Tag Archives: Neetish sarda

Why Human Resource Must Embrace Flexible Workspaces?

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In  the last few years, people have started talking about the number of benefits that are associated with the managed workspaces i.e. Neetish Sarda’s Smartworks. In fact, several studies and surveys have been done where results amazed everyone. As per the outcomes, almost 80% of the organizations said that collaborative tools offered by these spaces are quite helpful in optimizing their business operations while more than 75% employees said that teamwork and collaboration with others helped them a lot. These are a few reasons why the HR department is now encouraging remote work or work from home/managed workspace even more.

Also Read – Neetish Sarda: Smartworks to invest Rs 100 crore to expand presence in the national capital region

In addition to this, there are some more good reasons why human resources are now embracing flexible workspaces live never before:

  • Happier employees are productive employees

It is believed that employees who are more confident at the workplace are more loyal as well as they are more productive. And you will be amazed that managed  spaces like Smartworks by Neetish Sarda have mind boggling impact on this. If you do not believe us, then we have some strong stats to back up this which are from the 2018 that revealed that 84% people who use flexible workspace are more motivated and engaged. In simple terms, when a person is happier, more engaged, and satisfied, he or she will perform better which ultimately help their organization.

  • Better work flexibility

Most collaborative workspaces like Smartworks (Neetish Sarda’s venture) offer their facilities to the members 24/7 and 365 days. This much of flexibility will lead to decreased outcomes. So, what companies will get from it? Well! If you run a business, then you might have members working from the different corners of the world. In this case, they may not available as per your specific time zone many times. In this case, you can allow them to finish the given task during weekends or odd hours (if they are not available during working hours for any reason). This will not only strengthen the trust but your employees will also put their more than 100% in completing the task.

  • Extensive social networks with varied expertise

Managed workspaces are majorly visited by different and young professionals who are from different fields. Whether you believe it or not but it can actually benefit your organization in several ways. Firstly, if your employees or freelancers come across any issue that requires expertise, they can easily reach out to one without any hassle. Secondly, it is quite impressive as you can expand your professional network that can give your business more clout. So, it is like a win-win situation for a company if it allows its employees to work remotely or from a managed/ flexible workspace like Smartworks by Neetish Sarda.

 Conclusion

These are a few but definitely solid reasons why some HR teams are already moving their employees outside the office premises and helping them work remotely or from collaborative work stations i.e. one that is set up by Neetish Sarda. If you are still in a dilemma, then keep all your worries and doubts aside and help your employees work freely and you will surely going to see some surprising benefits.

Startup Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs by Neetish Sarda

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November 27: Neetish Sarda is a name to reckon with in the Indian entrepreneurial space. He is the founder of Smartworks, India’s leading Managed and Flexible workspace provider for large enterprises, SMEs and Unicorns/high-growth startups. His vision to provide smart, tech-enabled, inspiring and modern office spaces that work as a holistic ecosystem has been hailed time and again as being “truly revolutionary”! Recently, he was also named in the ‘Hurun India Future Unicorn List 2021’ as one of the youngest startup founders in the country.

Neetish Sarda  journey is an inspiration for many aspiring entrepreneurs – especially his indomitable spirit and positive outlook towards life. Still in his 20’s, he is leading India’s largest flex space with over 4.5 Mn sq.ft., area under management with a pan India presence. When launching his startup, Neetish Sarda faced a lot of hardships, but with determination and persistence, he was able to turn them around quickly. His foremost advice to budding entrepreneurs is to turn challenges into opportunities and use crisis as an opportunity to grow and never give up.

As a young and successful leader, Neetish Sarda has sealed a reputation for himself as a resilient, dynamic leader and business strategist who has constantly evolved with the times. His suggestion to youngsters and budding entrepreneurs is always to keep their eyes open, look out, and seek new opportunities. He further advises people to read regularly to expand one’s mindset and enhance their creative thinking. Networking too is equally important, not only for your business and careers but for excellent relationships and friends.

