1. Dropbox

How did we ever live without you? Just drop your most important documents into a folder on your computer (or your phone/tablet) and they’re backed up to the web, accessible from anywhere, and instantly shareable. Secure, effortless, inspirational.

2. Logmein ignition

The biggest problem with mobile working is the same thing as the greatest pleasure: there’s no routine. So every now and again, you discover that the one essential document, application or shared drive you need is stuck on your desktop. Which you won’t be going near for the next four days. Logmein allows you to run your desktop from your Android phone or tablet. It’s a bit slow, occasionally buggy, and about once a year, it’ll save your life.

3. Regus

Stuck without wifi? Urgently need a meeting room? Video-conferencing crisis? Just desperate for a proper desk, instead of a little round table in a noisy coffee-shop? The Regus app lets you instantly search and book 1200 locations in 550 cities. In combination with your Regus Businessworld card, it’s the ultimate productivity tool for working on the move.

4. Evernote

Another ‘How did I ever live without it’ app, Evernote started life as a simple way to make notes, and turned into a kind of seamless extension of your memory. Just awesome.

5. Google maps with navigation

You knew that Google maps has a built in satnav, right? You didn’t? Search for your destination, click ‘get directions’, then hit the blue arrow and prepare to enjoy seamless route-finding and hilarious mispronunciation of all non-US place names.

A billion people around the world work on the move, and it is estimated that this number will increase by a third by next year. This growing army of workers is already being catered for by serviced-office centres in cities and at airports. Now, they are to be served by similar facilities at rail stations and on motorways.

Regus has recently agreed deals with the service centre operation of the Shell oil business and the French rail company SNCF that could lead to millions of professionals being able to work more effectively as they travel the roads and railways of Europe. The business centres at motorway service stations and rail stations will give workers on the move space in which to make private phone calls or work on an assignment between meetings while also gaining access to the sort of support associated with a Regus centre – such as video communication and printing, copying and scanning of documents.

The development is further evidence of the changing nature of work. A recent study supported by Regus – “Why Place Still Matters In The Digital Age; Third Place Working In Easy Reach of Home” by ZZA User Responsive Environments – reveals that many people now do most of their work in a place that is neither their home nor their office, but a “third place”, such as a library or coffee shop.

Deals like that with SNCF and Shell will broaden considerably the types of places where these workers can operate, so improving their productivity and at the same time making their lives simpler.

“Technology is a key driver in the growth of the mobile workforce, but the increase in demand for drop-in business centres has come from mobile workers who still need a place to think or to make a private phone call, for example, and a drop-in business centre at a railway station platform makes sense.”

— Celia Donne, regional director at Regus

Indeed, one of the factors behind the growth in third-place working is individuals’ preference for combining the benefits of not commuting to offices in city centres with being able to share space with other workers. Studies suggest that employees are more productive if they are alongside other workers (although not necessarily in their offices) and away from the distractions of home.

With companies constantly looking for ways to improve productivity in these challenging times, drop-in business centres like those being introduced by Shell and SNCF could soon become the norm across Europe and beyond.

Are you a mobile worker? Have you tried our new business lounges? Let us know what you think in the comments below

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

SNCF look to Regus to support the shift to flexible and mobile working

Launch of business centres at railway stations signals major change in the way businesses work.

Regus, has signed a ground-breaking deal with SNCF, the French national railway company, to open an initial six drop-in business centres in its railway stations. 

The deal is a strong sign of the growing momentum behind the shift towards flexible and mobile working.  It will enable millions more business travellers and mobile workers to operate more effectively on the move.

“An estimated 1 billion people work on the move, with the total predicted to reach 1.2 billion by 2013. SNCF see the demand for smarter, more flexible ways of working, and they understand that businesses and their staff want support whilst on the go. They’ve selected Regus to provide that support, with specialist workspaces designed for the specific needs of business travellers and workers on the move.”

—Mark Dixon, CEO of Regus

Technology has enabled the rise of flexible, mobile working, but people still struggle at times to work effectively on the go. Regus and SNCF are taking mobile working to a new, more productive level by opening these drop-in centres at railway stations. 

