First Steps

Coworking First Steps: Top Tech for Your Space

Sam Bender
Mar 5, 2020
Coworking First Steps: Top Tech for Your Space

Space efficiency has less to do with how many integrations you have, and more to do with picking the right ones to remove your staff’s pain points and boost their strengths! It’s often as simple as picking a handful of tech options and optimizing them. Based on our own experience and on the spaces that rely on our software, here are some of the essential pieces of tech and why we think they might be the right options for you.

Payment

One of the most important and foundational integrations of your space (at least, if you want to stay open for long). Depending on your region, you’ll need to find the right payment provider for your customers. Here are some options that you might want to consider:

  • Stripe: A streamlined way to manage card payments.
  • GoCardless: A system that brings European-style bank transfers to a global audience.
  • Paypal: One of the most adaptable and global payment systems, Paypal has been a fixture of payment processing for years.
  • Adyen: Another payment service that operates seamlessly with a number of other pieces of tech you might have in your space.

Access control

If you want to segment your space into different regions, or automatically grant and remove access when a member joins or leaves, access control automations are the solution. Want to make sure no one has access to the meeting room if they aren’t scheduled on the calendar? Set up a system that only grants members access when they’ve booked the time slot. And if you plan on having any sort of 24 hour access to your space, it’s invaluable.

Wondering where to start? It can depend on what region of the world your space is located in. Here are some good options to consider:

Printing

What would a coworking space be without printing? Many operators choose to forego a printer integration, but it only takes one person abusing the honor system for the whole thing to fall apart. The best way to prevent someone from breaking your trust is to set up a functioning printer integration before anyone has the chance!

  • ezeep has a host of tools that coworking operators can use to ensure that they have the right setup for their space. There are options for variable pricing, multiple printers, and fixed free sheets.

Newsletters

Everything that you have to do by hand is something that takes away your time. What’s less useful for you than entering email addresses into a newsletter service? Put your time to better use by having your new members automatically entered into your Mailchimp database.

Zapier

Don’t see what you were really hoping for on this list? You should look into Zapier! For every small task, there’s a way to make your own integration using their “zaps.” We’ve heard from spaces that use it for everything from making onboarding simpler or making a coffee “robot.”

Remember, getting started in coworking is about more than finding the right furniture; it’s about setting up the infrastructure that will allow you to grow without losing time for the most important part of any coworking space: spending time with you members!


If you aren’t already using Cobot as your coworking management software, give it a go! You’ll find that our features can help you run your coworking space more effectively and grow your community. Just sign up for a free trial or a live demo session. And if you have questions, our support team is all ears!

Happy Coworking!

Sam Bender

Senior Communications Specialist at Cobot and all-around connoisseur of useless trivia, reading on airplanes, sleeping in late - and working from interesting places!