{"id":60164,"date":"2019-08-16T10:34:23","date_gmt":"2019-08-16T14:34:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/?p=60164"},"modified":"2020-09-03T05:53:07","modified_gmt":"2020-09-03T09:53:07","slug":"a-guide-to-agile-real-estate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/workspace-solutions\/flexible-products\/a-guide-to-agile-real-estate","title":{"rendered":"A guide to agile real estate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When you hear the word agile<\/em>, what first comes to mind? Is it an engineering team quickly working toward the end of their sprint? Or do you think of it more broadly, in the sense of how efficiently a company operates? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The term is used a lot in business-speak, but not consistently, which only adds to the confusion. Throw real estate into the mix and it only gets murkier. Let\u2019s clear up where agile<\/em> came from, what it means today, and how real estate leaders are putting it into practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is agile real estate?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Agile real estate<\/a> is real estate that allows businesses to adapt their portfolio as needed<\/em> for the health and growth of their business while decreasing up-front capital investment and reducing real estate risk. Being agile in real estate means avoiding being tied down to a physical space that drains money and resources, leaving your company wishing they hadn\u2019t signed that 15-year lease. It means opening offices globally<\/a> and where talent pools reside, attracting the best employees possible, faster than the competition. In this way, embracing an agile real estate portfolio can actually affect your company\u2019s bottom line. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The origin of the term agile<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you first associate the term agile<\/em> with software development, your instincts are right. Agile was originally created as a set of values and principles<\/a> that allows those software teams to work quickly and iterate as they go. Through adaptive planning, evolutionary growth, early delivery, and improving on a continual basis, the principles of agile encourage a fast and flexible response to change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, businesses need to operate in a similar manner. They must adapt and evolve (be agile) to stay competitive\u2014and real estate plays a key role in that. Think about it: The cost of sourcing and obtaining real estate is a company\u2019s largest expense, second only to payroll, making every decision (literally) count. In the past, a bad office space decision could follow a company for years, sometimes decades, into the future. But with agile real estate, companies can feel freer to pivot, move, and adapt their portfolio well into the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

The three big benefits of agile real estate<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are three primary ways that businesses benefit from agile real estate: financial flexibility<\/a>, workspace flexibility, and spatial efficiency. WeWork offers businesses of all sizes solutions that not only meet, but exceed, their needs. Read on to understand each of these benefits in greater detail.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Financial flexibility <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are five main ways that agile real estate enables financial flexibility for a business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n