“Developing drop-in workspaces has emerged as a pressing need in today’s society- turning waiting time into useful time for professionals on the move. We’re especially pleased to be working with Regus, a globally acclaimed expert in providing innovative flexible workspaces.”

—Sophie Boissard, CEO, Gares & Connexions, SNCF

Users will be able to access workspace for as little as ten minutes, using it to work, meet, catch up with emails, deal with unexpected issues, or just find somewhere to think. The business centres will also offer professional business support, such as video communication, printing, copying and scanning.

Le Mans, Bordeaux, Nancy, Amiens, Paris Nord and Lille Flandres stations will house the first of these new Regus business centres, making these stations business destinations in themselves.

These business centres will provide the following services:

• Drop-in business lounges and ‘campus’-style co-working spaces available for as little as 10minutes
• Meeting rooms and videocommunication facilities bookable in 30mins slots
• Helpful multilingual receptionists, available to take calls, manage appointments and arrange other services
• A full range of copying, scanning and other office facilities, as well as vending machines and free tea and coffee for Regus users

Regus’ SNCF centres will also contribute to environmental sustainability. By making better use of existing buildings, they can help companies cut down on under-used, wasteful office space, and the energy costs associated with them. Regus’ modern communications technology can help reduce long-distance travel to meetings, and, by working with the SNCF, can help to make the train more attractive and convenient than road or air travel. In that respect, France and its companies are leading the way on a global level.

Are you a frequent train traveller or SNCF user? Let us know what you would like to see in your station’s business lounge

For more information on Regus in French click here

Due to the ever-increasing adoption of flexible working, Regus is growing and has invested to expand in its global network. This year alone we expanded by 100 centres, and we are set to reach 2,000 business centres in 110 countries by 2014.

“Demand for flexible workplaces is clearly burgeoning, the main driver of which is growing awareness of cost savings to be made by converting to flexible working, enabled by developments in cloud and ‘work anywhere’ technology. Looking at the research we have commissioned across the globe over the last 18 months, together with independent third party sources, it is clear that flexible, mobile working is the new normal.”

- Mark Dixon, Regus Group CEO

As flexible working becomes the norm this has allowed us to expand operations in: Manchester, Plymouth, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Sydney, Buenos Aires amongst many more cities.

      Manchester                     Sydney                       Buenos Aires

Even in the current market, we are experiencing a record level of enquiries, reflected in an all-time occupancy high of 86.7%. This has helped us expand within the emerging economies and new countries which include Latvia, Uganda and Serbia to name a few.

       Latvia                             Uganda                       Serbia

This is not just good news for us but for the growing number of flexible workers around the globe. It is thanks to this increasing trend, that we are able to expand and allow entrepreneurs access to not only a national network, but the most expansive and exhaustive network of business centres worldwide. Good entrepreneurs aren’t getting caught up with the current negativity, this can be seen with the quadrupling of our customer base in the past three years.

It’s a great time to be in business if you are investing. And some of the greatest businesses in the world today were established in recessions or depressions, in years past. It’s always a good time to get out there and actually do it. If you can raise the money and get on and do it then you should do that — that’s what we’re doing.

- Mark Dixon, Regus Group CEO

The benefits of flexible working trends are not exclusive to corporations and medium-sized enterprises. For years, home workers and start-ups have greatly benefiting from the Regus network allowing them to not only establish themselves, but to expand their workforce and extend their operations abroad. (Click here for an example of how a start-up has re-written rules and manage an international workforce.)

Facts
The benefits of felxible working

• 60% of businesses worldwide state that flexible working costs less than fixed office working, saving tens of thousands of U.S. dollars per employee per year
• 41% also say that flexible working increases staff productivity
• 80% of companies state that flexible working policies attract and retain skilled staff
• 60% of employees say flexible working creates a better work-life balance
• 81% of all companies now offer part of their workforce some form of flexible working
• Today there are over 1 billion mobile workers, predicted to rise rapidly to 1.2 billion by 2013

For more information on Regus click here

How and where does your company plan to grow in 2013/14? Does your business empower its employees to work flexibly? What are your tips for cutting business costs in some areas, in order to spend and grow in others?

