Keith Shirley

As a followup to my article on Hotdesking in Carlow I was invited by Terry Clune to review the hotdesking facilities in the Taxback.com premises in Kilkenny.

The IDA park is on the Kilkenny ring road  – easy to access and within minutes of most parts of Kilkenny City. I was not 100% sure where in the IDA business park that the building was located but as the picture of the building shows – it’s pretty obvious once you get there. There will be no problem giving directions to your customers.

The building is shared by a bank on the ground floor and Taxback.com on the first floor. The top floor is currently set aside for the hot-desking facilities (soon to be opened).

The first signs were good when I saw the milk delivered to the front door.

The area with the hot desk facilities was not
yet complete when I was there but the taxback open plan area gives an idea of what the final facilities will be like. An interesting touch is that the office is equipped with a white noise generator. The idea is that when you are on the phone the microphone is not picking up the voices of others around you. When sitting in the reception area it’s a bit annoying (I thought it was a noisy air con unit at first) but for the office area I can see how it would be very useful.

Some details of the actual facilities

• Each desk will have its own lockable storage space and a partition between the desks. The partition itself is too low for my taste (based on the current floor plan) but if that’s the only thing I can find to complain about then it’s a good sign.
• Visitors will be greeted at the main Taxback reception area and then you get a call. As a visitor it’s pretty clear where you need to go.
• There are current a few meeting rooms available that can be booked – or just grabbed on an ad-hoc basis.
• The hotdesking area has its own kitchen (with a slim balcony – not sure if smokers will be allowed to use it) but I was told that the taxback kitchen area will also be available. This is a really nice room with comfortable seating – great for getting to know your fellow hotdesker’s.
• Access is via electronic key fobs but it’s not clear how out of hours access is going to work as the front door gets physically locked.
• Broadband and phone connection are included  – you will be billed separately for your actual calls.
• There is a nice big parking area which is properly finished. Unlike many other Irish business sites – this one is clean and well maintained.
• Copying and faxing services will be available as well as access to a printer (although there may be a small charge based on usage).
• The lease period is a minimum of 1 month (so not true hotdesking) and the price is currently expected to be 400 Euro per month.

Please contact Kelley O’Neill on 056 778 3400 or koneill@tacback.com for more details and to ensure the details here are still accurate.

Some more photos:

The Taxback.com dining area

The Hotdesking Kitchen Area

One of the small meeting rooms.

It’s a bit like waiting for a bus – Back in August I lamented about the lack of hot-desks in Carlow and now I find out that both the Shamrock Plaza and the Enterprise Board are going to have them.

Shamrock Plaza is being promoted by Jacqui McNabb (former Carlow Chamber of Commerce CEO). I met with her last week to review the offices and to talk to her about the facilities needed for hot desking. I am both happy and impressed to be able to say that she has covered all the points I could raise.

The building itself is located where Doyles of the Shamrock used to be – right on the Dublin/Kilkenny road in the centre of town. It’s a very impressive building with a finish that I hope other businesses will be inspired by. It’s always a pity to see a company move into a new premises and to let themselves down by using poor signs/flooring etc. There are a number of large corporate suites (with suspended floors) available which at the moment are completely open – you can configure them to match your requirements.It’s the small offices and hot-desk room that was most interesting for me.

The details are being finalised but the following were the points we discussed:

Lease Period: The offices will have short lease periods. This is important because in the current climate it’s hard to commit to a 5 year lease when you don’t know if you will still be in business. The vision for the hot desks is more of a mini office – you just rent the desk rather than an office. Real hot desking would involve leaving an empty desk at the end of the day. In this case you keep your desk – but if you still have it in 2 years then you need to make a commitment and upgrade.

Costs: Sorry – can’t say much about this yet and the details are being finalised. An office is available for 900 Euro a month – including phone line, power and internet link. The hot desk will be comparable. This is fantastic as it will allow people to try out an idea without having to sink all their savings into non productive assets. The hot desk includes a phone line and broadband.

Day-rental offices: There are no day rental offices as such – but they probably are not needed. Rented a meeting room for a day will probably cover most peoples needs.

Central Reception: The reception will be run by a Carlow company – AutoOffice – which I didn’t even know existed. They will provide full virtual admin services – answering the phone in your name, taking in post and deliveries and generally helping a small business to run efficiently and look like a bigger business. The phones are an interesting point – your bill be come via the central reception services – you don’t need to pay a seperate line rental.

Meeting rooms: There is a boardroom type meeting room available and a big room suitable for large meetings and training.

Out-off hours access: Everyone gets a little RFID chip that gives them 24 hour access. Obviously – if you are sharing an office with others you need to be a little more careful with securing your desk before you leave (this includes data protection issues).

Storage facilities: Each hot-desk will have some storage space with it. I spoke to Jacqui about providing extra space when needed but this might not happen.

Furnished desks: Furniture is included. It would kind of have to be. The good point is that it’s included in the standard office l;easing as well.

Parking: The building has underground parking as well as a few street level spots for short stays. It looks good and should avoid a lot of headaches.