SuiteWorks still on track

As promised, I’ve begun checking the health of companies offering (or planning to offer) third places to work. Here’s a quick list: SuiteWorks, TechSpace, Preferred Offices, 116 West Houston, The Office, Open Studio and, of course, Gate-3 Workclub, which recently shut down , prompting my investigation.

SuiteWorks, the Toronto start-up building full-service corporate telework centers around Toronto and eventually in the U.S., is putting the finishing touches on its first “telework office complex,” in Barrie, Ont. When we checked in last July, SuiteWorks was breaking ground and expected to open by September 2004.

No such luck. A series of delays caused by Barrie’s construction boom cramped the project. But that didn’t keep SuiteWorks from winning another round of funding and a marquis client, IBM Canada. Existing clients include Nortel and Mailboxes Etc., with more announced soon, including a large financial institution.

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As promised, I’ve begun checking the health of companies offering (or planning to offer) third places to work. Here’s a quick list: SuiteWorks, TechSpace, Preferred Offices, 116 West Houston, The Office, Open Studio and, of course, Gate-3 Workclub, which recently shut down , prompting my investigation.

SuiteWorks, the Toronto start-up building full-service corporate telework centers around Toronto and eventually in the U.S., is putting the finishing touches on its first “telework office complex,” in Barrie, Ont. When we checked in last July, SuiteWorks was breaking ground and expected to open by September 2004.

No such luck. A series of delays caused by Barrie’s construction boom cramped the project. But that didn’t keep SuiteWorks from winning another round of funding and a marquis client, IBM Canada. Existing clients include Nortel and Mailboxes Etc., with more announced soon, including a large financial institution.

“IBM was so important to us because it’s such a leader in distributed work,” says Bob Brehl, SuiteWorks’ vice president of corporate development and communications. IBM has 13 of its own mobility centers in Canada. SuiteWorks will be the first work space IBM doesn’t own that isn’t an employee’s house. “They won’t have the headaches of managing another building,” Brehl adds.

The facility is 95% finished, with SuiteWorks planning a “soft launch” in mid-May and a media event in June. Upon opening, Brehl says 120 of the 240 seats will be filled, putting the business at break-even. New funding ensures SuiteWorks will be solvent for at least 18 months.

The future plans are still the same - build centers in other communities around Toronto (Cambridge, Oshawa, Hamilton), then south of the border - but a few things have changed.

For one, IBM doesn’t plan to put dedicated workers in the center full time. Instead, it will have them work two days at SuiteWorks, two days at home, and one day in the main office in Markham, for instance. This way, IBM can contract for 4 or 5 seats to support 10 to 15 employees, maximizing the benefit. Other clients are making similar arrangements, Brehl says.

Also, as the company expands, SuiteWorks is looking to retrofit existing buildings, rather than build again from scratch. Also, in selling the concept of “remote work suites,” execs first thought individual workers would drive demand, but not so. Then they thought it would be HR, but again, not so. Turns out, SuiteWorks is getting the most interest from corporate real estate executives who want to get rid of a building. (I really need to have T-shirts made up: "GET RID OF THE BUILDING.")

Read more about telework in Network World's Telework section.