By Mark Dixon, Regus Founder and Chief Executive

Regus hit its millionth customer when startup Innovative Database Solutions (IDS) took a flexible workplace at The Point of Inverness business centre in Denver, USA.

I’m delighted Regus has reached this key milestone in our journey to enable companies to work smarter and more productively. IDS is typical of the many small businesses that use us to achieve a speedy, cost effective start-up and to expand when they’re ready.

This historic moment shows how the flexible work revolution is fast becoming business as usual.  Today, more than one billion people globally work on the move and alternative ways of working in all kinds of business continues its inexorable rise.

Flexible working is a win/win for every business. It makes it easier for new businesses, like IDS, to start up, while established companies are going flexible to improve employee productivity and reduce overheads. Together with improved work-life balance, it’s easy to see why the flexible working phenomenon is going from strength to strength.

72% of global businesses say they believe their company is more productive directly as a result of flexible working practices,and 68% say that flexible working allows them and their staff to generate additional revenue, according to the 16,000 people who responded to the latest Regus Business Tracker Survey.

This is particularly true in emerging economies that appear to have made flexible working a key part of their development push: China (90%), India (79%), Mexico  (84%). By contrast Japan is split with only 51% of companies reporting a link between flexible working and productivity.

68% globally declare that they generate more revenue through flexible working.  The same trend identified for productivity and flexible working among developing economies is evident: China (87%), Mexico (84%) and India (77%). Japan is yet again at the other end of the spectrum although even here 45% of respondents agree that flexible working helps their company produce increased revenue.

Countries where flexible working is believed to be more closely linked to productivity were more likely to report that flexible workers felt more energized and motivated confirming a link between motivation and productivity: China (79%), India (75%), Mexico (77%), but also Brazil (72%).

Regus’ latest flexible working white paper reveals some huge new trends in the way the world works:

• 72% of global businesses report increased productivity as a direct result of flexible working practises
• 68% of firms said flexible work means staff generate more revenue
• 80% of company managers are expecting to see a surge in people going part-time
• 64% of workers are more energized and motivated because of working part-time
• 81% of firms now offer their staff alternatives to fixed office working

To get the complete picture, download the full report, which is based on interviews with 16,000 business repondents.

For more information on Regus click here

Regus is opening over 150 workspaces all over the UK to help you get home quickly for your Valentines romance!

Recent research revealed that one in ten UK office workers put in 11 hours every day and over two-fifths take work home to complete more than 3 times per week.

This will not be endear you to your beloved on Valentine’s night!

So why not cut the commute, stay productive and return to your loved ones on time, by working from your local Regus business centre?

Let us know in the comments what your plans are - and how you’re going to make sure that work doesn’t get in the way…

To celebrate the opening earlier this week of Regus’ first business centre in Madagascar, here are five lessons we learnt from Alex, Melman, Marty and the rest of the crew about the best ways to keep achieving when you’re far from home:

1.Ride the Wave

According to Regus’s Future of Work Report, 59% of companies worldwide offer flexible working to all their employees - and that number is growing every year. As a result, there’s a new wave of software, hardware and services that will help lift your productivity away from the office.

2. Think outside the cubicle

When you’re trapped in an office cubicle day after day, the idea of change can make you panic. And even though you’re crammed in with your colleagues, the daily grind cuts you off for them. A bit of freedom is a great way to have new ideas.

3. Keep good care of your equipment

You are not a penguin, and spoons and popsicle sticks aren’t going to keep you going: your laptop is your life. Bad things happen on the move – back up your key documents to Google Docs, make sure you have a great Firewall and virus protection, and have a plan in place for what to do if you lose it.

4. Have fun!

Regus research has shown that flexible working makes people happier and more productive – so don’t get stuck in the office from 9 to 5, Move It!

Travelers working from any one of Regus’ 1,200 business centers can earn extra miles

Regus and American Airlines announced an agreement that gives members of the American Airlines AAdvantage® loyalty program the opportunity to earn AAdvantage® miles when booking Regus’ full-service and virtual offices, meeting rooms or Businessworld services anywhere in the world.

