Why Should Companies Start Using the Sharing Economy?
The 2010s brought the term “sharing economy” and the spread of the idea of “accessing expensive things only when needed rather than buying them”.
Even people without a particular connection to the sharing economy may have heard the terms “shared houses,” “car sharing,” and “ride sharing.”
Or you may have heard the names of specific services such as UBER and AirBnB.
Crises such as the novel coronavirus have made clear that imposing physical constraints creates risk.
Living without ownership will increasingly gather pace, and companies, as collections of individuals, will be no exception.
This time I introduce useful sharing economy services that companies can use too.
Safe Deposit Boxes and Storage
Until now, we have kept everything in offices without really assessing whether it is worth storing.
From now on, we should assess what is worth keeping and aim to be minimalist companies, but it is often difficult to decide what to discard.
At such times, I recommend safe deposit box and storage rental services.
Safe Deposit Boxes
Safe deposit boxes are an established service long used by both individuals and businesses.
Location, availability, and reliability matter when choosing a provider, but I do not think you should trust any of them completely.
If what Genichi Adachi says in this video is true, reliability hardly enters the picture.
You should only deposit things you can recover from losing.
- Banks (Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Mizuho, and other city banks, as well as regional banks)
- Safety Box
- Baton-bin
Rental Storage (Cloud Storage)
Most business items that need keeping should fit in safe deposit boxes, but anything else you still want to keep can go into rental storage, or cloud storage.
The point is to use cloud storage rather than a neighborhood self-storage unit, because self-storage units offer poor value for money.
Letting unnecessary things occupy your office is like throwing rent money down the drain. Review them now and send what you want to keep to rental storage, or cloud storage.
You can even manage it with a smartphone app.
Capital Investment (Office Furniture and Appliances)
I favor virtual offices, but there are still plenty of companies that need to keep a physical office as their default arrangement.
However, capital investments become liabilities as soon as you can no longer use the office, so keep them to a minimum. I recommend limiting purchases to inexpensive secondhand items.
Renting furniture and appliances is popular among individuals now, with many stylish options, so companies with substantial equipment investments could consider it too.
However, never skimp on the tools of your trade or digital equipment, including software and internet services.
Tools of your trade go without saying, and nothing makes life easier quite like digital equipment and services.
Suits
Personally, I believe you should shed your suit because it is unnecessary for work, but there are still situations where a suit is essential.
Apparel, which is often treated as consumable, is another area with many sharing economy entrants. Renown's service Kirudake provides suits with maintenance support.
As telework and remote work spread faster, more workers may question having to pay for the suits they must wear. Some, however, may see “the company supplies rental suits whenever suits are required” as an acceptable arrangement.
- Kirudake
Virtual Health Room
Supporting employee health is also a company's role, but as telework and remote work become normal, many things become difficult to manage.
That is why attention is turning to LEBER, a service that lets people easily consult doctors about their health through a smartphone app.
It was originally offered to individuals, but the corporate service apparently also includes a feature for reviewing data across all employees.
- LEBER
Summary
There are various other services, but I will stop here this time.
To repeat, the important point is that, for both personal life and corporate operations, imposing physical constraints will create risk.
For that reason, I recommend making good use of the sharing economy in your company too.