Excerpts from the interview of Vanita bhandari which appeared in The Hindu,  on Monday December 20, 2010

Today “We are very proud of the UNESCO Heritage Certification we received for our DBS House Centre in Mumbai Fort,” says Vanita Bhandari, Executive Director, DBS Office Business Centers.

Please throw some light on the DBS Office floor plans ?

The buildings with their own customized floor plans go a long way in designing the interior to suit office spaces requirements. “Our floor plans are designed to house offices, mini and large conference rooms and combination of these to suite the client’s ‘instant office’ requirements. For example, a client can rent an individual ‘executive office’ for himself and a ‘team office’ to house his staff. He can rent a conference room only when required on a pay-by-use basis. At DBS, we can upsize or downsize the office for the client,” Ms. Bhandari says.

How different are DBS Centers from others or what is USP of DBS?

In continuation to the part above, DBS has been a very stable and successful Serviced Operator past 30 years. We recall many service providers, opening centers in India & winding up their operations, when the business was not viable to them or during economy slowdown.

We at DBS, have weathered all storms, be it the Dot Com Bubble Burst in late 90’s or the recent Global Economic Slowdown of 2008 / 09. We have stood our ground and understand this business better than most. Owning all our properties, gives us an advantage in more ways than one. We have the flexibility to change any part of the centre we wish to and keep pace with the change in technology or Go Green as the trend for most offices today.

Should entrepreneurs take up the franchisee model? Should a business center in general lend its name or only the expertise, can it be a hazard to the Brand?

Franchising is a good option, if the entrepreneur can match up the standards set by DBS. The business center model along with high quality of service will have to be provided by the franchisee. We at DBS are open to franchising in the mini-metros, as we would like to have a presence there.