This is an installment in an ongoing series highlighting statistics from a recent Coworks survey of coworking space operators and managers. The goal is to illustrate the scope of their daily responsibilities and answer the question, "Which technology tool do you use most often in your work day?"
Email's first place finish echoes a broader workplace reliance on inboxes for nearly everything. But overflowing inbox chaos screams for more optimal solutions.
Likewise, while over a quarter leverage software specifically designed for the operational intricacies of managing shared workspaces, most continue relying on spreadsheets, post-its, or basic property management platforms ill-suited for the job.
The takeaway is that specialized technology exists to help coworking professionals manage complexity, freeing them to focus on hospitality and community building.
Email organically dominates daily activity due to its ubiquity as a communication hub. But ease-of-use enables equally easy distraction and overload.
Tools like FollowUpThen, Streak, and HubSpot help organize inboxes by automatically tagging, categorizing, and even moving messages based on sender, content, attachments, and other factors.
We all suffer email overload given its dominance as our main communication hub. Maybe you strive valiantly to maintain Inbox Zero daily. Or perhaps you embrace email chaos with hundreds of unread messages and frantic search bar queries.
Either way, more efficient solutions exist to tame the beast rather than continuing inbox drudgery. The good news is that easy-to-use automation apps like Zapier handle organizing and processing emails behind the scenes so your attention stays focused on priority community building tasks.
Zapier connects inbox messages to other platforms, allowing you to automatically move, tag, and track emails based on sender, content, attachments, and other factors you define without any complex coding. Workflows happen seamlessly so your energy remains devoted to nurturing your members rather than wrestling with your inbox.
Coworking management software like Coworks specifically targets administrative tasks that tend to overwhelm flexible workspace operators.
By centralizing member and billing data, usage metrics, reservations, access control, service requests, CRM, and numerous other facility oversight needs into a single dashboard, hours wasted juggling disjointed spreadsheets evaporate.
Automation handles the grunt work so managers focus on customer service and community building.
Membership management software also allows self-service accountability for visitors booking spaces, tracking invoices, submitting maintenance tickets, accessing space details, and more on their own time.
Coworks' dedicated mobile app grants members control over their experience via smartphones for maximum convenience.
Information hubs featuring FAQs, resources, notifications, and space interactions further reduce 1-on-1 questions and issues, allowing staff to dedicate in-person time to nurturing the environment and culture.
As the initial survey in this series indicated, the number one favorite aspect of managing coworking spaces is community cultivation and member interactions. Technology simplifies business operations precisely to empower those hospitality-focused priorities.
Inboxes, spreadsheets, and software are designed to aid efficiency — not to replace that in person experience. Genuine human relationships, programming, and service remain the heart of coworking’s appeal and competitive edge over more sterile mainstream office environments.
Optimizing management technology through platforms designed explicitly to untangle flexible workspace complexities gives operators a formidable edge. By seamlessly integrating essential data points, coordinating automated workflows across systems, and granting members self-sufficiency, tools like Coworks fuel the authentic community experience coworking does best.
The member-first mission never changes even as locations scale. Intuitive, purpose-built software simply allows exceptional hospitality and relationship-building to shine brighter.
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