Most entrepreneurs are entirely immersed in their idea and keep working hard towards transforming their vision into reality. However, to achieve success in the entrepreneurial journey, one needs to look beyond. “While the idea is the starting point, learning and researching thoroughly about the market and target audience is critical. Staying updated about the market, trends, and shifts is a crucial aspect of entrepreneurship. But then, it is also important to quickly get hands-on and present your business in the market with an MVP (minimum viable product). After the MVP stage, the entrepreneur(s) can turn to refining and fine-tuning based on the market response or feedback,” believes the young Entrepreneur, Neetish Sarda.

Passion and willingness to learn and grow are among the essential traits of a potent entrepreneur, according to Neetish Sarda. A strong determination and dedication to one’s work are some of the chief components for success. However, one also needs to have a flexible mindset and be willing to improvise, pivot, and change as the company grows and evolves. For instance, Neetish Sarda’s startup Smart works has gone through a series of transitions, which he believes helped make it big in the industry. Hence, failures are the stepping stones of success, and he advises young entrepreneurs to be more comfortable with failures. “One always has to start small and then expand and diversify their business; it’s usually never the other way round,” adds Neetish Sarda.

A keen observer & tech enthusiast, he is always ahead of his time in using technology to his business advantage, constantly identifying the thrust areas for his company before others. “Continuous product innovation and differentiation, along with an excellent customer experience, will make you stand out in the crowd”, adds Neetish Sarda. To all the newbie entrepreneurs out there, his final thoughts are that one should always believe in oneself, trust one’s instinct, and have the courage to take risks and attempt to add value to people’s lives. When one adds value, money comes anyway as a by-product. Young entrepreneurs can soon attain remarkable heights of success based on passion, strong determination and perseverance, combined with the advice from real-life entrepreneurship role models like Neetish Sarda!

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Work-from-home fatigue setting in: Neetish Sarda of Smartworks

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The cost of managing office spaces during the pandemic has increased exponentially, making organisations outsource office management to third-party providers, says Neetish Sarda, founder of Smartworks , a managed office provider to enterprises and MNCs.

Founded in April 2016, Smartworks reportedly raised $25 million from Singapore-based Keppel Land last November. The post-Covid world, Sarda maintains, will be all about expansion, acceleration and opportunities. “The industry will see some significant revival, and we remain bullish on the sector,” he says in an interview to Forbes India.

Also Read: Success Story of Young Businessman Neetish Sarda

Over the past two months, he claims Smartworks has leased more than 2 lakh sq ft to clients across locations from IT, BFSI, manufacturing, logistics and energy sectors. There is a lot of office space demand in the market as companies explore the hybrid model. “Owing to this demand, we are moving ahead with our expansion plans,” he adds. Edited excerpts:

When do you reckon people will come back to office and co-working hubs?

The pandemic-imposed ‘work from home’ led to cost savings for companies in terms of rent, maintenance, housekeeping and monthly overheads. But five months down, we see work-from-home fatigue setting in and companies reconsidering their office spaces, as work-from-home cannot be a permanent solution.

At Smartworks, we are witnessing a high demand from enterprises for smaller and distributed spaces across locations, owing to flexibility and mobility as they explore a hybrid model for the future. Some of our clients have already resumed work with a staggered workforce, and by the end of this year, we expect the occupancy to be around 35% to 40%.

The pandemic battered the concept of co-working. How do you see it panning out?

The health crisis has stressed the need for flexibility and agility. Post-Covid, co-working will play a critical role as organisations are planning a distributed workforce strategy, and require hybrid workplaces. While some companies are exploring the ‘Work near home’ policy, many are considering geographical diversification instead of a single, large office. Flexible workspaces or co-working spaces may become part of core strategy, considering the cost benefits, amenities and services under one roof, in the long run.

Covid-19 has accelerated the need for managed services. Companies want to concentrate more on their core competency and look forward to managed services providers to help them manage their office spaces and bring additional value-added services.

What sort of technology tweaks did you make to deal with the post-Covid world?

We were the first co-working player to introduce ‘Smart Mitri’—an artificial intelligence (AI) Humanoid for overall office and visitor management. To strengthen the link between workspace belonging and business performance, we have rolled out IoT-enabled meeting rooms, contactless visitor management systems, a robust mobile app, smart feedback platforms, parking management systems and digital pantry services. The idea is to reduce dependency on the workforce, and enable members to go contactless during the pandemic, keeping them literally ‘hands-off’ for daily support. This pandemic has taught us the tight correlation between technology and workforce interactions and performance.

