In the not-too-far past, work was done almost exclusively at the office or place of business during scheduled hours.

But now, workers spend less and less time in the office, using it chiefly to touch base or interact with team members for short periods. In a traditional office, up to 50 percent of desks, offices, and workstations are unused at any time on a typical workday.

A 2023 Forrester report showed that “anytime, anywhere workers” in the U.S. and Europe grew from 15 percent to 29 percent of employees between 2011 and 2012. And International Data Corporation (IDC) forecasts that the U.S. mobile worker population will surpass 105 million by 2020, accounting for nearly three quarters (72.3%) of the total U.S. workforce.

So how to keep up with the trend? “Hoteling” could be the answer.

Technological development and cost concerns have guided the shifts from traditional offices toward flexible workspaces and “desk hoteling,” where employees reserve publicly shared workspaces on a need-to-use basis.

The idea is to have offices operating at maximum efficiency, which also best accommodates today’s “anytime, anywhere” workers, who demand flexibility and agility and no longer work in a highly centralized and routine manner.

“Gone is the day when a person personalizes a cubicle. In this age of telecommuting, cloud computing, and smartphones, hoteling is here to stay,” says Kelly Richmond Pope, PhD., CPA, associate professor, School of Accountancy and MIS at DePaul University in Chicago.

It’s been a growing trend among big companies like IBM, Deloitte, and EY for a long time. Real estate is typically the second largest expense behind payroll for large companies.

But with “hoteling,” you can save a ton of money while still gaining team memberDeskFlex flexibility.

Deskflex has been offering flexible and innovative software for office hoteling and scheduling of conference rooms, office workspaces, desks, and parking spaces since 1993. It is dedicated to improving entrepreneurs’ lives by providing easy-to-use, efficient, and performance-driven hoteling and call center management software tools.

With its all-in-one Hoteling & Resource Scheduling Software, you’ll get:

1) Quick & Easy check-in; Immediate check-in and checkout take less than 8 seconds.

2) Point & Click floor maps; Green dots identify available desks; those in use are determined by red.

3) PBX interaction; DeskFlex connects to your Nortel, Avaya, or Cisco PBX to ensure that your phone rings at your desk and you are automatically checked out overnight if you forget to check out yourself.

4) Web browser and local “Kiosk” access; A DeskFlex kiosk(s) makes it easy to select, from your office. A desk near a coworker or in your preferred workspace.

5) Real-time synchronized workstation; You can check real-time reservation status to ensure they have an area to work in—a place to park and a phone or other needed equipment.

6) reservations; You can easily choose and reserve workspaces for a particular date or range of dates ahead of time.

7) Group booking & Guest communication; Easily manage group bookings through a streamlined interface and apply group rules to match any billing or payment scenario. Please send pre and post-stay automated messages to let your guests know.

Occupancy reports; Accurate occupancy measures in total or by type of desk so the total number or mix of desks can be adjusted to meet client demand. And save more real estate expenses in the coming months.