Serviced office center banks on helping out new investors<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): An increasing number of foreign investors have
\nbeen eying business opportunities in Indonesia, as indicated by
\nthe growing demand for serviced offices, said Mee Kim, president
\nof PT Citra Eksekutif Otorita (CEO), a major operator of serviced
\noffices.<\/p>\n
\"Serviced offices spare businesspeople the problems of finding
\nsuitable office space and recruiting English-speaking local
\nemployees,\" Kim said in an interview at CEO's second serviced
\noffice center at the Wisma GKBI building on the Sudirman
\nthoroughfare which officially opens on Thursday.<\/p>\n
She said the concept of the serviced office enabled any
\nbusinesspeople to simply walk in and have a nice office in five
\nminutes and start their own business activities on the same day.<\/p>\n
Serviced office is also quite suitable for mobile
\nbusinesspeople as the facility enables them to receive every
\nincoming call or message through high-tech telephone system
\nwithout having to be in the serviced office all time.<\/p>\n
Kim said her company especially helped foreign investors to
\nfit in with Jakarta by providing them with a functioning office
\nthat allowed them to concentrate on their business the very same
\nday they arrived here.<\/p>\n
\"We act as an incubator. We reduce the culture shock, so that
\nthey can easily fit in,\" she added.<\/p>\n
She said unlike traditional offices, CEO serviced offices
\ncould offer more flexibility in rent payments, which could range
\nfrom daily to monthly fees.<\/p>\n
Kim said the concept of serviced offices was already familiar
\nto Western businessmen and had begun to attract Asian companies
\nas well.<\/p>\n
She said part of her company's mission was to help foreign
\nbusinesspeople visiting Indonesia to focus on their businesses
\nwithout being bothered by the time-consuming preparations of
\nestablishing an office.<\/p>\n
CEO provides furnished offices that include secretaries and
\nreceptionists, and a range of other services to allow businessmen
\nestablish their own office operations immediately after arriving
\nin Jakarta.<\/p>\n
\"Foreign companies entering Indonesia prefer this type of
\nservice over the hassle of trying to immediately rent a new
\noffice and recruit personnel upon arriving in the city,\" she
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
However, she added, the economic crisis, along with the
\npolitical uncertainties, made it harder to attract clients or
\neven to maintain clients much longer in the country.<\/p>\n
\"But I eventually managed to convince them with an argument
\nthat if they pulled out they would lose their contacts and their
\nnames would be quickly forgotten.\"<\/p>\n
Most clients stay between two to six months at CEO's offices,
\nbefore they settle in their own offices, she said, adding that
\nsome, mostly representative offices with only two to three
\npersonnel, were permanent tenants at CEO offices.<\/p>\n
Building a corporate image was another product of a serviced
\noffice, since such businesses usually were housed in prestigious,
\nprime-site office buildings with impressive interior designs, she
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Kim said CEO started with its first serviced office center at
\nthe Jakarta Stock Exchange building in 1997 but the growing
\ndemand for this service had prompted her company to open its
\nsecond office center at the GKBI building on the Sudirman
\nthoroughfare.<\/p>\n
Kim, who has been in the serviced office business for over 10
\nyears, started CEO in 1997 after having worked for about eight
\nyears for an Australian serviced office company.<\/p>\n
While working for the Australian company, she managed office
\ncenters in Singapore and Bangkok, before she was eventually
\nassigned to open another branch in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
\"In 1992, when I started this business for the Australian
\ncompany, we were alone in the market; it was a pretty easy
\nbusiness,\" she said.<\/p>\n
However, Kim added, competition was now keen and there were
\ncurrently five serviced office operators from the 10 before the
\n1997 economic crisis.<\/p>\n
She said in order to survive the economic crisis, CEO relied
\non companies that were downsizing, and with only a couple of
\npeople left had to move to a serviced office. (03)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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