During the initial lockdown phase, we revisited all our processes to ensure a safe and sanitised environment right from entry to exit. There has been a strict implementation of proactive measures to adhere to the social distancing norms, hygiene practices, temperature- screening and awareness. We have redesigned the offices to ensure spacing of desks and enhanced sanitisation measures. Our workspaces today have the latest new-age preventive measures such as sanitisation tunnels, for vehicles, foot paddles for touchless door opening and hygrometers for humidity control.

So you see a massive opportunity in post-Covid world?

Smartworks is one of India’s fastest-growing and leading flexible workspace provider to have become profitable and has clocked over Rs 100 crore in revenue in just three years of its operations. The company has been profitable for an entire year at the corporate level. Though the pandemic has slowed down our expansion and growth plans temporarily, we remain bullish on scaling our business.

Currently, we have a growing footprint of over 4 million Sq.ft, covering nine key markets. By the end of 2020, we aim to expand our footprint to 4.5 million sq. ft. We do anticipate a rebound in 2021 and believe the co-working market will see significant recovery as the trends are positive.

There is enough appetite for co-working space in the market. Continued infrastructure demand, future workspaces, distributed workforce and a safe and sanitised environment are the need of the hour and will drive market growth in the future as well. We believe the industry has reached a point where it will be more about quality than quantity.

The News is taken from Forbes India

Neetish Sarda: Smartworks to invest Rs 100 crore to expand presence in the national capital region

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Smartworks, the home-grown shared office space provider, will invest up to Rs 100 crore in expanding its presence in the national capital region (NCR), its founder Neetish Sarda told ET.

The company is in the final stages of acquiring 5 lakh sq ft in NCR.

“We are seeing a lot of traction in Noida so more than 90% of our future inventory will come in Noida. Our existing building is almost fully occupied so we are on the lookout for fresh property. The new asset should be ready by October,” said Sarda.

Also Read: Success Story of Young Businessman Neetish Sarda

According to a Knight Frank report, co-working operators took up spaces selectively across NCR in H2 2020.

From a 3% share in H1 2020’s total leasing, it increased to 12% in H2 2020.

Smartworks acquires the entire building and converts it into a coworking campus, unlike other coworking operators that usually acquire a floor or portions of a commercial building.

The company plans to have 3 million square feet of office space in NCR in three years.

“There is a lot of demand for shared space for the last few months. We have seen double-digit growth in leasing in nine cities we are present in. We expect this trend to continue and that is why we have aggressive plans for expansion,” said Sarda.

Co-working operators established office footprints in Delhi in locations such as Okhla and Defence Colony.

In Gurugram, it was Udyog Vihar, Qutub Plaza and Sector-45 that attracted coworking players.

According to a report by property consultant JLL, irrespective of several short-term disruptions and challenges, increased demand from large enterprises, will support the growth of the flex space market to more than 50 mn sq ft by 2023.

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Neetish Sarda – Smartworks eyes ambitious expansion plans in the country

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Neetish Sarda, Founder of Smartworks — the managed and flexible office space provider — is eyeing ambitious expansion plans in the country, with the strategy to tap large companies paying off  for the firm.

Amid an upsurge in demand for such spaces  after the  pandemic and the trend expected to sustain, Smartworks expects this number to rise to 6 million square feet by the end of this fiscal year and 20 million sqft in the next 36 months.

Smartworks is looking to double its capacity in Bengal from 200,000sqft at present.

It is also targeting a presence in eastern cities  such as Ranchi, Patna and Bhubaneswar.

Also Read: Success Story of Young Businessman Neetish Sarda

“When we commenced operations, co-working was perceived as having small offices, a floor in a building catering to start-ups or SMEs. However, we realised that while co-working is a big segment, in India, the managed office space that caters to enterprises offers a bigger opportunity. So, we thought of creating a flexible model for such enterprises,’’ Neetish Sarda, founder of Smartworks, said.
This strategy has yielded results with Smartworks that commenced operations in 2016-17, turning profitable in 2019. It now has over 450 clients, 95 per cent of which are enterprises like Microsoft, Amazon, EY, Starbucks, and Samsung to name a few in different locations.

