(Bloomberg) – WeWork Inc. is trying to bolster its technical credentials with a new software product it hopes to sell to employers.
Real estate software maker Yardi Systems Inc. to develop co-working company WeWork Workplace. , a tool that will let companies manage their employees and their office space the same way WeWork does. The software, which can be used for booking conference rooms, syncing the use of flexible desks with hybrid workers, and analyzing which spaces are used the most, is set to launch this summer , the company plans to announce on Wednesday.
Yardi’s existing tools help landlords and asset managers oversee the operations and finances of their properties. WeWork’s main business is renting desks and offices, but the company has also worked to expand beyond that in recent years – although its co-founder and former CEO, Adam Newman, overlooks WeWork. There are, not far, as many as shocking choices. Expanding into a primary school and residential co-living.
Newman pitched WeWork to investors as a technology company, with an emphasis on acquisitions that included conference-room booking software, a digital marketing company, and a product that used smartphone data to address To determine how groups of employees flow throughout the office. After WeWork’s failed attempt at an initial public offering in 2019, some of those side businesses were sold to defray expenses.
WeWork was successful in its second attempt to go public. When it last came under current CEO Sandeep Mathrani, WeWork told investors it was building a three-part business model: renting office space, providing on-demand options such as a day-to-day Desk rental and selling a newly created software service, WeWork Workplace.
The idea is that employers who don’t rent space from WeWork may choose to pay for its software tools, especially given the more complex logistics of a workforce that works some days at the office and others at home. want to spend In January, WeWork said its first customer for the product was pharmaceutical company Organon & Co. which already had leases with WeWork in dozens of locations.
To contact the author of this story: Ellen Huet at San Francisco [email protected]
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