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Bengaluru’s IT hubs – friendly flexibility

August 25, 2017 / By  

Business cluster growth is known for its economic advantages. However, Bengaluru has a different story to tell for its IT hubs: congregations of IT parks and IT SEZs within a precinct. Every day, most Bengalureans have to plan ways and means to avoid traffic congestion to reach their workspace or return to their homes, especially if their workplaces are located in Whitefield or along the Outer Ring Road.

While companies in these IT parks and IT SEZs enjoy the advantages of forming an economic cluster, they also add immense pressure to the city’s road infrastructure and connectivity. This increases the travel time of employees considerably and reduces employee productivity. So what is the solution to this?

Challenges drive innovation

Bengaluru provides an interesting case study on merging the economic benefits of forming business clusters along with working on innovative solutions to face the traffic challenges in these business clusters. While the initiatives of the city development and management authorities are mostly mid- to long-term ones, the developers and occupiers are chalking out plans to improve employee productivity and experience.

Whitefield has more than 25 million sq ft of office stock and the Outer Ring Road has a ribbon development of more than 30 million sq ft of office stock. With the influx of a large volume of employees from various parts of the city into these sub-markets, the roads are carrying more traffic beyond their existing capacities.

City development and management authorities are developing metro connectivity, building elevated expressways, grade separator flyovers and underpasses, working on road widening, subways and upgrade of roads for the smooth movement of traffic along Whitefield and the Outer Ring Road.

Companies providing flexi-work options to alleviate traffic woes

Corporates are giving options to employees to work from home or work in non-peak traffic time slots. A few companies are providing Wi-Fi connectivity within their shuttle buses so that employees can work while travelling. Developers who own and operate the IT parks in Whitefield and along the Outer Ring Road are providing various entry and exit points within the IT parks to ease traffic movement during peak hours. They also provide various amenities such as healthcare, crèche, gymnasium, fine dining and entertainment options within the IT parks so that employees can invite family and friends and to spend time within the IT parks during peak traffic hours.

Bangalore topped the JLL CMI (City Momentum Index) 2017 for its status as one of the world’s premier technology hubs. As such, it is facing rapid urbanisation due to the fast pace of economic development. So clearly it is practically not possible to upgrade the urban infrastructure at the same pace as the city’s overall growth.

However, in Bengaluru, developers, corporates and city authorities are coming together to address these problems and work towards making it an employee-friendly city.

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