Pier Paolo Mucelli @ LSE: Knowing your Market 2010 03
-
Upload
pier-paolo-mucelli -
Category
Business
-
view
478 -
download
0
Transcript of Pier Paolo Mucelli @ LSE: Knowing your Market 2010 03
eOffice Case Study“Knowing and Impressing your Market”
LSE – October 2009
eOffice Vision
eOffice‘s vision is to improve the quality of life of professionals by providing flexible and competitively priced ready made networked offices, touch down spaces, meeting and conference facilities in a contemporary and high tech environment in city centre locations across the UK, and worldwide, in the future
eOffice – The ConcepteOffice offers beautifully designed, high tech, fully furnished and serviced offices in city centre locations eOffice workspace is based on an open plan environment, or “office neighbourhoods” with few wall to wall partitions, where good aesthetics and design are combined with information-age technology. Main service lines are virtual offices (business address and telephone answering), hot desking (touch down), fully furnished office, meeting and conference facilitiesAdditional services include administration and online services, making eOffice a one-stop-shop for start-ups and SMEsStrong activities for members, including company visits, networking events and powerful online communities (faceboook, linkedin, twitter)eOffice centres provide a suitable office solution for small businesses, start-ups and self-employed, in particular in the creative, media and technology sectorsAll services are sold online, with an ecommerce platform
Office Trends
Decrease in the amount of workspace allocated to individuals
Increase in the creation of spaces to support collaborative work
Growth in the practice of distributed working
Growth in the use of technologies to support collaboration, connectivity and distributed working
Study by DEGW, 2004
MarketOffice space (serviced offices)
• - Market leader Regus (1000 centres, 135 UK), Servcorp (Austrialian based, 77 centres) , MWB (UK, 60 centres), The Executive Office (UK, 30 centres)
• - Very fragmented market, around 2,000 centres in UK• - Serviced offices offer little differentiation in terms of design,
technology and servicesConference / meeting rooms
• - Several hotel chains offering conference and meeting rooms• - Conference and meeting centres (Etc. Venues, De Vere)
Virtual office services • - Mail Boxes Etc (part of UPS): shipping, postal and business
services , over 4,800 locations worldwide • - FedEx Office (ex Kinkos): postal services, printing and office services • - eReceptionist: telephone number and answering services• - DaVinci : virtual office operator
HistoryDec 99 – eOffice is accepted as a trademarkJun 00 – eoffice.net and eoffice.co.uk are purchasedApr 02 - eOffice opens it first business centre in London SohoMay 02: eOffice launched prepaid hotdesking, then virtual officeSep 02: eOffice starts Google PPC, Google writes case studyJan 03: First wi-fi connected business centre in UKJun 03: CNN and BBC coverageMar 06: eOffice Manchester opensMar 07: eOffice Birmingham and Bristol openOct 07: eOffice wins British Council of Offices Innovation Award Nov 07: eOffice becomes first carbon neutral business centreJul 08: eOffice eNetwork launched, a network of independent worldwide business centresJan 09: 100 centres joined eOffice eNetwork
Products / Services
Virtual Office: business address, mail forwarding, telephone answering, messagingHot Desking: office access by the hour, with internet connection, prepaid hot desk hoursMeeting , Conference Rooms and Videoconferencing: available on hourly or daily basisServiced Offices: flexible office space for individuals and companies from 1 to 20 peopleePA: secretarial services on a prepaid flexible basisMembership and networking: access to community portal and networking events. Calendar function in myeOffice blog integrated to facebook, linkedin, twitterServices: voice, data, mail, fax to email, printing, copying, secretarial services, stationery, file storage and digital services
eOffice Soho
eOffice Manchester
eOffice Birmingham
eOffice Bristol
Pricing
Retail concept: £xx.99Competitive basic prices and adds on (low cost airline strategy)Different options: basic / premiumIncentives for prepayment (12+1 foc)Start low, build volume and slowly increase pricesKeep competitive prices, while building volume and add more services
Promotion / Exhibitions
PR - Endorsements - Awards
CNN Coverage 2002 (Design 360)
BBC Coverage 2003 (Dreamspaces)
eOffice Soho Finalist FX Awards 2002 and eOffice Manchester Finalist FX Awards 2006
eCiffo, Japan (2002): Selected as innovative offices
IAO (Germany) Office 21 – Future of Work, 2003, selected in their ‘Best Practice Tour’
HSBC Star Award 2004 – Finalist
BCO Innovation Award Overall Winner 2007
BCO Regional Winner 2007 – 2008
RIBA – Good Office Design 2009
Partnerships
Key Suppliers
Herman Miller - Case Study 2003
Kristalia – Case Study 2007
Avaya – Telecom
Canon – Imaging solutions
Key Marketing Partners
British Library – IP Centre
Make your Mark
Microsoft – Biz Spark
Nacue (entreprise societies)
Seedcamp
School for Startups
TiE
‘Distribution’ eOffice 2.0
Search Engines: Google / Yahoo / Bing
Business Networks: Linkedin / Twitter
Social Networks: Facebook, ASmallWorld
Directories: Gumtree / Primefind / Craig’s List
Surveys: Zoomerang / Survey Monkey
Blogs: myeOffice.com / eOffice.tv
Directories encyclopedia: Wikipedia
Photo Sharing: Picasa / Flickr
Video Sharing: YouTube / Vimeo
Virtual Life: Second Life: myeOffice.net
Competitive Advantages
Lower property costs. eOffice operates from business centres of around 10,000 s.f. average (1/3 the size of traditional serviced offices), hence a lower property cost
High margin services. More than 50% of eOffice turnover is derived from high margin services like virtual office, meeting and conference rooms and videoconferencing and hotdesking, as compared to traditional full time self contained office space
High Density. Space efficient benches offer higher density in self contained offices, while the balance of the office space is dedicated to open plan workstations, giving higher density and lower fit out cost.
