Cost Certainty – The Contact Centre Business Owner’s Guide to Property Expansion – Phil Sugden, director at flexible workspace solutions provider, Portal Group, discusses how rapidly growing contact centres can alleviate the extensive capex obligations incurred when relocating offices.
For both small and large contact centres alike, an office move can be an increasingly daunting and time-consuming process.
Despite this, property expansion is a fundamental phase for contact centres. Relocating to larger premises allows contact centres to meet fluctuating business demands, while also facilitating the introduction of a larger workforce.
Under the traditional lease, contact centre business owners must consider an array of different expenses, including fit out and facilities management at the start of a new lease, and dilapidations and exit fees at the end of their current lease.
Consequently, contact centres today are far less attracted to the financial burden of a lengthy traditional lease, and far more attracted to contemporary workspace contracts that can facilitate their future growth strategies.
In the UK today, the vast majority of traditional office leases for contact centres require a commitment for a 3-5 year fixed term. For contact centres growing in a rapidly evolving market place, this can limit future business developments and changes to working culture.
The contract lengths for managed office options, however, enable contact centres that require a high number of workstations, to more closely align their accommodation requirements with their business needs, allowing them to expand or downsize as required.
The first step of the property expansion process is sourcing a suitable building and location. Under the traditional office lease, contact centres are required to self-source their chosen property. Packaged offerings will undertake a bespoke property search which closely aligns with business requirements, in addition to handling the entire project management, which is combined into a single cost.
Once a suitable property has been selected, the terms of the contract can then be negotiated. This is a crucial time for contact centres to meticulously forecast for how their property requirements could change over the given time period.
Conversely, opting for a managed office approach will allow contracts to be priced on a per workstation basis with no capital expenditure or risk.
Once a suitable property has been selected and negotiations have completed, contact centres should begin the process of relocating their IT and telephony infrastructure.
This is a critical part of the relocation process, and is one of the biggest causes of decreases in productivity during an office move, as employees are unable to work until their equipment is effectively relocated.
With simple, streamlined systems and structured terms from managed office options, contact centre business owners can invest their time, effort and money into their businesses, not bricks and mortar.
Simply put, the new wave of shared offices options are allowing contact centres to not only access all the amenities they need at a cost-certain price, but to work within a flexible financial model that fosters their own unique growth and culture.
Additional Information
Phil Sugden, director at flexible workspace solutions provider, Portal Group
Portal’s Managed Office Solution (MOS) is a pioneering property, fit out, facilities management and supporting services solution, configured to an organisation’s requirements; at a location of their choice.
MOS removes the client’s Capex obligation, mitigates property risk and provides cost certainty by presenting a fixed price operating cost, with no exit fees or dilapidation charges enabling their customer to focus on their business, not their property.
Portal’s experienced team have a capability to deliver MOS for headquarters, back offices and contact centres anywhere across the UK
For additional information on Portal’s Managed Office Solution visit their Website
