Regus Sri Lanka’s flexible workspaces revolutionising work

• 68% of companies globally link increasing revenues directly to flexible working

By Inshira Shianaz

Regus Sri Lanka recently announced that it is changing the way companies in Sri Lanka work, with its business centres offering entrepreneurs, start-ups, SMEs and even multinational corporations flexible workspaces in and around the city of Colombo.

Regus Sri Lanka Country Manager Nirmal De Silva stated that since its commencement in Sri Lanka, the company had served more than 300 corporates with flexible workspaces.

“Sri Lanka is a part of Regus’ Asia-Pacific region, which also includes Australia, China, Japan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Nepal, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore 19 countries in total. With its strategic location, skilled and educated workforce, political stability and opportunities across all industries, it was decided that Regus should have a presence in Sri Lanka as part of its regional growth plans,” he added.

Regus’ global research has shown that 51% of global workers see the office as a place for occasional use, while 58% of people working in large organisations predict a decrease in the need for office space as a result of future work styles. In addition, 60% of businesses globally believe flexible working practices to be lower cost than fixed working.

“We see huge opportunity post war in Sri Lanka we got a knowledge based working community and highly educated, skilled work force. There is a wonderful start up here we see people expanding their companies with new ideas but they are finding it difficult to focus on the business because there is no support from the commercial real estate part. So that’s were Regus comes in to place and supports,” De Silva said.

He added that working flexibility supported productivity and sustainable living as it leads to a better work-life balance and reduces stress. In fact 72% of companies globally report that their employees’ productivity has increased as a result of flexible working practices while 68% of companies globally link increasing revenues directly to flexible working.

Regus Sri Lanka commenced operations in August 2012 and opened their first centre at the World Trade Center in October of the same year. Consequently, the company opened centres in prime locations in Colombo and immediate suburbs including the GPD Building on Dharmapala Mawatha Colombo 7, McLarens Building on Bauddhaloka Mawatha Colombo 4, and Lotus Building on Nawala Road Nawala and Bernard’s Business Park on Dutugemunu Street, Dehiwela.

Regus has a number of solutions options to suit various types and sizes of businesses, all of which are offered in Sri Lanka. Their first solution is the ‘offices’ product which provides various types of offices i.e. ‘equipped offices’ which are fully-furnished and equipped offices, designed to suit every size of business, ‘co-work offices’ that allow work in a shared space with colleagues, project teams and other remote workers, ‘campus offices’ which are ideal for teams who need a dedicated office and ‘day offices’ for which clients need to only pay for the office time when they use it.

Their second solution is called ‘home and virtual working’ and is a solution which offers ‘mailbox’, ‘virtual office’ and ‘virtual office plus’ services for customers. Depending on the solution required by the customer, they can benefit from a number of ways such as dedicated office for five days a month, a telephone answering service with personalised call answering and mailbox service which gives a professional business address to the client.

From a ‘mobile working’ perspective Regus offers a unique program called Business world. Business world is a card-based program that provides members walk-in access to Regus business lounges in 104 countries worldwide. All Business world members have access to free and secure Wi-Fi, free refreshments, and a safe and professional work environment. 

Regus offers different membership plans based on whether the customer requires a local, national or global package. A typical Regus business centre therefore provides conference rooms, meeting or training rooms, business lounge/cafe, full/part-time day offices and a professional reception area, together with vital on-demand business services from telephone to video communications and Internet to printing, copying and scanning.

Being in the market for 25 years at a global level, Regus is the world’s leading provider of flexible workspaces with 2,300 locations globally, supporting over two million customers every day. Regus is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and is used by most Fortune/FSTE 250 companies. 

The Regus network includes famous business locations such as the Wall Street in New York, Trafalgar Square in London, IFC Tower in Hong Kong, Nehru Palace in New Delhi, Exchange Tower in Bangkok, Raffles City in Shanghai and King Street Center in Sydney.

Pix by Lasantha Kumara