Is hot-desking an option for your business?

IF you run your own business and often find yourself working in crowded coffee shops, cafes, buses or any open space you can find then maybe it’s time to think about hot-desking! Or, if like me, you work from the comfort and distraction of your own home where you can end up sleeping longer than anticipated, putting clothes out or working later in the evening, hotdesking could be just the divide you need between work and play.

MORE STRUCTURE

At present, I feel like I never leave the house to go to work nor do I feel like I ever come home from work. It’s getting to the stage where I am seriously considering a change of scenery that I can call my office and have a more structured working day. I’ve looked into hot desking and although it seems enticing and cost effective, I’m not sure if it would work for me. The reason being that everything I do is strictly confidential and would not sit well in a hot desking situation where I may be sharing one office with a number of other businesses. I’d have my own desk and space, but then I’d also have no real privacy for my clients.

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

Omagh Enterprise Centre offers hot desking and I’ve certainly had a look around at the facilities on offer there. It would be the ideal base for any business as it has a lot going for it in terms of location, which would certainly help my business grow. Being located in rural Greencastle and off the beaten track, down two hilly side roads isn’t ideal in our winter weather.

In fact, a lot of business was lost last winter due to the icy and treacherous road conditions. So in this sense, location, location, location is of prime importance to Application Assist.

Ideally, it would be perfect to be located in a main town or on a main arterial route.

With this in mind, I investigated hot desking further and found a facility on the main Omagh to Cookstown Road which can either be rented out as one big office or on a hot desking basis with four desks available.

The good thing about this is the location as the road is gritted when winter strikes. Another benefit would be that there is no real major financial outlay as the landlord has flexible terms, so it would certainly be worth trying as it may prove more cost effective than renting a full office.

The other plus points are that the hot desk comes with a desk, chair, phone and broadband connection, so it’d be a more productive working environment than my current set-up.

HOT DESKING PARTNERS

I have also looked into other locations for basing Application Assist and have considered every town within a 30 minute car journey from my home. The options are endless, but hot desking opportunities are few and far between.

I may or may not re-locate Application Assist in the near future, but for now, I think I’ll bide my time until I can find other businesses who are interested in hot desking with me on the main Omagh to Cookstown Road as that is my preferred location at present.

If you or any business you know of is thinking about hot desking I’d be interested in hearing from you.

Source: ulsterherald.com