Outsourcing Needs Saves Time, Headaches, Money.

Things to Consider Before Expanding or Relocating Your Company

Three years from now, exactly how many people will work at each of your company's locations?

In the next 24 months, will office rents in your area rise or fall, and if so, by how much?

If you answered "I don't really know," you're not alone. Unless you make your living as a real estate expert (or an oddsmaker) your time is probably better spent on your core business rather than long-term real estate speculation, which can be a very dangerous and expensive gamble.

As you look at expansion or relocation possibilities for your company, it's important that you consider all of your options. You know the obvious options - 5-year lease vs. 10-year lease vs. buy your own building. But what about another option?

Outsource the whole enchilada. Rent, phones, utilities, receptionist, chairs, desks, Internet access, network administration, paper towels, toner cartridges, and security. Imagine that you and your staff could free yourselves from all of these headaches that accompany leasing, opening, and operating an office. How much time would you save? How much money would you save? How could you not consider this?

Since the dawn of the 'Net' economy, businesses of all sizes, and in most industries have begun to demonstrate a heightened appreciation for the relationship between time and money. Many of the companies that have survived and thrived in this modern business environment share a laser-like focus on their core business activities, and a demonstrated ability to outsource peripheral functions as appropriate.

When it's time to relocate or expand your company's operations, the process of finding, leasing and occupying the right office can be one of the most time and money intensive non-core issues your company will face. Similarly, the architecture, design, furnishing, technology installation and maintenance, and day-to-day office management processes can place a back-breaking work load on workers who should be taking care of business, instead of taking care of the office.

Ask yourself whether you or one of your key people should become:

* Immersed in interminable lease agreement legalese?

* Tied up with the time consuming design and installation of phone and data networks? or

* Bogged down with furniture and carpet vendors, all in a new city or a part of town that's totally unfamiliar?

Of course you shouldn't.

Considering that there are so many companies facing these expansion/relocation questions every day, one might reasonably expect that there would be dozens of 'one-call-does-it-all' turn-key solutions to handle all of these issues.

One would be wrong. I know, because I was the 'one' in question.

When I discovered that there were no service companies in Los Angeles that could deal with all of these issues, I opted to leverage my background in real estate finance and my experience as an angel investor in high-growth companies to create a company to solve this ultra-common business problem. The result is Nexspace, a fractional office and infrastructure company where we work to take care of the details mentioned above so our clients can focus on their core business activities.

Since opening in late 2000, we've learned that the fast pace of new economy, high-growth companies has definitely rubbed off on corporations of all sizes. Companies that would have shunned the idea of outsourced officing just a couple of years ago have warmed up to the idea. From one-man consulting companies and five-person executive recruitment firms, to motion picture studios and international entertainment conglomerates, Nexspace has identified a market niche in providing custom tum-key office solutions that provide an unmatched balance of space, flexibility, technology, and service. In the process, we've benefited from a distinct corporate trend toward passing off complex and time-consuming facilities issues to outside specialists.

For a company that is expanding or relocating into a new market, it is often not immediately clear how many people will be needed to staff the new office, what part of town will be the ideal location, or even for how long the company will need an office. When these uncertainties are compounded with the general uncertainties of the office real estate market, the ease and flexibility of a fully outsourced office solution stands out as an extremely powerful tool for smart businesses. In fact, the one thing that almost every company we've worked with has in common is an inability to accurately predict long-term facilities needs. If a company isn't completely sure whether they'll need space for six months or six years, or for 3 people or 30, then an ultra-flexible facilities solution is clearly the way to go.

If you are responsible for the expansion or relocation of your company's office facilities, ask yourself whether you can precisely and confidently make a prediction of your long-term needs. If the answer is "no," you should definitely consider using an outsourced facility. And if your answer is "yes," then you'd make a great gambler, and might want to consider a trip to Vegas instead.

David Agger is co-founder and CEO of Nexspace, a fractional office solution provider in West Los Angeles.