A white label product is one that is manufactured by a specific company (X), sold unbranded to another company (Y), who in turn rebrands as their own and pushes it out to their clients (Z). White label products can be found in anything from grocery offerings, electronics and clothes to software.
Lets consider software for a second. White label software is usually sold to a specific company from a given software developer as a ready out-of-the-box solution – needing nothing but branding and marketing. It can be especially appropriate for a company to utilize a white label solution when the needed software service is not part of their own core competency and resources to develop said software in-house are not readily available.
As commonly known, initiating an internal software project requires time (often more then expected), capital, skills, knowledge and often other unforeseen resources. This is where white label software comes into place.
Let’s look into a real life example of where white label software offerings are the norm and not the exception.
Enter Coworking
Coworking can be defined as a shared working space, where multiple companies, freelancers and other individuals come together to work under a common roof (coworking space). It reduces the barriers associated with entering a lease agreement for multiple years – which is why startups frequently flood to co working spaces, attracted by the weekly, monthly or annual price plans. Moreover, it provides an interactive and lively alternative to freelancers who before worked at home or at a local café.
In turn, co working spaces provide their members with all the amenities they need to engage in successful work. Which specific amenities a coworking space offers will depend on their strategic positioning, however, a few a commonplace for all: internet, restaurant, kitchen, printer, meeting rooms and snacks. As such, coworking spaces and their members rely on each other for commercial success. This clear win-win relationship is what makes coworking attractive to the already almost one million ‘coworkers’ around the globe (estimated to reach 3.8 million by 2020).
The Coworking Market
The global coworking market has grown steadily the past 9 years – from around 14 spaces in 2007 to an estimated 11,100 by the end of 2016. When considering the Adoption Lifecycle by Geoffrey Moore, we can argue that coworking has begun to enter the ‘early adaptor phase’. By 2020, Emergent Research Group predict that there will be over 26,000 spaces globally, hosting over 3.8 million people.
Coworking & Coworking Spaces
Running a coworking space is by no means an easy task – in fact, it’s a very resource demanding occupation. There is a lot of work and detail that has to be put into every aspect that together create a coworking space: niche, industry focus, price, marketing, location, offerings, number of offices, resources, amenities and many others. Crippled by big upfront investments and high levels of required attention, energy and passion, coworking spaces often choose to purchase their needed software from external providers as they do not have the in-house capabilities to build this software themselves.
Rather, coworking spaces will rent an already ready software solution that they can put their own brand on, making it look to their members as if they have developed it themselves. Bisner is one of these white label software providers for coworking spaces.
Bisner provides coworking spaces with an online platform where they can host their community. Equipped with their own branding, native mobile apps and limited access to members of the space– it transforms the way coworking spaces manage, foster and maintain their community. Bisner represents an out-of-the-box fully functional product that can be set up within minutes – allowing spaces to focus on their core competencies that are often related to physically accommodating their members.
Find out more about Bisner here – https://bisner.com/
- http://info.appdirect.com/resources/knowledge/white-label
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amanda-schneider/the-future-of-coworking_b_8950140.html
- https://magazine.seats2meet.com/coworking-in-numbers/
- http://openwork.agency/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/CoworkingIndustry2016_whitepaper.pdf
