MySpotit, a new company of Estonian origin also represented in Latvia, is setting up an office sharing platform as a result of the crisis.
MySpotit provides a meeting space reservation platform and lost its entire business due to restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 crisis.
The team did not throw the plinth in the bushes and, with the rapid transition of work culture towards telework, developed an office sharing platform to support the mass return of people to work and promote the introduction of a telework culture into everyday practice as constraints eased.
On the MySpotit platform, companies and real estate developers can rent vacancies in existing offices or in premises adapted to the needs of the office, thus enabling employees to work in different locations. This office sharing platform is unique in Europe in terms of the start-up
“Like Spotify music, remote workers will be able to choose a suitable job for a given day for a fixed monthly fee from a wide range of offices. On the MySpotit platform, it will be cheaper than renting a job in a particular office for a month. an opportunity to convene your team together exactly when it is necessary, choosing a meeting place with the right size and application, “says Raivis Ozoliņš,” MySpotit “manager in Latvia.
He believes that such a service solves the growing problem, when there is currently more demand for office space in the market. For many companies, offices are half-empty and this generates expenses rather than revenue.
During the 2008 economic crisis, housing was now spread around the world with the help of the global company Airbnb, helping travelers to make significant cost savings, but the current crisis has led to significant changes in working habits. R. Ozoliņš has noticed that the society is being taken over by a hybrid work model, which includes work both in the office and remotely.
Due to the economic downturn, companies are reviewing their cost structure. There are companies that are experiencing large-scale redundancies and that is why many offices are becoming large. Also, some companies are wondering if they will need a permanent office at all. The number of people working remotely has increased by 159% since 2005, according to a Merchant Savvy study. R. Ozoliņš argues that together with the consequences caused by the pandemic, remote work is experiencing a huge leap forward.
“Together, we have just experienced the world’s largest telecommuting experiment, and it is only natural that we will not return to what it used to be. In the last two months, telecommuting has seen a leap of several years. large companies are discussing the introduction of flexible working methods, “says R. Ozoliņš.
An example is the technology giant Twitter, which has just publicly announced a new agenda policy, allowing any employee who wants to work in the future to work remotely.
However, he points out that working remotely does not mean working from home, where children and the refrigerator inevitably begin to affect the results of work. When working full time from home, the result of work can suffer. In order to achieve the necessary efficiency and gain experience of self-realization, different work tasks require different environments and conditions.
R. Ozoliņš admits that in the future there will be fewer jobs in offices than employees who will work remotely for part or even all the time. In his view, the number of co-working spaces will increase. They may not be in the same format as today, but the idea will remain – a space where office services are provided.
“This is an irreversible process. The question is how fast it will happen,” said R. Ozoliņš.
He emphasizes that there is no sign of equality between teleworking and working from home, where existing conditions are not always suitable for work. “Telework is a professional’s free choice in time and place to choose the conditions where to work according to the needs of the specific task,” says R. Ozoliņš.
He anticipates that over time, a larger market will emerge for MySpotit’s original idea of renting meeting rooms, as colleagues will need to meet face to face from time to time, and possibly outside the office. Given that not every company needs such space all the time, the demand for renting suitable premises for this purpose will increase, which will be cheaper in the long run than maintaining it themselves.
Currently, the platform operates in Latvia and Estonia. It is planned to expand in Europe in the near future.
MySpotit is an office and meeting room sharing platform that offers the ability to book a suitable workplace for a fixed monthly fee. The company was founded in 2018 by Hardi Kinnas, Mikk Puurmann and Timo Mitt with the idea of bringing together organizations that want to find unusual meeting places with room owners who want to earn money by renting out their downtime. meeting or event facilities.
The company started working in Latvia at the beginning of this year. MySpotit is called the Airbnb meeting room.
Earlier this year, MySpotit concluded the first investment round, attracting more than 100 thousand euros. As a result of the investment, the market value of the company has exceeded one million euros. Among the investors is Martin Villig, co-founder of the transport services platform “Bolt”., Robert Kitt, Member of the Supervisory Board of Kapitel and Tallinn University of Technology and former Chairman of the Board of Swedbank in Estonia, Mikko Silventola, First Bolt Investor, “Salv” co-founder Taavi Tamkivi, Gert Jostov, CEO of Technopolis Ülemiste, Martin Otsa, Member of the Board of East Capital Baltics, and Asso Lankots, Managing Director of Lantmännen Unibake.
–