Sarda disclosed that while Smartworks raised Series A funding of $ 25 million from Keppel Land, Singapore in 2018-19, it may go for another round of equity infusion in the next financial year.

He admitted that the firm might also look at an initial public offering (IPO) though this may happen in the next three to four years.

His growth plans come at a time when corporates are seeking more flexible or managed offices (a workplace that is entirely managed by another operator), thanks to the pandemic.

“The pandemic had a seminal effect on how occupiers reviewed their real estate strategies. Given the still-evolving situation around return to the office and a hybrid workplace strategy, cost optimisation, specialised services, and flexibility are key perspectives for occupiers as they plan ahead,’’ says a CII-JLL report.

The report added that the flex space industry found the initial days of the pandemic tough and a still prevailing and extended work from home scenario continuing to impact center-level occupancies.

“The sector, however, has pivoted during this period as demand from enterprises and big corporates has seen a surge’’, it observed.

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Neetish Sarda, Founder of Smartworks: Workspaces that Work for You

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It all started when Neetish Sarda came back to India after studying abroad and joined his father’s business. This was a traditional firm supported by a very conventional environment. The setup wasn’t something that millennials could resonate with, and needless to say, he wasn’t an exception. He had been in modern unconventional schools of thoughts and was more aligned with an open office culture and vibrantly done interiors that show a brand’s ethos.

This is when he realized that there was a gap in the market and the aspirations of Indian millennial generation wasn’t considered when it came to office design. Neetish, expressing his views, says “Millennials today want to get the best work environments without getting into the hassles of managing operations. This is exactly why I founded Smartworks in the first place; to essentially bridge the gap by creating modern, bespoke workspace that is vibrant, high on technology in integration and boost productivity.

Your Office, Your Way!
Established in December 2015 with 80 employees, Smartworks is changing the perspective of people by providing their clients

the option to build futuristic workspaces that are collaborative by nature, equipped with the latest technology to boost employee productivity, fully serviced workspaces to keep employees focused on their work and still promote an open office culture. The company targets to grow over 3 million sq. ft. across multiple additional cities, over the next three years.“We firmly believe that the best way to break stereotypes is to come up with an alternative that none can criticize and that’s what we’ve been doing at Smartworks” asserts Neetish.

Smartworks offers comprehensive workspace options, which includes Smartlabs, SmartCubes, smart suits. Each of these has a diversified personalized attire to match their clients’ needs. Smartlabs are high on energy and mostly suited for people, who are on a different mission, building a different product within the same office space. Here, founders will benefit from the presence of multiple innovate minds building things that are set to transform the world, while they focus on carving their own niche. Smart Cubes, on the other hand, is for out-of-the-box solutions generation, where founders would get some space for themselves to run their

day-to-day operations. Lastly, SmartSuite is all about getting dedicated space that is fully customizable. This is ideal for business owners, where this enables them to represents the ethos of their brand through their office space.

Re-Inventing Workplaces
Today, Smartworks is growing at an exponential rate and has more than 450,000 sq. ft. of top-of-the-line serviced office space and is being used to house over 200+ clients, most of which are fast-growing start-ups that have passed the series B funding rounds. Additionally, the company has regional/satellite offices of several multinational corporations as their clients. Few of their clients include Amazon, Arcelor Mittal, Tata Communications Limited, Johnson & Johnson, DHL, OLX, Lenovo, and HDFC Realty among others.

Delhi based Smartworks is constantly upping the ante when it comes to offering services to their clients. The company recently launched a user-friendly app that comes with a plethora of features to make the work lives of their clients easy and fun. This app has special features that allow their clients to book meeting rooms, request concierge services, order beverages, and even find their carpool buddies, in just a few clicks. Furthermore, Neetish concluding the roadmap says “We’re not just thinking about the present needs of our clients, rather, we’ve taken a step further to identify what their future needs would be. Hence, we will be expanding in some tier-2 cities too, as we believe that business owners would soon think about setting up their offices outside metros.”

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