It seems that the meaning of “office” has been redefined — at least in Nukman Luthfi’s case. The 46-year-old businessman can work from a coffee shop. One morning while sipping Luwak coffee, he sent a quotation to a client. He read briefly the material he would send on his smartphone, rechecked the address and clicked on “send”. In a few seconds, the proposal had been sent to the client’s email box.
Nukman, CEO of Virtual Consulting, was not working in his office but from Kopi Luwak coffee shop in Pacific Place, South Jakarta. Leaving home for work, he did not need to go to his office in Duren Tiga, because at noon he had an appointment to see another client at the mall. “I spend most of my time on the road, not just today. With an Internet connection, I can manage my company from anywhere,” he said.
Advancements in information technology make everything easy. With a Wi-Fi connection, Nukman can contact his partners online. Regardless of place, whenever there is a Wi-Fi facility he can do his job, from lobbying to making presentations, using facilities like email and chatting. “For fund transfers, we can make use of internet banking,” said the former journalist.
So, if you can work anywhere, why go to the office every day? Nukman, who owns several portals, considers coffee shops the most comfortable places to relax and to work effectively. Coffee shops have become not only a meeting point, but also his second office.
When he started his business, he made Starbucks his office, and worked only with a notebook. Now, as a business strategy and online marketing consultant, he has 50 employees, but he still works virtually, just as his company’s name suggests.
That means that in various business scales, Nukman runs his company with the present culture, which is mobile and online. Nukman, as well as other professionals and contemporary business owners, are lucky people who can work fast and efficiently, who do not even need much time to start a new business.
While many people work in coffee shops, many companies also offer instant offices, from the virtual office with basic secretarial work to the small office measuring 12 square meters to accommodate one person to a 40-square-meter room for five. It can be said that with a laptop, you can have an office and run your business.
Renting an office costs a lot of money. No wonder many people prefer instant offices, which are usually located in strategic places. Professionals can focus on the job at hand without having to think about many other things. If a client calls, a message will be taken by the instant office secretary, who will immediately forward it to the tenant.
Money can also be saved and allocated for other needs in business development. Renting an instant office can save quite a lot. The monthly overhead for an instant office is only US$200 while the rent for a conventional office could reach $1,290.
Instant offices offer a solution to new companies in Indonesia that want to start small, or to companies that only need a small space, as well as to foreign companies that want to open branches in Indonesia, more precisely Jakarta.
