Changing Landscape of Co-working Space

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a seismic shift in the way companies function across the globe. Once startups and enterprises moved to remote working, the debate around the town was on the future of real estate and co-working spaces. However, New-Delhi based coworking startup Awfis was quick to recognise this impending change and innovate to survive a period, which set the real-estate industry clock backward on development. A

Accordingto a report by Statista, the finance and real estate sector quarterly change in GDP went down from -5.3 percent to -8.1 percent in Q2, as compared to Q1. Enterprises and companies are now adopting mechanisms that not only lower their capital expenditure, but also ensure the safety and well-being of their employees. 

In line with this, Awfis pivoted its business model and is now enabling a smooth transition to remote working by offering innovative solutions to facilitate the functioning of a distributed workforce, may they be working from home or working near home. 

In a recent conversation with YourStory, Founder and CEO Amit Ramani said that the startup has launched two new partnership models -- Powered By Awfis and Awfis@Home. 

Pivoting to new business models

"As de-densified workspaces and a distributed workforce environment are here to stay, we have designed a number of solutions to equip and empower our customers to seamlessly embrace this change,” Amit says. 

Even before the pandemic, the startup has been evolving into an integrated workspace solutions provider from being just a flex workspace provider. This helped Awfis stay ahead of the curve. In fact, Amit says, “The COVID-19 scenario has helped further accelerate this process as we launched solutions that addressed specific needs across the spectrum of work requirements pertaining to work from home and work near home.” 

Its new model -- Powered by Awfis -- helps companies optimise costs by creating workspaces out of their underutilised or unutilised real-estate. This in turn enables companies to generate additional revenue, and on the other hand, enables Awfis to add to its footprint of flex workspaces.

“It is a win-win partnership model,” Amit says.

The company's second offering, Awfis@Home, provides the flexibility to efficiently work from the comfort of one’s home. This model replicated the setting of a productive office work environment, which includes providing a physical infrastructure, IT infrastructure, and tech integration. 

Awfis@Home comes in both B2B and B2C packages. The B2C packages consists of just the furniture, and comes with EMI options of three, six, and 12 months, starting at Rs 465. The B2B packages start from Rs 1,149. The startup has already sold 1,000 units of Awfis@Home, via direct sales.

Additionally, the startup has expanded its portfolio to launch Awfis Care, a fully-integrated end-to-end facility management solutions platform. Awfis Care allows hassle-free operations and maintenance of office spaces with a single point of contact for all facility management services on offer. The platform comprises Office Management services, Business support services, and Technical Maintenance and Operations support. 

“Through these suites of offerings, we ensure that employees are provided an environment to unleash their true potential and enhance their productivity,” Amit explains.  

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Pivot and Persist: How coworking startup Awfis is replicating office at home

By Debolina Biswas

Dec 11, 2020

New-Delhi based coworking startup Awfis has launched Powered by Awfis and Awfis@Home to enable smoother transition to remote working.

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The COVID-19 pandemic caused a seismic shift in the way companies function across the globe. Once startups and enterprises moved to remote working, the debate around the town was on the future of real estate and co-working spaces. However, New-Delhi based coworking startup Awfis was quick to recognise this impending change and innovate to survive a period, which set the real-estate industry clock backward on development. 

According to a report by Statista, the finance and real estate sector quarterly change in GDP went down from -5.3 percent to -8.1 percent in Q2, as compared to Q1. Enterprises and companies are now adopting mechanisms that not only lower their capital expenditure, but also ensure the safety and well-being of their employees. 

In line with this, Awfis pivoted its business model and is now enabling a smooth transition to remote working by offering innovative solutions to facilitate the functioning of a distributed workforce, may they be working from home or working near home. 

In a recent conversation with YourStory, Founder and CEO Amit Ramani said that the startup has launched two new partnership models -- Powered By Awfis and Awfis@Home. 

Awfis

Image Source: Awfis

Pivoting to new business models

"As de-densified workspaces and a distributed workforce environment are here to stay, we have designed a number of solutions to equip and empower our customers to seamlessly embrace this change,” Amit says. 

Even before the pandemic, the startup has been evolving into an integrated workspace solutions provider from being just a flex workspace provider. This helped Awfis stay ahead of the curve. In fact, Amit says, “The COVID-19 scenario has helped further accelerate this process as we launched solutions that addressed specific needs across the spectrum of work requirements pertaining to work from home and work near home.” 

Its new model -- Powered by Awfis -- helps companies optimise costs by creating workspaces out of their underutilised or unutilised real-estate. This in turn enables companies to generate additional revenue, and on the other hand, enables Awfis to add to its footprint of flex workspaces.

“It is a win-win partnership model,” Amit says. 

Awfis

Amit Ramani, Founder and CEO of Awfis

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The company's second offering, Awfis@Home, provides the flexibility to efficiently work from the comfort of one’s home. This model replicated the setting of a productive office work environment, which includes providing a physical infrastructure, IT infrastructure, and tech integration. 

Awfis@Home comes in both B2B and B2C packages. The B2C packages consists of just the furniture, and comes with EMI options of three, six, and 12 months, starting at Rs 465. The B2B packages start from Rs 1,149. The startup has already sold 1,000 units of Awfis@Home, via direct sales.

Additionally, the startup has expanded its portfolio to launch Awfis Care, a fully-integrated end-to-end facility management solutions platform. Awfis Care allows hassle-free operations and maintenance of office spaces with a single point of contact for all facility management services on offer. The platform comprises Office Management services, Business support services, and Technical Maintenance and Operations support. 

“Through these suites of offerings, we ensure that employees are provided an environment to unleash their true potential and enhance their productivity,” Amit explains.

Impact of COVID-19 

Immediate disruptions aside, Awfis did not see a substantial impact on its revenues due to the pandemic. This can be attributed to its business models. First, Awfis works with clients that are large-enterprises with long-term leases. Secondly, the majority of its business falls under the profit-sharing or managed aggregation model. 

“The strength of our relationship with our landlords has played a significant role in helping us steer through this time,” Amit says.

He adds, “While we are seeking waivers on the fixed rental payments from our landlord partners, we are transferring the benefits to our clients and staying committed to the larger ecosystem in which we operate.” 

Therefore, Awfis has continued to make payments towards fixed operating costs such as salaries for its housekeeping staff, security, vendor partners, and utilities such as electricity, and internet. “We did not face any issues in meeting our commitments towards these fixed costs,” Amit adds. 

Further, to offer support to its clients, Awfis has restructured deals, allowed a delay in payments, and paused contracts wherever it was required by the client to sustain their businesses. 

awfis-changing the dynamics of co-working space

(Credit:  Your Story)