Is the Internet More Important Than Office Location?

A survey of nearly 450 participants, comprising office workers and corporate real estate decision-makers have spoken on what matters most when selecting office space.

By Scott Baltic, Contributing EditorOffice connectivity

An overwhelming majority of office workers rank reliable internet connectivity as the most important factor in selecting office space, according to a survey released on Friday.

The same survey, however, found that those who select office space, though they too consider connectivity more important than transportation, leasing options, management, amenities, views and environmental sustainability, do not place quite the same importance on internet access. Fully 78 percent of office workers ranked access to reliable internet connection as “critical” in choosing office space, versus 31 percent of office location decision-makers.

The survey of nearly 450 participants, comprising office workers and corporate real estate decision-makers, was conducted by WiredScore, of New York. WiredScore offers building owners, asset managers and leasing brokers a system that allows buildings to be impartially rated for internet connectivity, with ratings of Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum.

The company noted that internet connectivity affects multiple functions in many offices, including e-mail, VoIP, big data, the cloud and SaaS tools.

Other survey results included:

  • Connectivity outages and slowness disrupt business at least once a month on average, and more than twice a week for one in four respondents. Two-thirds of respondents reported they experience internet outages more than once a month.
  • Office workers reported a 60 percent drop in productivity when internet access was slow or out. More than half of office workers (61 percent) admit they stop working and waste time on other activities when their internet access goes down.
  • Despite this fact, fewer than half of all location decision-makers receive detailed information on connectivity services before signing an office lease, and more than a quarter receive no guidance at all.

 

This is WiredScore’s first annual State of Office Connectivity survey, “with the goal of making landlords, brokers and all businesses more aware of the role Internet connectivity infrastructure plays in their lives,” WiredScore CEO and co-founder Arie Barendrecht said in a release. “There is a major lack of information and transparency in this space.”

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