officely Raises $2M to Simplify Hybrid Team Office Coordination

Navigating the Hybrid Workplace: Officely Streamlines Office Coordination

As more companies adopt work-from-home or hybrid models, effectively managing in-office presence becomes crucial. Even with flexible arrangements, coordinating who comes into the office and when presents significant challenges.

Questions arise regarding scheduling consistency, desk availability, and the necessity of commuting on sparsely populated days. Traditional methods like spreadsheets can prove inadequate, prompting the need for dedicated solutions to maintain organization.

Officely aims to address these concerns by integrating directly with a platform many teams already utilize: Slack. The company recently secured $2 million in seed funding to facilitate its expansion.

Core Features: Desk Booking and Beyond

The primary function of Officely is desk booking. It allows for the categorization of desks based on location within the office, or even grouped into designated “neighborhoods” for larger spaces.

Users can view daily office occupancy, check for available desks, and reserve a workspace accordingly. Beyond basic booking, Officely offers several customizable features.

For example, users can indicate whether a dog will be present in the office on a given day, catering to those with allergies or, conversely, those who enjoy canine companionship.

Enhancing Safety and Communication

To prioritize employee well-being, Officely enables the creation of customizable health screening surveys. These surveys can be automatically sent to employees on days they are scheduled to be in the office.

In the event of illness, the platform can assist with contact tracing, compiling a list of individuals who were present during the same timeframe.

A recently introduced “Office Chat” feature automatically generates a temporary Slack channel for each day’s in-office attendees, facilitating spontaneous coordination of activities like lunch plans.

User Experience and Implementation

A test deployment of Officely revealed a generally smooth user experience. While some customization options are somewhat deeply nested within the interface, this is largely attributable to the constraints of operating as a Slack application.

Despite these minor limitations, the platform demonstrated several capabilities not commonly found in typical Slack apps. Initial impressions were positive enough to warrant consideration for future use as the team transitions back to the office.

Pricing and Availability

Officely offers a free plan for smaller teams, accommodating up to 10 employees and a single office location. For larger organizations, pricing is set at $2.50 per active office employee per month.

“We only ever charge for your employees that use Officely to book into the office,” the company clarifies. Custom pricing plans are available for organizations exceeding 500 employees.

The Rationale Behind Slack Integration

According to co-founder Max Shepherd-Cross, the decision to build Officely within Slack was strategic. “The interesting challenge with desk booking tools is the software has to be adopted by everyone in the company to be effective.”

He explains that persuading employees to adopt a new web application can be difficult, whereas Slack is already a central hub for communication and collaboration within many organizations.

From Hotels to Offices: A Pivotal Shift

Officely represents a significant pivot for the founding team. The company initially launched in 2017 with a focus on hotel room booking.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically impacted their business. “We just got crushed by COVID. Overnight, we lost all of our customers,” Shepherd-Cross recounts.

Recognizing a parallel between hotel management and office coordination, they adapted their existing infrastructure to address the evolving needs of the hybrid workplace.

Investment and Future Outlook

This seed funding round was led by TEN13, with participation from angel investors Vu Tran (co-founder of Go1) and Adam Schwab (CEO of Luxury Escapes).

This investment positions Officely to further develop its platform and expand its reach within the growing market for hybrid work solutions.