In a new economy uprooted by COVID-19, businesses around the world have been frantically learning to adapt to the new normal, and it is easy to assume that smaller companies like a start-up would shrivel along with the economy that has been hammered by the pandemic. On the contrary, Singapore-based start-up unicorn, JustCo – the leading flexible workspace company in Asia Pacific – has responded innovatively to clients’ new business needs, and found opportunities to forge ahead in this crisis.

Respond to Customer Needs: (1) Introduce Core & Flex Work Solutions

At the peak of COVID-19, JustCo was nailing down real estate deals with multinational corporates such as cosmetic giant L’Oreal, Australia’s sovereign wealth fund Future Fund, Tencent-backed Riot Games and Thailand-based Super App Kasikorn Line, just to name a few. As businesses start to rethink their real estate strategy in the new normal, mostly the need for a suitable decentralised workforce plan, JustCo knew exactly how to help these businesses; a holistic work solution with maximum flexibility and minimum commitment. 

With an innovative streak, JustCo’s Core & Flex Work Solution was quickly put together, offering businesses space-as-a-service for cost effectiveness, with immediate opt-in to an expansive community for networking effect. Now, businesses can enjoy a hybrid of fixed and flexible workspaces – from standard private office suites, large bespoke office space, hot-desks, communal meeting rooms to on-demand pay-per-minute workspace – allowing them to easily right-size their real estate as and when required. Through these space choices and flexibilities,  employees are also directly empowered to decide where and how they want to work. 

Respond to Customer Needs: (2) Partner with World’s First On-demand Workspace Platform

In response to members’ increased demand in short-term flexible workspace and the choice to work from anywhere, JustCo partners with Switch, the world’s first on-demand workspace usage platform that charges by the minute. Switch is owned and operated by REinvent – Asia’s first PropTech Innovation Studio, and is backed by JustCo. 

Available island-wide in Singapore, users can easily access a conducive space to carry out their work as and when they need. Switch is currently available at 12 JustCo centres in the CBD, and at nine shopping malls including suburban districts, allowing users to work closer to homes. Switch workspace within shopping malls will come in the form of a pod, with sound-insulated walls. Each pod comes with a built-in Bluetooth speaker, secured 4G WiFi, ventilation fan and privacy film. The Switch app will allow users to search, check in and out, and be billed digitally. 

Switch work pods will be rolled out to more locations in Singapore in the upcoming months, with plans to implement in other markets that JustCo has presence in, including Australia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand over the next two years,

Respond to Customers’ Needs: (3) Implement AI-driven Spatial Analytics to Detect Social Distancing 

JustCo at The Centrepoint is JustCo’s first smart co-working centre, and will pilot a spatial analysis using SixSense, an artificial intelligence-driven technology to deploy effective space usage management. SixSense is launched by REinvent – Asia’s first PropTech Innovation Studio, and is backed by JustCo.

With SixSense, JustCo will be able to retrieve real–time occupancy data numbers, monitor usage frequency of its spaces and receive overcrowding alerts to ensure social distancing measures are adhered to in a post-COVID world.

JustCo at The Centrepoint will also feature other workspace technologies such as facial recognition, card-free access via Bluetooth capability and an in-house café that uses a coffee-making robotic arm.

Practise Financial Prudence

“The unprecedented COVID-19 crisis has made JustCo more sure than ever about our uncompromising take on financial prudence, where we always focus on expansions that will meet certain profitability hurdles. Alongside strong support from our strategic partners, we have also been able to accelerate our innovation in this challenging time, reshaping the way people work in the future,” said Kong Wan Sing, Founder and CEO, JustCo. “While remote working is here to stay, its limitations are clear. Employees’ productivity is growing sideways, causing stress levels to increase and collaborations to suffer. The mix of community, connectivity, culture, and spontaneity you get in the workplace is irreplaceable. Part of driving businesses’ success today is a customised core-and-flex total work solution, be it for headquarters office, satellite teams, business continuity plans or on-demand spaces for short-term work”, he emphasized.

With strong support from key partners such as GIC, Frasers Property and Daito Trust, JustCo will continue to practise financial prudence, remain agile, and keep innovation at the forefront of the business. One key factor that helped JustCo successfully tide through and thrive in this global crisis, is the ability to adapt quickly to the volatile economic environment and customers’ evolving demands. 

Following JustCo’s recent new spaces at OCBC Centre East and The Centrepoint, the leading coworking space company is optimistic about the future of flexible workspaces, and will continue to offer total work solutions enabled by technologies to drive the future of work, making work better for both businesses and individuals.