Direct Sales. A high percentage of leads come via search engines (using SEO techniques and pay per click campaigns) cutting the agent intermediaries
Selling Points / Benefits to ClientsCity centre locations, next to transport hubs, and leisure and retail, good quality and representative buildingCreative environment with contemporary design and ergonomic furniture. Variety of working areas, including large lobby, break-out areas, quite booths, hot desking / open plan. Advanced technology, including wireless broadband, voice logging-in anywhere, plasma screens and videoconferencingMembers networking. Registration to myeOffice blog, calendar and connection via Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter. Regular networking events called Net ThursdayFlexibility, scalability and competitive pricing. Price below market leader, options including virtual, part time and full time, possibilities of changing options every month and to scale up or down quicklyOutstanding customer service. Friendly, attentive and professional customer service, from administration, sales, front desk to IT support, fundamental to long-term client retention
eOffice Client Base
Virtual Office: start ups and overseas clients, around 500 companies Hot Desking: growing market, mostly consultants, SMEs, but also corporates Meeting Rooms: small businesses, creative businesses, large corporatesServiced Offices: mostly start ups, small businesses, consultants, rep. offices, companies with between 1-20 peopleNetworking, membership: 130,000 opt-in email addresses, 50,000 Linkedin contacts, over 10,000 twitter followers, over 1,000 eOffice card members
Growth Opportunities Virtual Office
• - Offer virtual office worldwide locations via a full ecommerce solution
• - Buy business addresses, add VOIP numbers and re-sell eNetwork expansion
• - Extend the eNetwork scheme to 200 centres by 2010• - Relaunch eOffice membership card scheme via affiliate
centresManagement Contracts
• - Develop a management contract scheme• - Target property companies with prestigious buildings in city
centre locations• - Landlords to invest in fit out, eOffice management / marketing
Licence/Franchise Agreements• - Introduce franchise contracts in non-core markets• - Obtain fixed fee and yearly fees percentage of turnover
Building Knowledge
Properties: Working with property consultant to identify appropriate sites. Visited hundreds of properties since 2001, hands on approach Interiors: Since 2000, visited major design/trade exhibitions including Salone del Mobile – Milano, and French/Germany/UK fairs Technology: Attending small and large technology events, including CebitStart up community: Attending smaller events targeting startup community in London and UK, and sponsoring many eventsClient Networking: Participating to eOffice networking events (Net Thursday, Coffee Fridays, and Lunch with the CEO), to understand clients requirements. Several online group resources tooKnowledge building: Subscribing to over 50 publications, and several specialised newsletters/blogs/online resources
Importance of the Brand
The name eOffice was first thought in summer 1999 (dot-com boom)
eOffice UK trademark was obtained before business started in Nov 1999
eOffice logo developed by small creative agency in mid 2000
eOffice word and logo is now trademarked in 5 classes of services in UK, CTM (25 countries of European Community), USA and all countries signatory of the Madrid Protocol.
Domain names eoffice.net and eoffice.co.uk were bought in 2000
eOffice now owns around 100 domain names, including eoffice.net, eoffice.co.uk, eoffice.de, eoffice.it, eoffice.fr, eoffice.ru, eoffice.us etc.
Memorable telephone number 0870 888 88 88 and fax number
Complete branding manual available
Simple, memorable brand reduces marketing expenditure and increase sales potential
Tips and lessons learned
Knowledge: Prepare yourself, study the market, attend events/fair/presentation and read a lot Innovate: Whatever you do, do it better than existing providers, offer benefits to your clients
Marketing: Try different marketing / promotional activities and then focus on the most effective
People: Even with the best products/services, you need a good team around you to implement your vision
Perseverance: If you believe in what you do, be focused and patient, it takes a long time to build a stable business
The eOffice Car Fleet …
in 2002 (left) and 2012 (right)…