Business Lodge – twiinworkspace

Business Lodge is a small regional flexible workspace operator, managing five workspaces, across two sites in Bury and Stoke. Their core business is private offices and meeting rooms. Formerly part of the MWB and Regus groups, the company has been independent for eight years.  The company is led by Managing Director Kate Holt, who is very experienced in the sector.  So, when it came to choosing a workspace management software solution for the business, she knew exactly what she wanted.

Do we need workspace management software to run our space?

Business Lodge were typical of many smaller flexible workspace operators who rely on spreadsheet and paper diaries to manage their flexible workspace and were reticent about moving away from a system that they felt worked and they felt comfortable with. After a chance meeting with the technologywithin team at the FlexSA Conference, Kate decided to move forward with her search for a workspace management software solution.

Searching for the right solution

“We thought about what to choose for a long time and we did look at a variety of offerings on the market,” says Kate. “I am detail oriented and had a million questions for the sales team. I wanted to make sure that operationally it was the right product, as well as producing the right analytics. Plus, I didn’t want it to be cumbersome for the team.”

What stood out for Kate and her team, was how effectively the benefits of twiinworkspace were presented, “The demos sold the product for us; the way it flowed, the way it all came together; seeing how the client lead moved through the pipeline.”

The twiinworkspace solution

twiinworkspace is a workspace management software package that brings together and simplifies every task to manage a workspace.  It comprises three modules, allowing clients to choose just the core twiinworkspace element, or add in twiinsales or twiinportal.

twiinworkspace supports the everyday workspace management tasks, such as licence creation,  online signature and storing;  billing management, integrations with client accounts software; meeting room booking and creation and billing of ad-hoc services.

twiinsales manages leads from multiple sources from initial set up to licence signature in a single pipeline view.

twiinportal offers end users control of their services, with access to licence agreements and the ability to book meeting rooms direct.

Saving time and creating management efficiency

The complexities and time taken to run month-end billing is a common complaint from those managing workspaces without the benefit of management software.  “I was nervous about the first bill run, but it was seamless” says Kate.” It saves us time on billing. 100%. Previously we’d be looking at three days to complete the month end, now it massively reduces that because all of our licences are saved on twiinworkspace. Previously I’d have checked each one to ensure that the billed figure was correct. Now, once I approve the licence, I’m approving the billing for 12 months, so it hugely reduces the margin for error in billing. And that’s from a company who would have said that our billing accuracy was pretty good. So, if you’re questioning your billing accuracy, then this will really make an immense difference.”

Meeting room revenue growth

Kate is very clear that twiinworkspace has increased Business Lodge’s revenues from the eight meeting rooms on site.  “We have doubled, if not tripled, our meeting room revenues on some months.  I think that’s down to not missing any bookings – we were using a spreadsheet and a paper diary before, but I would have said that our logging and accuracy was pretty good. It’s also due to making it easier to book and stopping clients asking for discounts, because the price is pre-set on the system.”

They are soon to add the final twiinworkspace module – twiinportal – which will allow their clients to self-manage, including online meeting room booking.  Kate expects this to increase meeting room booking further, with availability visibility and improve customer satisfaction.

Everything in one place means no single point of failure

Workspaces are commonly run by small teams but lack of communication can lead to problems. “As a small team we also really appreciate how it reduces our risk on any one person being a single point of failure.  When our team member who is responsible for billing was off this month, it meant that all of the information we needed was in one place and it was simple to run. The same applies to lead management. If someone is off and I get an enquiry, I just log into twiinsales and can see exactly where we are with that lead.”

The outcome

From first time workspace management software user to advocate in just a year; that’s what we call a success!

If you are yet to make the leap into managing your workspace with management software, twiinworkspace is the perfect workspace management product for flexible workspace, ensuring efficient management of private offices, desks and meeting room space from sales lead to monthly billing.  Find out more here.

Find out more about Business Lodge and their workspace locations here.