Evolution or revolution? The answer is here
How on earth did we function in business before the internet, before email, Google and our beloved mobile phones? We now work faster and more efficiently than ever, we don't need to get a group of people in to a room to make a decision, we can conduct most of our conversations by email, we have all the information we could ever need at our finger-tips, we can work anywhere and at anytime, we don't have to leave our homes to contribute to the economy.
Broadband has been available in our homes for just ten years and it has taken a significant amount of that time for the expression 'working from home' to cease being a euphemism for bunking off, home is now the preferred place of work for millions of people and companies benefit from the various cost savings.
As this mass change in working practice continues and the once clearly defined edges of our work/leisure time and space become blurred people are resigned to the idea of working alone from within their own physical and emotional bubble.
Home Working
Not only are large firms adopting mobile working practices to reduce facilities overheads, but more and more people are starting their own business from home. Recent figures suggest that around 10% of people now work from home in some capacity.
This change has not been evolutionary, we have not changed our working practices over several generations, this change has been revolutionary, a big bang in work dynamics.
We don't yet know what the greater social implications of this change will be. What we do know is that humans are social creatures, we need interaction, not necessarily to chit-chat all day but just to have other living, breathing creatures around us. Certainly the larger coffee shop chains are fully aware of this and actively promote themselves as places to meet and work. The silence of working alone can be deafening, a good background hum is comforting, you may even say womb-like, how many of us put the tv or radio on to work to without actually hearing a word of what is said?
Community based Smart Working
Then there are the practicalities of being based at home, space may be tight, you may have children arriving home from school at 3-30 and don't even mention the bedlam of school holidays. They say 'necessity is the mother of invention' and the need here is clear, an on demand place to work right on your doorstep; and the inventors, Hot Office Business Centres Ltd (the company behind the Aylesbury Enterprise and Innovation Centre on Gatehouse Way). 7-years ago Hot Office started their first community business centre, they now have four centres and are experts in providing the right mix of informal and professional work space, it seems to be a very elegant solution and the perfect next step in 21st century working, and the cappuccino is free!