The Waverley Lane Blog

Interesting to see in today’s Financial Times that Regus have high hopes for their serviced office business, as companies find the cost of city-centre accommodation inconvenient for their staff and too expensive.

The idea – having low-cost serviced office accommodation in easy-to-get-to suburban locations – might be a good one, but from what we’ve seen of Regus so far it seems that they’re expensive to rent space from, very expensive and restrictive on the IT services they provide, and their Edinburgh location is in the middle of the biggest rush-hour traffic jam in the east of Scotland.

It’s surely better to make sure that your own office is well-equipped with good IT connectivity and systems which will let your team work from home or on their travels, leaving them free to make their own arrangements for meeting clients and colleagues face-to-face wherever and whenever they want.

What thanks do we get, those of us who run a business, for stepping out of line and going our own way? For taking on commitments and risk, working bloody hard, adding value, paying salaries and taxes, and taking responsibility for regulatory compliance?

Nothing, zilch, nada.

I do wonder if the powers-that-be and those who work for them remember that, without the business sector buying, adding value, and selling there would be no “non-commercial” funding of anything. That is, no public sector institutions or employment, no public services, hugely diminished support for arts and culture, and much-reduced funding for the third sector and the health services.

Julie Meyer started the internet and new media networking group First Tuesday at the height of the dotcom boom. I’ve not been persuaded that she has actually built any business and worked in it for the long haul, but she has hit the nail on the head with the concept of “Entrepreneur Country” – read about it here in The Independent.

Two points arise from this – firstly, I agree with Julie! The media needs to stop knocking business and realise that business pays everyone’s wages and much else besides, whether it’s trendy to admit it or not.

Secondly, how can we at Waverley Lane meet the needs of people who are running their own business?

What we do is help people work together, online and offline, whether in the same office or far-scattered around the globe. If we continue to do that effectively and efficiently and market our expertise to the right people, there will be a demand which we know how to meet.

Hello and welcome to the new Waverley Lane blog!

Why, you might wonder, do we want to add to the digital media overload – bloggers and tweeters all throwing their tuppence-worth into the great digital pond, mostly to sink without Google-trace?

Two reasons really – firstly, we hope our blog will give you an insight into our team here at Waverley Lane – what we do, why we do it, and the good ideas and some of the really stupid ones we come across along the way.

Secondly, of course, it might just be fun to have a platform for our thoughts and views!