You have carefully chosen the location of your serviced office space and have considered factors such as connectivity and accessibility, the set-up costs involved in running the office space, and the services you need. The job of hunting for office space is well underway but not finished yet. All the above factors will help you decide on where to set up your business but won`t help you rate the office space on parameters such as quality, facilities and others.
This article, the second in series of two articles (first article can be accessed here) aims at providing office space seekers a guide to evaluating the quality of office space based on multiple parameters.
You have computers, servers, printers and other IT equipment that determine your operational efficiency. Any breakdown of your IT infrastructure can lead to abnormal stoppage of your business.
According to a recent survey, it suggests that out of every five dollars spent on Information Technology; one dollar is spent on infrastructure. This explains how critical infrastructure support is in the overall scheme of things. Amongst other things it is important to evaluate the Information Technology support in the below mentioned parameters;
A.) Total cost of ownership– Total cost of ownership determines the actual payout that you incur while hiring or leasing the infrastructure support. Equipment costs do contribute to a significant chunk of the overall cost but other costs such as operational costs cannot be ignored. Hence, to ensure no cost or budget overruns, one should always calculate the total cost of ownership
B.) Total uptime of infrastructure– The infrastructure availability is one important factor behind your service or product deliveries to your customers. An unscheduled downtime in the infrastructure not only results in vital employee productivity loss but also creates a dent in customer confidence in your organization. Infrastructure uptime/ downtime should be a part of the Service Level Agreement which you negotiate with the service provider. This will ensure a greater reliability and enhanced customer service
C.) Reliability– Reliability is directly connected to the uptime / downtime of the infrastructure. Another factor that impacts reliability is the overall performance of the infrastructure support. A poor performance in the form of slow responsiveness or inadequate handling of customer requests can severely impact your business
D.) Helpdesk services– Who do you ask for help in case of any problems with your computer system? It is generally the helpdesk. The importance of helpdesk services cannot be under-estimated. Helpdesks are now a core and vital part of a successful business and are a central point through which problems are reported and managed. Helpdesk users can be external or internal (or both) but wherever the support comes from the smooth operation of the helpdesk is fundamental to the smooth running of an enterprise. A well manned, well equipped helpdesk service is a must for ensuring higher productivity and enhanced customer service
Internet has emerged as a key to any company`s future. But this critical resource is subject to traffic congestion and slow downs, as a result of increasing levels of IP traffic and the inherent unmanaged nature of the internet. The cost of sitting back and not effectively managing your internet traffic is great:
A) Lost Revenue: Users encounter delays accessing internet, resulting in lost sales
B) Wasted Expenditure: Costly internet bandwidth upgrades steal budget away from necessary IT initiatives, yet result in no noticeable service improvement
C) IT Undermined: Users complain about internet access, damaging the company`s credibility
D) Inefficient Systems: Traffic congestion slows access for important users
E) Poor Performance: New web services like audio and video streaming cause an even more dramatic performance drop, hence it is highly recommended to give sufficient importance to internet bandwidth in terms of speed and availability
F) Productivity loss– Last but not least, poor internet bandwidth results in employee productivity loss with internet users spending too long a time waiting for their pages to load, or anxiously waiting for their downloads to complete, only to find later that internet connection is snapped midway. Not only does poor internet connection lead to lower productivity but also user frustration as well.
This is a must have. Good fire safety protection is important to provide a safe working environment. There have been several instances where organizations have compromised with Fire Safety measures and landed up making huge losses, disrupting their business and putting their employees in danger. Hence it is important to check for the fire safety measures such as water hoses, fire doors, alternative staircase and others.
Along with IT equipment, Telecom services and equipment form the livewire of business today. Imagine the consequences if you are having an important conference call with your customers and you are disconnected simply because your equipment gave up or the telecom service provider`s line snaps.
One should look for factors such as reliability, overall availability and quality of telecom and service equipments whilst evaluating the office space.
You would feel cheated if you have overlooked vital terms and conditions mentioned in the fine print of your agreement. This oversight may just result in you overpaying your service providers. You should check there is enough flexibility in the terms and conditions without being too restrictive.
Avanta Business centres India located at the heart of New Delhi`s business district, provides one compelling alternative for those who are seeking office space. The premier location advantage combines state-of-the-art facilities including high-speed internet connection, well furnished meeting rooms, modern telecom equipment, call handling services and others.
Avanta`s special “business support package” combines the services into one package and delivers it in a fixed monthly fee. With Avanta`s flexible and transparent pricing (ZERO upfront costs. ZERO hidden costs). So if you are looking for office space in India that provides high quality services and where business dealings are transparent, Avanta is the place to be in.
