Office seating, now why would I be talking about Office Seating well recently there was a small but controversial case i the American News that caught my eye as somebody was stealing office chairs and tables from a global size company which had on a weekly basis five or 6 office swaps or moves and the gentleman responsible for moving the equipment, tables and chairs always seemed to slightly damage a table or chair every tome there was a move. As the company was so big they didn’t notice the odd extra item being ordered in a week.
This wasn’t noticed until a new man started who was responsible for all purchasing for the company but he took his job to the next level by monitoring everything from car hire to pencil purchases. After six months in to the job and getting the monthly spend down by a quarter of a million he noticed that the biggest outlay was on office furniture, in particular office seating. The new man decided to spend some of the budget he saved on trying to work out why hos company budget was being spent every month on office seating. What the private investigator found was the office removals bloke had been stealing and selling the furniture. Sounds trivial but the thief mad over $500,000. Not a bad rap.
ID Cards are more commonly used in offices to allow workers to enter the building securely. However, a company in Bangkok has introduced a new system whereby office workers can use their ID cards to buy snacks and drinks from vending machines.
The company are called Sun108, and they specialise in making and supplying vending machines for offices in Bangkok. There new invention will allow employees to purchase their products using their own identity cards, which will then sync to the company’s server to show how much they’ve spent.
The MD of Sun108, Vathit Chokwatana, said:
The vending machine will dispense the desired product when an employee flashes an ID card instead of putting in coins. Our first customer has implemented six vending machines that enable the staff to buy products electronically.
The vending machines will be integrated and linked to the company’s server, restricting access only to its employees.
Online auction leader eBay is to lobby the European Parliament regarding what it terms ‘last century’ trading rules. It states that traditional manufacturers are clearly exploiting outdated regulatory laws for limiting the impact of online trading. The firm is planning to lead a coalition of online traders that are lobbying for change.
Paloma Castro, eBay’s head of EU liaison, stated: “As they did in the 1950s, entrenched manufacturers want to continue making money. However, the business models have to adapt for the new economy. “Currently online shopping is estimated to put 17 per cent of savings in the average household basket and looking at these rules could make them even better.”
She pointed out to say: “With the weak dollar, loads of buyers are looking to get goods online from the US but, in most cases, you cannott do it.” The firm has identified four regulatory bottlenecks, which it claimed is letting manufacturers maintain a policy of market segmentation that is essentially different pricing models for various regions. It has secured the interest of two EU commissioners, internal market and services commissioner Charlie McCreevy and Meglena Kuneva, heading up consumer protection. Its Call for Action paper is to be launched on June 24.
The recent credit crunch has been causing people to tighten their belts throughout the UK, but it doesn’t seem to have affected the serviced office industry. Evidence has recently emerged that office provider companies are not only weathering the economic problems, but are in fact performing well in the climate.
Regus shares rose by 9% recently and their revenue for Q1 rose by an impressive 24%.
Meanwhile MWB are experiencing an increased demand for their office space within the whole of the UK, up a reported a 20%. With concerns over any potential loss in capital negated by the serviced office option, more companies are heading down that road.
In fact the office space industry seems willing and ready to take advantage of the credit crunch by offering daily rates and flexible licenses.
It all points to healthy times ahead for the office space industry.