Virtual offices are here for real<\/p>\n
Virtual and serviced offices are still relatively new in the
\ncountry, but there is a growing demand for the service. The
\nJakarta Post's contributor Rudy Madanir takes a close look at the
\ntrend.<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Be a guest of Michael Sinjorgo. This means that
\nyou will be warmly welcomed by two beautiful, smiling
\nreceptionists as soon as you step into the reception area. In a
\nminute, you are seated in the spacious hall with a cup of tea or
\ncoffee, enjoying the comfort and luxurious atmosphere of an
\noffice located in the Jakarta Stock Exchange building on Jl.
\nSudirman, a prestigious business address in town.<\/p>\n
\"Wow, you have a huge office,\" said Sinjorgo mimicking the
\nfrequent comments made by his guests. \"They think I am the big
\nboss for the whole place,\" he said, laughing.<\/p>\n
To the guest's surprise, Sinjorgo explains that the office is
\nnot his, it is only partly rented for the purpose of meeting with
\nhis guests.<\/p>\n
The white-haired Sinjorgo, 59, a Canadian national, is the
\npresident director of an insurance risk management consulting
\ncompany, PT Usaha Tepat Guna. He runs his business with only five
\nlocal staff and his company practically has no need of permanent
\noffice space throughout the year. Because of the nature of his
\ncompany's work, it is more practical for Sinjorgo, who works with
\nlarge companies, to have office space within his clients'
\noffices. \"Our staff are very mobile, they can spend four hours in
\none company and then move to another for another three hours.
\nThis means we don't necessarily need our own office space,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Sinjorgo is a client of a serviced office center that applies
\na concept of virtual office - \"an office when one does not have a
\nphysical office.\"<\/p>\n
By paying approximately Rp 1 million a month, Sinjorgo has a
\nbasic virtual office service, including a dedicated telephone
\nline, a receptionist answering the telephone under his company
\nname, an hour a day of using the office, and most importantly,
\nthe use of the serviced office center as his business address.<\/p>\n
The number of companies sharing the same address with Sinjorgo
\ncould reach 140 as the center does not only cater to virtual
\noffice clients but also serves 40 in-house clients.<\/p>\n
There are currently eight main operators with international
\naffiliation in the market, spread throughout the city from the
\nAscot building, BNI Tower, Menara Kadin, Menara Mandiri to
\nBapindo Plaza. If small operators are included, the number of
\nserviced office centers could reach 20, according to property
\nexpert Panangian Simanungkalit.<\/p>\n
Occupying a half or a whole floor at some of the newest
\nbuildings along Jakarta's main thoroughfares, the centers are now
\nwaking to the needs of the business community, providing
\ncorporate image and cost efficiency among other services.<\/p>\n
Coincident with the recovery of the Indonesian economy, more
\nand more companies are now flocking to centers seeking help,
\neither to start a new business or to keep an existing one alive.<\/p>\n
No matter what the size or industry, the centers try to
\nprovide the general and specific needs of each client.<\/p>\n
Clients could include a new foreign investor who just arrived,
\nseeking a business opportunity, or it could be another downsizing
\ncompany that has been forced by the economic crisis to move from
\nthe prestigious business district.<\/p>\n
A newly arrived multinational corporation can rent a small
\nfurnished office within a center with shared secretaries,
\nreceptionists and boardroom, before setting up its own office or
\nfactory. That way it can focus on its start-up operations without
\nbeing bothered by the hassle of establishing its own office and
\nrecruiting employees. After several months, the company can leave
\nits temporary office to set up of its own, or it may set up a
\nrepresentative office and remain with the center, or if it has
\nnot been successful, leave the country.<\/p>\n
A downsizing company can still maintain its business image by
\nbecoming a client in one of the virtual office centers. Being a
\nclient does not mean that the company must rent an office in the
\ncenter. The company can rent the address of the center including
\na personalized telephone answering service in its company name.
\nAs a result, the company saves the cost of renting office space
\nin the expensive area. And more importantly, it can save its
\nimage by not showing its ruko (shophouse) address in Tangerang or
\nBekasi as its representative office.<\/p>\n
Be it real (in house) or virtual, the demand for serviced
\noffices is growing.<\/p>\n
CEO, one of the main serviced office operators, has reached
\nits full capacity both for in house and virtual office clients at
\nits center in the Jakarta Stock Exchange building. Consequently,
\nthe operator has opened its second center at the GKBI building,
\nby the Semanggi cloverleaf.<\/p>\n
\"Since our grand opening in January, our new center has
\nalready reached 45 percent occupancy,\" said CEO president Mee
\nKim.<\/p>\n
Another operator, The Executive Center, has more than 90
\npercent occupancy of its 37 serviced offices available for in-
\nhouse clients.<\/p>\n
\"There are very few rooms available here, so we are looking
\nfor a second location at this moment,\" said Stephen Chatam, an
\nexecutive consultant of the center which uses the whole 19th
\nfloor at Aetna Danamon Building on Sudirman.<\/p>\n
In addition, Chatam said that his center recently made five to
\nsix virtual office sales in a week, a record that has never
\nhappened before.<\/p>\n
Unlike traditional offices, the centers provide some
\nflexibility to their in-house clients in terms of rent payment,
\nfrom monthly to hourly, if necessary.<\/p>\n
The room sizes in the two centers varies from as small as 12
\nsquare meters to 70 square meters. Some rooms are designed for
\nexpansion or downsizing with just a connecting door and
\npartition, as requirements change overnight.<\/p>\n
As the centers compete to offer one stop service, every need
\nof a modern office is available within the centers. They offer
\nsupport facilities such as various sized meeting rooms and
\nboardrooms combined with top of the line offices and high
\ntechnology equipment (only the latest models and best brands).
\nServices vary from web site design, translation, payroll,
\nbookkeeping down to hotel and airline reservations. These
\nfunctions are supported by well trained staff from secretaries
\nand receptionists to office boys. And if needed, accountants and
\nIT specialists are available.<\/p>\n
Young<\/p>\n
Chatam, who has been with the Executive Center since 1997,
\nsaid that the serviced office industry is quite young for
\nIndonesia as well as for some other countries in the region. Even
\nthough many people still do not fully understand the concept, the
\nbusiness is developing well.<\/p>\n
Simanungkalit said that the high demand for serviced offices
\nhas nothing to do with the economic crisis. Because the demand
\nfor the service existed before the crisis hit the country.<\/p>\n
However, he admitted that people became more aware of the
\nservice after the crisis because of the drive to be efficient in
\nrunning a business.<\/p>\n
He predicted that in the long run there will be more buildings
\nwith floors divided into smaller rooms run by many serviced
\noffice operators.<\/p>\n
This positive trend is triggered by the drive to pursue
\nefficiency, he said, \"the risk will be more distributed, since it
\nis shared by the operators and the users.\"<\/p>\n
When the Indonesian economy is no longer dominated by big
\nbusiness players, he added, there will be more small and medium
\ncompanies needing less than 100 square meters of office space
\nbecause of support from Internet and high technology.<\/p>\n
\"At that time, serviced offices will be at its peak demand.
\nAnd it need not necessarily be in prime business areas anymore,\"
\nhe concluded.<\/p>",
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