“It’s a new world,” said Becky Stokes of Workspace Geek, talking about the sudden shift in the coworking industry in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Stokes explained while Workspace Geek — the newest workspace management platform from MorningStar Software— has been in the development for several years, the timing of its release (June 2020) is serendipitous, providing operators with an intuitive management platform that will “help them successfully reopen locations during this challenging time, keep them open, and continue generating revenue.”
MorningStar Software has been a leader in software for shared workspace centers and coworking centers for decades. While developing Workspace Geek, they surveyed the industry, paying particular attention to the evolving needs of coworking and flex office spaces and centers, and came away with a few key needs for the new product: a powerful e-commerce platform, simplified databases, and a straightforward billing and invoicing system.
Streamlining Ecommerce
With the uncertainty created by the pandemic, Stokes said the ability to have a robust, easy to use e-commerce platform is critical. One of the tools Workspace Geek offers is an easy to use meeting room scheduler, with which Stokes said clients are able to schedule and sell individual meeting room passes easily, an important feature when many employees from both inside and outside coworking spaces are suddenly working from home.
Those employees—whether they’re current members or not—still need somewhere professional to meet.
Similarly, even employees who have moved to working from home for the foreseeable future need to have certain services—including a business address, virtual mail services, and, in some cases, voiceover IP management solutions. Workspace Geek also makes these tools easily available, handling the logistics for those processes, and streamlining the workflow for onsite staff.
Access from Home
One of the critical components of Workspace Geek’s billing, invoicing, and database systems—aside from being much more streamlined and intuitive—is that it is web-based. Stokes said this feature has been critical in recent months, with so many spaces having to scale back or completely eliminate in-person staff. Workspace Geek allows full access to their entire suite of tools from anywhere.
And Stokes said that even as the centers prepare to reopen, she’s heard from clients that some members may continue to work from home, at least part-time. Whether they move to a virtual plan or some kind of hybrid plan, Stokes said Workspace Geek brings a key benefit to the equation: it facilitates communication between coworking staff and clients.
And because Workspace Geek manages everything from billing to virtual mail service offerings all in one place, the platform also allows for easier communication across the range of services that are becoming industry standards within coworking.
Responding to a Pandemic
“We’ve been through 2008, and now we’re revisiting this in 2020,” Stokes said of the current climate post-COVID-19. She said that while these times are challenging, she and the rest of the team at MorningStar Software have confidence that the industry can adapt, just like it did in 2008.
