Fast changing office environments demand more flexible furniture solutions

Office World News, Jun 2001 by Geiger, John

Fast Changing Office Environments Demand More Flexible Furniture Solutions

The design and furnishing of a new office has turned into a track

Until the mid1990s, planning and creating professional corporate office spaces was most often a slower, lengthier process that reflected the lengthier lead times and workmanship that went into the product. Frequently, the time frame from beginning a client design project to installation could run four, five, even six months or more, with nine to twelve months not uncommon.

But times have changed. The roaring, low-inflation economy of the past decade, instant global communications, growing e-commerce, and the Internet service companies under pressure to make money almost immediately, has turned the design and furnishing of a new office into more of a track meet rather than a conventional business transaction.

And, while the end result may boost a company's profit margin sooner rather than later, the tight schedule has left interior designers, facility managers, dealers, and manufacturers are under tremendous pressure to get the job done and the office open for business. Heeding this need to move faster, many office furniture and seating manufacturers have expanded their own production and electronic integration to reduce product turnaround times to mesh with today's more urgent client needs.

Tight deadlines have magnified the need for accurate planning and attention to greater-than-ever details. In fact, these may be more important than ever before, as any mistake or oversight under a tight schedule can delay the opening of a new office or expansion of an existing facility. In today's world, missing an urgent deadline could cost an interior designer, manufacturer, or dealer the job.

COMPANIES' CHANGED

Changes in technology since the 1980s, and even since the early 1990s, coupled with new approaches to business spurred by the Internet have created three types of corporate clients. The oldest type is the more traditional manufacturing or service business. These "traditional" companies include long-established manufacturers in the Fortune 500, as well as industries such as insurance, banking, accounting, and legal. For interiors projects for "Traditional" companies, the client organizations have to be very image conscious, as well as concerned about office fixtures and furniture quality.

The second type of company is, by its nature, "Technology" oriented: Microsoft, Apple Computer, and Anderson Consulting, to name just three. A third type are the "Progressives," companies that are heavy users of computer technology and leading the charge into e-commerce. Similar to Technology-oriented companies, "Progressive" organizations of all kinds embrace a business culture rooted in speed and quick change. They are commonly found in California's Silicon Valley area, Silicon Alley in New York City, Route 128 in Boston, and clustered in other larger or smaller urban and suburban pockets throughout the west, midwest, and south.

The pace that these three organizational types set for themselves seems to reflect their demands on the vendors selected to supply their new offices, particularly when it comes to furniture.

For example, "Traditional" companies place substantial value on corporate image, solidity, and fine furniture. They are long-successful organizations that place particular care on the caliber of their employees. To attract and keep good employees at all levels, especially management and executive staffs, it is common for these companies to equip their offices with high-quality, well-designed furniture and seating. They recognize that it does take time to manufacture such office furniture to order, especially since it is wood based, and that it may contain custom features or finishes ordered by the client or their design firm.

"Technology" and "Progressive" companies are much different. While they care about their employees, and about relative quality and design features, they place value on their ability to adjust their operations to a given customer situation or market environment. Consequently, they tend to purchase office furniture that is particularly modular or flexible-in-use, easy to erect, dismantle, and move. If they land a major account in a region, state, or country where they presently have no office, they purchase furniture that helps them get up and running quickly.

ERA OF MOBILE FURNITURE

The emergence of "Progressive" companies particularly, and of a business culture based on speed, has placed emphasis on flexibility when it comes to providing their office furniture. "Progressives" often require modular/ mobile furniture. Their furniture needs to meet every demand their users have in a workplace, and frequent [constant] changes.

The need for such flexibility and function in fact, is what prompted Ahold Information Services to purchase mobile conference tables that adjust to the company's future as well as immediate needs. With 700 employees, Ahold provides information services to its parent's eight major U.S. companies. The subsidiary purchased 100 conference tables this year for its conference and learning center, for formal presentation one day, and in-house employee training the next. In addition to their ability to be reconfigured at will, these highend mobile conferencing and "learning" tables came with a built-in wire management system and portals to keep computer cables safely out-ofthe-way.