Photo credits:

Latvia, by www.guigo.eu via Flickr

Uganda, by Maanskyn via Flickr

Serbia, Jeff Attaway via Flickr

Regus’ Businessworld membership program, giving the on-the-go business person access to workspace in 1100 locations worldwide, is attracting more and more parters. In fact, mobile workers — who are more likely to work from home or a business lounge rather than a Regus day office — now make up the majority of our customers.

Our latest partner, Oakwood, the global leader and provider of furnished and serviced apartments, is offering our U.S. and Canadian customers discounts of up to $3,000. Regus customers staying for three to six months in Oakwood’s studios or one and two-bed furnished apartments, are eligible for discounts (visit the Regus Purchasing Group website for more info).

Oakwood customers who stay for 30 days or more at any North America location gain access to Businessworld.

“This live and work solution enables more than cost savings. We are helping our guests be more productive and helping our clients realize the additional value of working with Oakwood on their global mobility programs.”

- Howard Ruby is Chairman, Founder and COO of Oakwood

Happy Father’s Day Aussies! Is your dad super dedicated, loving, smart, funny, hug-able and all around beaming with awesomeness? Does he deserve Super Dad status? 
 
Super Dad has the life every father wants.  He brings home the bacon while making it to soccer games every Thursday afternoon.

How? SuperDad works flexibly—some days he goes into the office, other times he works from a local business centre. He also has the choice to work from home. The arrangement suits him, his family and his employer.

Turn your fantastic father into Super Dad with a complementary Regus Business Centre Access For A Day. It’s our treat!

Join 1 Billion Mobile Workers

Congratulations, you’ve decided to become one of the 1.19 billion people who will have joined the mobile worker population by 2013.

How can you work wherever you want to? How can you work wherever you need to be, close to where you are doing business right now and where you plan to be doing more business in the years to come?

Regus businessworld exists to make possible the essential ingredient for the successful mobile worker - a place to work, wherever they may be.

9 Facts About businessworld

1. businessworld is a membership program unique to Regus
2. Small business home workers to corporate globetrotters can make use of Regus infrastructure on an ad-hoc or part-time basis
3. businessworld Blue card: access to all Regus services at a 10% discount – book Meeting Rooms, Day Offices and other Regus services
4. businessworld Gold card: access to 1100+ Business Lounges worldwide, with internet access, tea & coffee
5. businessworld Platinum card: workspace on a part-time or full-time basis, aimed at people who need access to an open-planned workspace on a regular basis
6. businessworld Platinum Plus card: aimed at the mobile worker who needs access to private offices with a phone and internet connection wherever they are in the world on any given day
7. Easy to sign up – visit our 15-minute registration page on regus.com/businessworld, walk into your nearest Regus center or phone our sales team
8. Where there’s business, there’s a Regus. Find us in more than 1100 locations, in 500 cities and 88 countries worldwide
9. If you are doing business in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, the UK or the USA, you’ll find Regus. Where we are working, so can you.

Click here to join the revolution.

Are you a businessworld member? Where have you used your membership card? Do you plan to join the one billion mobile worker revolution? Tell us how you have broken out of the 9-5 office culture.

Is you business struggling with high property costs, a growing trend of under-utilised office space and unpredictable costs?

Please join Bill Devereux, Estates Manager at Yell.com to learn how his company resolved their property issues and saved 50% by working with Regus to increase operational efficiency and improve client service by embracing flexible working practice.

Webinar details:

Date: Thursday February 10
Times/Links: 3-4pm GMT (4-5pm CET) and 12-1pm CST (1-2pm EST; 10-11am PST)

Do you have a tip for cutting business costs in another area? Please share.

Illustration by Patrick Hoesly via Flickr/zooboing.

Work Your Way, Netherlands-style [in Dutch]

When Regus’ Eduard Schaepman was asked by the government of the Netherlands how to explain new ways of working in the digital era, we worked together with our partners to produce this video. It’s in Dutch but if you don’t speak the language, it’s still worth a watch.

Where do you work? In the gym, on the train or perhaps in a home office? Please let us know …