NEW YORK REAL ESTATE TECH WEEK The future of the office now goes beyond even what the occupier wants, according to one of New York’s leading proptech entrepreneurs. Rather it all comes down to the individual.
Ryan Simonetti, co-founder and chief executive of Convene, a workplace-as-a-service platform that partners with global landlords including Blackstone in Chicago and Brookfield in Los Angeles to help them operate offices more like the hospitality sector, said that the future of the office is not all about co-working, but rather the “cosumerisation” of the real estate experience.
The former real estate investor said: “Convene is hospitality combined with the traditional office building but it offers something that moves away from the tenant to focus on the individual, because these are the people who can now choose how, when and where they work. Co-working is a piece of that, but it’s the headline. The trend line is what is offered across the board from a design and tech perspective to food and beverage offers and events spaces.”
Simonetti added that progress in this sector is being made in different ways around the world, which is why Convene was now preparing for global expansion. “Work/life balance has been replaced by work/life integration as we are all looking to make the best use of our time so the same trends playing out globally but different regions are leading on different things. From a space-as-a-service perspective, London is much more advanced than New York or Asia but I think North America will lead on the tech and certain types of Europe will lead on design.
“In future we need to be in London and Asia. We will be a global company within the next 24 months and London is near and dear to our hearts. From a space perspective we will want to find the landlords committed to creating an experience for the end user that is different and deeply empathetic. It is less about location and more about partner.”
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