The company today has centres in places such as HITEC City, Kondapur, Financial District, Gachibowli, Begumpet, Ameerpet and Banjara Hills.

Amit Ramani, founder & CEO, Awfis told Telangana Today in an exclusive interview, “Hyderabad is a critical market for Awfis’ growth and substantial investments have gone into this direction. We plan to double our centres from the current 12. We expect an overall investment of about $7 million (over Rs 50 crore) towards new centres in the city.”

The company has just reached its 100-centre milestone nationally, by opening a new centre in Bengaluru. Further to this expansion, Awfis is now spread across 4 million sq ft pan-India with over 62,000 seats across 14 cities, making it the largest flex workspace provider in India.

“We are optimistic about the growth of the flex workspace industry this year and in line with that our aim is to double our capacity further in 2022 by launching our next 100 centres and entering new markets to establish a strong presence across 18 cities in India,” he added.

Each of the existing 100 centres have been set up to suit the requirements of large-scale enterprises, amidst the new normal. Awfis’ fully tech-enabled workspace solutions platform covers the entire spectrum of workspace needs, right from work-from-home to work-near-home and hybrid work requirements.

Awfis expanded its base from 5,800 desks across 20 centres in July 2017 to over 62,000 desks across 100 centres in 14 cities. In the past 15 months alone, the company has launched over 50 centres, with 30,000 seats amidst the growing demand for flex workspaces.

Ramani added, “Over the course of the pandemic, Awfis has grown from being a coworking player to an integrated end-to-end workspace solutions provider that is changing the way India works.”

This story appeared in the 20  January, 2022 issue of Telangana Today and was originally published  at : Awfis to double footprint in Hyderabad (telanganatoday.com)

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)

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