spencer88
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Registered: 6th Oct 08
Location: cornwall
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quote:
Originally posted by Neo
I see, however, as said your target audience is small business', they are unlikely to have sophisticated VPN technologies and therefore, how would they connect to their emails etc. Even small business' (in my experience) use a SBS or linux server for mail, file storage etc.
Essentially, and I may be very very wrong and just overly tired, "workhubs" are offering an upscale internet cafe ? Except the coffee is free and you pay for the internet connection ?
Kind of I suppose. More so that people who work from home can then set up office here, without the large overheads of a stand alone office.
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Neo
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Registered: 20th Feb 07
Location: Essex
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I'm genuinly intrigued so don't take anything I say as aggressive or trolling.
Are you assuming that they do not have any infrastructure at home ?
Accountants and Surveyors ussually have bespoke software which runs on servers etc so how would this be accessed ?
Would you simple rent a desk for a day rather than have an agreement with the company ? How would you be able to address downtime (I refer to this as although they have the risk when they are working from home, when they are reliant on you they actually have someone to blame and will) if someone has rented a desk/meeting room for a day and you were too loose electricity, internet etc. Obviously they would expect a refund however you would have to foot the loss.
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spencer88
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Registered: 6th Oct 08
Location: cornwall
User status: Offline
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No no no, I fully appreciate the comments  Like I said we have only recently looked at this as we have some surplus space at a recent development.
Assumptions kind of lead me to thinking people working from home who may have the infrastructure, but want to separate work/home life, but do not want the massive outlay of an office.
Accounts/Surveyors- Looking at smaller self employed people, who we ourselves have dealt with so had some input from them. This is where you look at a studio type office for them on an almost permanent basis. We were looking at offering several things, from hot desking to dedicated working space.
We have seen that some companies offer packages like, for instance 6 hours a month for a desk with internet connection etc, up to several hundred for a studio office where they can put whatever they require in.
Please don't forget we are based in Cornwall, where large firms are few and far between, generally accountants down here still use abacus'.
I would also like to say our target audience as such was for people in the local area who are currently working at home to relocate and separate work/home life and to also offer a working environment for consultants who come down from up country. As I mentioned we have a consultant who has taken a similar space near Exeter as he is often down this way and got bored of sitting in McDonalds for there free internet 
[Edited on 21-07-2011 by spencer88]
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Neo
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Registered: 20th Feb 07
Location: Essex
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Ok makes a bit more sense.
After reading the case studies on workhubs however, it seems people were using it as a way to gain credability. At one site they were offering Monthly rent, postal address and telephone answering for £235 pcm ! (Just add cost of calls and a broadband line, great for a one man band) Obviously in some jobs i.e. designers, photographers etc its very easy to set up in a place where you have Creative Suite installed on your laptop, have rentable meeting space for clients to visit however otherwise you can get your head down and work in a silent space
Maybe I was looking at it a little "too" big i.e established firms rather than one man bands.
I still think it comes across a little like an internet cafe. Jeez, I've known guys to spend more than that a month in starbucks for the wifi
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spencer88
Member
Registered: 6th Oct 08
Location: cornwall
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by Neo
Ok makes a bit more sense.
After reading the case studies on workhubs however, it seems people were using it as a way to gain credability. At one site they were offering Monthly rent, postal address and telephone answering for £235 pcm ! (Just add cost of calls and a broadband line, great for a one man band) Obviously in some jobs i.e. designers, photographers etc its very easy to set up in a place where you have Creative Suite installed on your laptop, have rentable meeting space for clients to visit however otherwise you can get your head down and work in a silent space
Maybe I was looking at it a little "too" big i.e established firms rather than one man bands.
I still think it comes across a little like an internet cafe. Jeez, I've known guys to spend more than that a month in starbucks for the wifi
That's what I though (Regarding size)
But I suppose the whole feel about it was that it was intended to get businesses together as well, the glovefactory one is aiming to become a mini community.
I will keep looking into it and see what happens. Cheers for your input.
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