Occupancy levels in co-working spaces across the country were hit in March and April, and from May onwards some recovery has begun with the occupancy improving from 15-20 per cent to about 50-70 per cent level depending on the city. Many of those who had to work from home and didn’t have required infrastructure have started looking at ‘working near home’.

Sharing the emerging trends in the last few months, Awfis founder & CEO Amit Ramani told Telangana Today, “We are clearly seeing a new trend where corporates are looking at a distributed network of co-working spaces in each city so that employees can operate from spaces within their vicinity, instead of making them commute to one major centralised commercial location.”

And another trend is that some level of re-densification is happening within the co-working spaces to ensure social distancing to meet the safety norms and expectations in the coming 3-6 months. Common areas, cafes and pantries will be avoided for some time to ensure safety. Since the occupancy levels are low in co-working spaces now, social distancing is not an immediate challenge now, but will become crucial when footfalls will increase.

However, in terms of occupancy, co-working space providers which were largely dependent on the startups and freelancers were impacted more after the pandemic outbreak, while those who largely catered to large enterprises saw stable activity.

Awfis outlook

Co-working space provider Awfis is reaching up to 80 per cent of its pre-covid sales levels, as those who were operating in conventional office spaces whose renewals were due have started moving to flex or co-working spaces.

Ramani said that technology will play a big role in these times. Awfis, for instance, has rolled out an app even before Covid that allows co-working space occupants to have a seamless experience for booking meeting rooms and access other areas.

And for those employees or independent professionals who were required to work from home, the company recently launched Awfis@Home, providing smart furniture, seamless connectivity and an integrated tech enablement platform on subscription and one-time payment mode.

When asked if a dip in the hospitality business which is impacted by lockdown is leading to new opportunities, Ramani said, “We have been creating spaces in hotels and retail mall spaces. We are seeing many deals in this segment with several large brands and Awfis is currently in the process of finalising deal structures. Hotels are keen to turn their banquets (2,000-10,000 sq ft space) into co-working spaces. This is a huge opportunity.”

This story appeared in the 12 September , 2020 issue of Telangana Today and was originally published  at : Distributed network to drive co-working space growth (telanganatoday.com)

Hyderabad: Co-working space company, Awfis Space Solutions, which operates eight centres in Hyderabad with a capacity of 5,000 seats, is planning for an expansion in the next six months.

Sharing the growth plans for Hyderabad market, Amit Ramani, founder & CEO, Awfis Space Solutions, told Telangana Today, “We have roughly 5,000 live seats and plan to double it to 10,000 seats in the next six months. Hyderabad is a key market for us and it will be among the top three cities for us as a co-working player, including Bengaluru and Pune.”

“Hyderabad is on our high priority list and we are keen to double the capacity here from eight centres to close to 16 centres by June-July 2020. We are currently in HITEC City and Gachibowli and plan to expand into Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills, Begumpet, Ameerpet and Secunderabad. From a geographic point of view, we want to provide complete coverage across commercial micro-markets of Hyderabad. At present, the concentration is on the western market, but we are soon going to spread into other locations,” Ramani added.

Pan-India expansion

“Nationally, we have 35,000 seats that are live across 10 cities (including Hyderabad). We have recently entered into Chennai. There are around 15,000 seats that are underway, which will be ready by June. We are going to enter into Kochi, Indore and Ahmedabad. The goal is to be in 12-13 cities and have over 50,000 live seats by the middle of the year. We currently have 70 centres pan-India, and will be adding another 30 to take the total to 100 by then.”

Talking of the co-working demand in India, he said, small and medium businesses and enterprises dominate the co-working space occupancy at about 90 per cent. These users are going to dominate the segment and drive demand. Enterprises today look at converting capital investment into operational investment, flexibility with shorter lock-in period, better infrastructure and well-designed workspaces.

Also, Awfis is able to provide service quality and delivery experience that these companies are looking for, by providing the expected engagement and convenience. The company is increasingly bringing in customisation through its offerings.

Tech adoption

“We continue to focus on using technology and improving customer experience. Our workspace management helps companies with seamless access and digital management systems. There is a big role that technology will play in work space management in future, in the form of energy management tools and using grid power to keep the operational costs low. Data analytics will help in giving better learning and understanding about customers on what will work and what will not,” Ramani explained.

People are also looking at mobility as a big solution. Awfis is creating 100 centres soon pan-India, which will improve the operational convenience to customers for their nationwide operations. The company is looking to provide different formats for users providing varied price points, from Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000 per seat, depending on the building, where co-working spaces are being created.

This article was originally published 5th February 2020, on at: Awfis to double operations in Hyderabad (telanganatoday.com)

Co-working spaces are coming up in luxury hotels, thus changing the way office feels and looks

If you thought co-working spaces was all about having a few workstations with a coffee machine and free Wi-Fi, then the new-age facilities will make you think again. Co-working spaces are changing the way they function and are finding good companionship in five-star hotels and malls. Whether it is Awfis which has set up a centre in Taj Deccan in Banjara Hills or The Park, Somajiguda having multiple office spaces set up in their hotel, Hyderabad’s co-working space is moving with the changing trends.

“Co-working spaces in five-star hotels and malls provide an ecosystem to just the provider but also to the user. It has benefits like 24/7 operational facility, ample parking, entertainment, food and shopping areas. Along with this a five-star hotel also has the added advantage for business travelers in terms of stay. In addition, for service providers like ours, these spaces prove to be more efficient in the sense we don’t have to worry about security and maintenance,” says Monika Misra, co-founder, iKeva – a Hyderabad-based co-working infrastructure provider.

The company has one of its Mumbai co-working spaces set up in a mall which provides them with benefits like parking and other amenities. These kind of co-working spaces also prove beneficial for hotel and mall owners as they lead to revenue generation and also help in utilising space better. For the co-working space provider as well, the burden of maintaining the space is shifted and they can concentrate more on providing better amenities inside the space. Most of these spaces have also built-in conference rooms and meeting rooms along with access to food, entertainment and other amenities.

Hotels and Restaurants Association of Telangana, secretary general, Pradeep Kumar Dutt said, “This is a very positive trend as it helps not only the co-working space provider but also the hotels to increase their occupancy rate. So in that sense it is a dual benefit for both service providers – in this case co-working infrastructure providers – and space providers – which are hotels. With many five-star hotels not having business round-the-clock, this kind of provision helps them in having regular business.”

Visit the below link to read the published article: https://telanganatoday.com/five-star-hotels-new-work-stations