and selecting tools that generate substantial revenue is essential. The market offers a range of off-the-shelf options that may suit your needs, but the challenges involved in adopting them can vary depending on the size of your company.

This is where scale helps a lot and why within IWG, we have so many entrepreneurs and landlord owners partnering with us because the real estate costs have been dropping significantly due to the shift to hybrid working. In my opinion, collaborating with a sizable partner like IWG is the ideal move because you can optimize your spending, have experts control it, gain access to a wide range of tools and technologies, and ensure your company becomes successful quickly.