Officing Today's Regus' Strategy to Win Over the New Generation of Workers covers two new Regus brands designed to appeal to the many folks choosing coworking spaces over Regus' traditional office suites.
The brands are ThinkKora and Spaces.
Key quote on why Regus thinks it needs other brands:
Regus is well aware of the fact that young, cool, hip, and creative people may not associate their aspirations with a corporate Regus environment.
As an analyst firm that spends a fair amount of time studying the coworking movement, we agree. I would add that not only is the Regus brand not a good fit with the people flocking to coworking spaces, their physical spaces and the way they are configured also don't work for this segment.
Regus spaces focus on privacy, security and their view of what a professional corporate office should look and feel like. The same is true for most other executive suites.
And there are a lot of people looking for this type of environment.
But as our research clearly shows, people in coworking spaces are a very different segment. They are looking for more than just a place to work. They're also looking enhanced social experience, networking, community support and help and opportunities to learn new skills.
Regus understands they can't deliver this type of experience in their current spaces. So they are opening new spaces under these new brands. Key quote from ThinkKora's homepage:
Join a growing entrepreneurial community, connecting with Kora and Regus members and partners from the world's of business and learning ...Find the inspiration, knowledge, skills, services and people you need through our learning and network events and our local Kora directors and connectors.
Definitely coworking-like branding.
There's little doubt rapid coworking space and membership growth - and especially WeWork's growth - is driving this shift by Regus.
They've been following coworking for years. But like most of the rest of the commercial real estate industry, they have only recently figured out coworking is a trend and not a fad.
We think this move by Regus is a good idea.
But existing players often struggle responding to disruptive new entrants using new business models and business methods. It will be interesting to see if Regus can successfully execute on this plan.
BTW, this move by Regus is more proof that coworking has reached an inflection point and will continue it's rapid growth.
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