One of our corporate clients, with global headquarters in New York, has an extensive office portfolio, with 58 serviced office locations throughout the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific regions. Before they entered into the current Preferred Partnership arrangement with Instant, the client was becoming frustrated with some of the suppliers of flexible office space, particularly in relation to the management of renewals. Faced with considerable price increases at renewal in some of their locations, the Real Estate team looked for additional support to clarify market rents and ensure consistency around the world.

Once the new agreement was in place, Instant took on responsibility for the whole of the serviced office portfolio, ensuring renewals happen on time, benchmarking existing locations in the specific markets, and providing a single point of contact for the client for anything to do with serviced offices.

Instant’s specialist team is in constant touch with all the serviced office operators globally and as such is able to negotiate the best rates for clients. As a result of this, the client has saved just under US $1 million in rent over the three years of the agreement, as well as being able to rely on a team that delivers an efficient and professional service.

In 2008 when BSkyB started its roll out of regional sales offices, they chose Instant to act as their exclusive partner for all serviced office search and negotiation.

The initial requirement was for a flexible office for 10 people in Edinburgh, and they needed to move in within a very short period. Following the success of this initial placement, BSkyB took advantage of the specialist knowledge of Instant’s Corporate Solutions team to find space for a number of teams of between 10 and 20 people across the UK.

Instant was able to bring the fragmented market for serviced offices into one easy-to-use operation, giving greater flexibility to BSkyB and saving them significant time and money through negotiating the best rates in each market. For each new location, Instant carries out all the search activity, including benchmarking the costs to ensure the client is paying the most competitive rates, leaving the client to simply make the decision.

In most instances, the deals have been completed within 4 weeks of taking the brief, providing BSkyB with a very efficient way of acquiring flexible office space.

Centrica, a world leading integrated energy company, needed a short term office for 250 people to be up and running within 2 months. Having worked with Instant for a number of years, the client understood all the benefits of using a broker to find the best deal in this busy market and contacted their account manager for a solution.

This was a very challenging brief for Instant, with a large number of desks needed and a short turn-around time. The temporary office needed to be as close as possible to Centrica’s head office in Windsor, and despite the unusually large scale of the space required, and the need for 24 hour access and substantial IT requirements, Instant were able to suggest a few options that met the brief. The relationship with Instant provided the client with a valuable added resource, saving time in the search process. In addition, Instant’s knowledge of the market meant he was confident of getting the best possible value for money.

In March 2011, 250 Centrica staff moved in to their new space close to Heathrow, with a view to staying for at least 4 months, but with the flexibility to extend the term at the same rate if necessary.

Crossbeam, a global provider of internet security systems, has a large portfolio of small scale offices across the world. In May 2009 they were looking for a new, flexible office in San Jose and made an initial enquiry through Instant’s website. A member of our Corporate Solutions team identified that this was a client who could benefit from our Preferred Partnership service to help secure the best rates for all renewals, ensure no deadlines are missed and to provide on-going assurance that the client is getting the best deal in every market.

The service that Instant provides to Crossbeam means that there is only one point of contact for all their serviced office needs across the world, saving significant amounts of both staff time and also money. By using Instant, Crossbeam was able to access the full range of serviced office providers, and were thereby introduced to new locations and additional centre benefits.

Crossbeam were keen to make sure that they always pay market rents, and so Instant produce a benchmarking report in advance of each renewal to satisfy this demand.

The Preferred Partnership gives Crossbeam a consistent service across all their serviced office locations, regardless of the operator.

Tate & Lyle, the global provider of sugar and other high quality ingredients, has an international network of offices, but when they needed a fast solution to a short term requirement, they turned to Instant.

The client was looking for an office to accommodate 75 people initially, in an area that met a number of criteria – easy access to central London, Heathrow and Reading, and that had plenty of nearby hotel accommodation. After considering several options for serviced offices, the Executive Office Group space at Heathrow was settled on as being most suitable. The space was high quality and the client was impressed by the level of flexibility demonstrated by the operator, as well as the simplicity of budgeting offered by the all-inclusive price.

Instant handled all the viewings and negotiations to establish the new office in the space of a few weeks, concluding the deal for 110 desks for a four month period. Tate & Lyle has only a small in-house property team, so it made sense for them to outsource the search for a serviced office to a specialist. Instant were able to provide a fast and cost effective service, gathering all the data for a selection of properties, allowing the client to make an informed decision quickly and easily.

Texas Instruments, the global producer of semiconductors and computer technology, has an on-going need for a number of flexible offices around the world. Instant began working with TI in 2008 to find individual serviced office locations. As the relationship developed it became clear that they could benefit considerably by working in a Preferred Partnership with Instant as a way of keeping the management of all its flexible office needs under one roof.

A Preferred Partnership operates such that Instant is solely responsible for managing the entire portfolio of serviced offices for a client, regardless of location or office provider. Texas Instruments benefits from this arrangement by only having one supplier to deal with for all their flexible office requirements, and having Instant acting as additional resource for renewals and market benchmarking.

As Instant covers the whole market for serviced office providers Texas Instruments can be confident of finding the most suitable space in every location. In addition Instant provides a full cost comparison for every renewal or new site to provide reassurance to TI that they are paying the best possible rates.