“One of the best features of the AAdvantage program is the ability for members to earn miles through everyday activities – including work”

Under the new agreement, AAdvantage® members will earn seven miles per dollar spent on new virtual office or Businessworld sales and on day office, meeting room or video communications bookings. Five AAdvantage® miles will be awarded to members per dollar spent on new full-time office agreements at any Regus location.

The global footprints of both organizations (Regus & American Airlines) enable AAdvantage® members to easily locate and work from any one of Regus’ fully equipped and staffed business centers across the world. (Have you expanded your business operations abroad? click here to find out why you should, especially now that both Regus and American Airlines have made it easier)

As an added benefit of the new agreement, American Airlines will provide AAdvantage® elite status members with a Regus Businessworld Gold card. The membership program grants them unlimited access to Regus’ global network of business lounges.

“We are very excited to launch our partnership with American Airlines and will continue to look for innovative ways for AAdvantage® members to earn more miles with Regus”

“Many of Regus’ customers are already AAdvantage® members and are familiar with our services. This new agreement will make business travel a seamless experience for American Airlines’ passengers because they can now tap into our network anywhere in the world and be guaranteed a proper place to work or conduct meetings.”

—Regus Director of Partnerships Michael Haas.

Have you recently flown with American Airlines and worked at a Regus center at your destination? Let us know your story

For more information on Regus click here

For more information and a listing of AAdvantage program participating companies, visit www.aa.com/aadvantage

Photo Credit:

First Image by Deanster1983 via Flickr

Our CEO Mark Dixon speaks to CNBC about Regus’s growth in China. Beneath you can find a full transcript of the interview. For more information on Regus please click here:

Reporter 1: So you are in the business of outsourcing the workplace you provide virtual offices to people who don’t want the over-head and expense of maintaining an office. Which parts of the world are you finding this is most popular in?

Mark Dixon: It’s popular all over the world we’ve just opened up our 94^th country this week, but where we are seeing a lot of growth it is in continental Europe and also Asia.

Reporter 1: Tell us how this idea is going over in China.

Mark Dixon: Well in China we are seeing a lot of companies that are looking to expand nationally and do so at a low cost and keep flexibility in their fixed cost base. So, our virtual offices and mobile work platforms help companies manage this.

Reporter 1: But we do have growth slowing in China, businesses have said that they have started to scale back some what; how do you expect that to impact your bottom-line?

Mark Dixon: We see any slowdown really as a growth opportunity, for two reasons. First it’s easy for us to partner with real estate owners, to expand the network across a country like China. In addition we’ll see more companies looking to embrace flexible working as a way to cut their costs. So any slow down is really a double-edged sword.

Reporter 2: Mark, did I hear you correctly when you said there is a lot of growth in continental Europe, how are you managing that?

Mark Dixon: Well…cautiously would be the word I use to describe that. Again, in Europe we are seeing an explosion in demand for mobile work, and we are setting up infrastructure to cope with that. In continental Europe for example we signed a deal last week with the SNCF the French National Railways, to open up drop-in business centres on many railway stations in France, and we other railway companies coming behind that, other national railway corporations. What companies are looking to do is really cater to a worker that’s changed his and her method of working, they are using technology, they don’t require a fixed office, a fixed workplace each and everyday in the same place.

Reporter 1: Mark, give us a sense of which sectors are utilizing your services the most, which offices are going mobile?

Mark Dixon: It’s really across the board, but it starts with companies that have large sales forces, which have large field operations, they’re the obvious candidates for this type of application. They came originally from the tech industries, but now its really across all industries with companies like GlaxoSmithKline, Google, Twitter, many companies embracing this and growing with it. What we are seeing growth in now, again, in Europe, a more government use, where governments are looking to cut costs, to outsource, looking to reduce a fixed cost-base and getting their workers more mobile.

Reporter 1: All the way from blue-chips, to governments and small businesses, thank you so much Mark Dixon, joining us there from Regus.

To view some case studies on companies that have gone mobile with Regus, visit here.

Looks like we are not the only ones eyeing the potential for reaching business travellers via train stations (if you haven’t heard, we are referring to our deal with SNCF)  Apple is also set to open their a store at Grand Central Station New York.  The new shop opening Friday Dec 9th will have 300+ geniuses.  Now busy commuters could drop off their macbook at Grand Central in the morning as they arrive into the city and pick up their devices as they return home! Convenient right?