It’s been just over 10 years since Condeco began on the road to becoming a leading workplace technology company. And from those humble beginnings of a UK start-up, Condeco is now a recognised and trusted name worldwide.
I came to wonder recently how many people outside of our company actually know what “Condeco” means and why it was chosen? So I spent some time with our founder and CEO, Paul Statham to discover the origins of our brand and what the word means to him.
[SC] What does the name “Condeco” mean?
[PS]Condeco is the Latin word for “to meet”.Another blog that you may like: ” What we can learn from Startups and their Spaces.”
[SC] Why was it chosen?
[PS] We felt it summed up the product perfectly, as Condeco started life as a meeting room reservation system.[SC] Who chose it?
[PS]The board and a few of the early developers.[SC] Were any other names considered?
[PS] Plenty, but I can’t remember any of them. We went through dozens before arriving at Condeco. We sat in our single meeting room with a few beers and Google search open. We started brainstorming at lunch time and finished late in the evening – fortunately before we ran out of beer![SC] In 2016, does the word “Condeco” mean something different to you, compared to why it was chosen 10 years ago? And,does this reflect a change in our business or trends in the market?
[PS] I think Condeco means a lot more today than it did 10 years ago. 10 years ago Condeco was simply a name of a new product that was being launched. Today Condeco is synonymous with workspace management solutions and has become a brand that is known to millions of people as “the workspace reservation booking system” where they reserve rooms, desk and other service. To the real estate and facilities market, the name Condeco is known now as the market leading reservation system. And to me, it means the company that we have built, not just the product.Speaking with our EMEA Managing Director, Debra Ward, she had a different take on what the word Condeco means:
“To me, the word Condeco is about the people you meet and how those relationships grow and transition through time. People are the most important metric that organisations have so we need to focus on creating spaces that enable our teams to do their best work. Condeco is just that.”
Personally, when I think about the changes we have seen in the workplace over the last 10 years, the meaning of “to meet” has also changed. With the rise of flexible working, whether that’s from home or the coffee house, there are some that have prophesised the end of the office in the not too distant future.
My opinion is that we are seeing a fundamental change in the way we use our office. It is no longer just a place to work as most of us can do that from anywhere. But we still have a need to meet people face to face. And whether that is colleagues or customers, the best place to do that is in the office.
Ten years ago, it might have all been different. If the beer hadn’t run out that afternoon when our founders were deciding on a name, who knows what we might have been called. Thankfully we settled on the name “Condeco” and its meaning today is just as relevant as it was back then.
