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While there are a lot of options for commercial office space in Dubai, it can be a difficult challenge to find the right office space. The right office space is one that serves your business needs perfectly. Here are some pointers on how you can get the best office space for your business.
It goes without saying that when it comes to company formation in Dubai, you need to have a Business Plan ready. A good Business Plan would contain a brief mention of approximately how many employees you intend to begin with. If you have a number in mind, you are ready to go scouting for good office spaces.
The key is to think long-term. It is one thing to find an office that has enough space for all the employees you intend to hire at the beginning. It is another thing to look for an office that also factors in future expansion plans. When your team expands, you are obviously going to need more space.
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You can’t simply pack up and move into a larger office because of two reasons. The first is legal. When you apply for company registration, you need to submit a copy of your Tenancy Contract as well. The address of the office space you have rented out becomes the registered office address of your company. So you would miss out on all Government communication, which would be sent to your registered company address as per records.
The other reason has more to do with common sense. Once you build up a reputation, your clients are going to walk in to the office where they last met you in person. If you move out, this is as good as saying no to future business with former clients. In Dubai, things work differently than they do in other parts of the world. There is a human connection – an element of trust – in all business deals. It is not uncommon for any individual or business to deal with a company that might offer its products or services at a higher price than its competitors. They do so because they trust the higher-priced company more. Besides, think of all the effort you spent on marketing. You would have to redo it all over again.
A good Business Plan would have a three-year vision at the minimum. So the rule of thumb is to think about where you will be in the next three years, and rent office space accordingly. For instance, if you plan to hire 100 employees at the beginning and expand your employee headcount by 30 every year, it wouldn’t be a bad idea at all to look for office space that can accommodate 150 employees.
See if there is also an additional meeting room that can be converted into employee desk spaces, if the need arises.
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Now, if you absolutely cannot afford an office space that would meet your three-year requirements, think two years. If you don’t have the funds to rent an office space that would meet your two-year requirements, think of the one-year picture at the very minimum. Your Business License is up for renewal at the end of the year, and a good business setup specialist can help you get the registered office address changed in the records.
Where will your office be located?
You need to ensure that your office is located at a place where it will be easy for your clients to access you. This means you should pay close attention to the number of public parking spaces nearby. If you are located in a busy area where there are a lot of businesses, there might not be any public parking spaces left over for your clients. This might lead to them not walking in to your office at all. Some prefer to use public transportation, so it is best if you are located close to a metro station.
Pay attention to the layout of the office space
This has been studied a lot of times by productivity experts, and the conclusion is almost always the same – a closed-plan is always better than an open-plan office. The reason is not so difficult to fathom – a closed-plan provides more privacy, enabling workers to be more productive. Can you imagine what your clients would feel if they heard cross-chatter in the background while one of your employees was talking to them over the phone? How would you feel?
The more silence there is, the more your employees will be able to focus on their tasks. And it might surprise you to learn that great ideas don’t always come from the boardroom. Some the best ideas come from employees themselves. Some employees work on these ideas during their breaks or after office hours. This way, when they finally bring it before management, they will be prepared to answer all questions. Nobody is going to be working on any idea if their co-workers can peer over their shoulder and see what they are researching or typing into an office document.
Of course, an open-plan beats the purpose if your employees are going to be working on any confidential documents.
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There are also other things you should look at. For example, will your team require a dedicated computer server for operations, either now or in the future? If yes, does the office space you are considering have a server room? If what you are looking at is a fully-furnished office, take a closer look at whether the employee workstations have phone points if they are going to be using desk phones at work.
Another thing you should see is if there is space for a filing cabinet – all the important paperwork and files have to be stored securely somewhere. It is best if the filing cabinet was somewhere out of sight, where only the employees who need access to the documents can access them. This minor detail can prevent problems later on, such as an unauthorized employee accessing them by chance.
Should your office be on the mainland or in a free zone?
A business setup expert with experience in matters pertaining to company setup in Dubai can advise you further. If you are originally opening your company in a free zone, then you cannot move into the mainland later on. The mainland is where you are more accessible to your clients and your clients are more accessible to you. But a free zone offers cheaper office space options, with the ability to scale up as and when you expand, without changing your address.
Whether you should choose the mainland or a free zone depends on the business model you have in mind. You can still scale up at the same address on the mainland with a fully-serviced office space. The drawback is that your competitors might be located in the same building or even on the same floor. A co-working space is a way for you to scale up at the same address on the mainland while starting out at an extremely low cost.
Choose the right office space with A&A Associate LLC
There are several options, and you need to keep a lot of things in mind when choosing the right office for your business. The benefits of offshore company formation should also consider. At A&A Associate LLC, we can help you zero in on the right office space in Dubai. We have an enviable track record of having been of assistance to clients from 100 countries around the world. We have a client satisfaction rate of 98% so far, and the aim is to do even better.
