At Syncaroo, we’re working tirelessly to connect all the systems, teams, and services that boost reach and revenues for flex workspaces.
This gives us a behind-the-scenes view of how flex workspaces operate today, but also a unique view into how these businesses will operate in the weeks, months and years to come.
"Going hybrid" hasn't just changed how office space is accessed and leveraged by individuals and businesses. It has also forever changed how these spaces need to be continuously managed, filled and serviced.
We’re often asked by workspace operators to help make sense of the huge number of options and opportunities that exist.
From new platforms, to re-imagined services, to structuring internal teams and workflows, to avoiding opportunity costs – there’s just so many choices, but so little work time available to make decisions.
Whilst mapping out where Syncaroo Automations can deliver the highest impact for the most workspaces and their customers we created The Operational Stack (or the Ops Stack for short) .
Internally, this framework helps us navigate the ever-changing ecosystem around workspaces, proptech & support-services.
But we’ve found that the Operation Stack framework also helps workspace operators avoid analysis paralysis when exploring how their people, partners, and tech need to work together to operate efficiently.
Here’s a quick overview of it works and how your flex space can use the framework when thinking about the growing ecosystem involved with marketing, filling and running your workspaces.
The Stack
The Shape
No matter what, the most successful workspace operators know that the core of providing flex workspace is how you make your customers feel when they use the space.
This is why our onion-style stack is a framework layered around Hospitality – or ‘how you delight your customers and guests’.
Within this middle layer is where you’d find everything, and everyone, that interacts with or supports your current customers.
Here you’ll put things like your front-of house team and tech, what you use to manage incoming mail, how resources are booked/accessed, and how you provide auxiliary services or support.
Outer Layers
Outside of the Hospitality layer, you find three increasingly further-reaching layers. Within these layers you’d put the teams, partners, systems and processes you leverage to get new customers through the doors and into your hospitality layer.
They are ordered, from outer most inward, as Marketing, Leads and Sales.
Viewed from a very holistic viewpoint, these are the ways your flex workspace engages members of the public, captures interest and then closes deals.
Layer Sizes
The size of each layer isn’t purely aesthetic.
The size of each circle demonstrates what we’re seeing in quantities of both, the number of options available within each layer, and the number of people you’d interact with in that layer.
Marketing is by far the furthers reaching. It also has the most opportunity cost of not engaging with certain platforms, partners or teams.
As you move towards the center, the number of people you’re interacting with comes down, and so does the number of ways you interact with them.
In the Leads layer, you interact with those who may be interested in joining or leveraging your workspace and by the Sales layer you’re focussed on converting that interest into revenue.
Even in the Sales layer, you’ll still find opportunities from implementing an array of solutions, from paid on-demand bookings, to lead nurturing platforms, and contract countersigning technologies.
Ever-growing Growth
Given the rapid growth of both, the demand for flex workspace, and the size of investments going into solutions across all layers, it’s advised to envision the graph as continuously widening outward.
As each layer gets thicker, more and more creative ideas are being turned into new and exciting opportunities to reach, engage, transact and then delight your flex workspace users.
Levering this framework, you will be able to quickly assess how each opportunity adds to your core offering and overall strategy, and where it sits in your own Ops Stack.
Your Ops Stack
Now this is why The Ops Stack is more framework than a playbook.
Depending on your business rules, model, structure and culture, your stack may look completely different from any other workspace’s.
Often, there will be almost unanimous utilization of a specific piece of technology within a particular layer, for example using Google My Business listings in the Marketing layer.
In other instances, specific workspaces may use a resource or team in a completely different way, for example using their Property Management System to power their website in the Marketing layer and handling all payments in an accounting system in their Sales layer.
Your Customer Journey
This framework also takes into account how great flex workspaces take customers on a journey from prospects to customers and ambassadors.
In future posts we’ll dive into how the Ops Stack framework can be used by your customer experience teams to also streamline this side of your businesses. Can’t wait? Send us a tweet.
Staying Connected
As the layers continue grow, Syncaroo will stay focussed on keeping as many of your chosen options, teams and platforms in-sync, so that your flex workspace can operate even more efficiently.
We’ll also adapt this framework, and publish any updates, as we learn from even more flex workspace operators, markets and technologies, so be sure to sign up for our newsletter below if you’d like to notified about future blog posts and updates.
Got a comment, concern or feedback on the Operation Stack framework? Let us know.
