What is co-working and would it work for you?

More and more businesses are moving away from owning their own premises and into the subscription style model of co-working offices. This isn’t a surprise to us, because this model fits with leasing cars, and of course our own business of leasing computers, but does co-working stack up? What are the positives and negatives, who uses them and do they work for everyone? We thought we’d do some research and share our findings with you here.

Who are Co-Working spaces aimed at?

An estimated 6% of the UK workforce are freelancers, that’s around 1.91 million people, and according to recent studies, this is set to escalate to approximately 50% by 2020. But it’s not just freelancers who are taking on co-working space, many larger organisations such as British Airways and KPMG are recognising the benefits of sharing working space with other businesses. Lloyd’s Bank allows 30% of its workforce to work flexibly to allow them a richer work/life balance, but this also reduces its overheads and the need for them to own large business premises. read more

Printing is something that generally falls ‘under the radar’ in most offices.  You just expect to press print on your computer screen and that the printed paper will arrive on your desk within a matter of seconds. But how do we know which is the best printer for your business?

Simple Tablet style user interface

HardSoft offer a wide range of printers by various manufacturers on our typical Flexi-Lease.  The printers that HardSoft offer can range from day-to-day office printers and multifunction printers, all the way up to A1 and A0 large format printers. All are available on our 3-year Flexi-Lease with 3-year on-site warranty and telephone technical support. read more

What makes leasing from HardSoft so different from all the other leasing companies out there? We believe that it’s the holistic approach we take to our business, we care about our customers and the experience they have with us so we do our best to make sure that experience is a beneficial and helpful as possible. We also listen to our customers and try to develop new offerings that fit with what they’re looking for.

For example, we have recently launched our new HardSoft Creative Club. The Creative Club gives our customers access to a pool of kit for short-term hire. That’s the kit they need when they need it for short-term projects, for just £6 per week plus VAT. The kit in the pool has a daily points value and customers receive 350 points annually to use to hire the extra kit they need and at the time when they need it. All delivered and collected as part of their membership. It’s short-term computer hire that’s cheap and flexible, exactly what many of our customers have been asking for. read more

For as long as we’ve been trading, we’ve worked alongside startup businesses. In the current economic climate, it’s increasingly unusual but we actively encourage and support new and startup businesses. We do this by offering the same terms and conditions as established businesses, whether you started trading yesterday or ten years ago, or are a sole trader or a limited company.

Startups Grow and Mature

Over the years we have worked with some startups that have grown into thriving businesses and even household names. Back in their early days we helped a new business called Not on the High Street get set up with their technology and who can say they haven’t at least browsed their website for an unusual gift for a friend or loved one, in fact, most of us will have bought at least a couple of gifts from them. read more