Flex operators know which integrations they need. Most haven’t connected them.

TL;DR

• We looked at connection data from 1,276 flex operator accounts. Exactly 1 has all 5 core categories connected: payments, accounting, door access, CRM, and network.
• The average operator has 1.65 of 5 connected. 14% have none.
• Operators know what they need. 57% call accounting integration a must-have; 40% have it switched on. For door access it’s 54% vs 30%.
• 68% of operators name integration gaps as their top tech challenge, up from 61% in 2025.
• AI use dropped from 26% to 18%. Two-thirds of AI users feed their tools by hand or pay for a custom build.
• Fix: a one-hour audit of what’s connected vs. what you pay for. The full report has the other 5 moves.

We checked 1,276 flex operator accounts on the OfficeRnD platform for 5 core connections: payments, accounting, door access, CRM, and network.

The results: exactly 1 account has all 5.

The average is 1.65. 14% of accounts have none.

The survey answers next to that data make it even stranger. When we asked 334 operators which integrations they consider essential, they gave a clear, consistent list. Most of that list is still unconnected, and the work it would automate is being done by hand, every week, by the same small teams who named it as their biggest problem.

These numbers come from The 2026 Flex Space Tech Stack Report, which combines a survey of 334 operators with that platform data. We covered the headline findings in our launch post.

This article goes after one question: if operators know which connections they need, why haven’t they made them, and what is it costing them?

Operators already know which connections they need

We asked 334 operators to pick the 3 integrations that matter most to them. Accounting, payments, and door access came back within 3 points of each other, and 15 points clear of everything else. That’s the money coming in, the money being recorded, and the front door.

Then we compared those answers with what’s switched on.

Payments is the only category where connection runs ahead of demand. That’s no surprise. You can’t take a card payment without a gateway, so that connection gets made on day 1.

Every other connection is optional to set up, and each one is further behind. Door access has the widest gap at 24 points. More than half of operators call it a must-have, and fewer than 1 in 3 have it running.

The spread across accounts tells the same story:

Operators have the list. They haven’t done the setup. We’ve made the case for why open integrations matter in coworking before. This data shows the case has landed; the follow-through hasn’t.

Every missing connection has a person behind it

A gap between 2 systems gets filled by a person, a spreadsheet or a paid connector. Usually a person.

The survey shows where those hours go. We asked operators, in their own words, which part of their week is the most repetitive. The top answers:

Most of that list is re-keying. An invoice raised in one system and reconciled by hand in another. A signed quote typed into the platform. A key card still active 2 weeks after someone left.

One operator in the survey traced 44% of a full year’s member tickets to access cards. That’s what a 24-point gap in door access looks like at the front desk.

It also explains why 68% of operators name integration gaps as their biggest tech challenge (up from 61% in 2025), and 52% name implementation cost. The report calls these the same complaint, counted twice. Every unconnected system shows up later as payroll hours.

Larger companies have the same problem. MuleSoft’s 2025 Connectivity Benchmark Report found that enterprises connect only 29% of their applications. The difference is staffing. An enterprise has an integration team. A 2-site coworking space has a community manager who also runs the front desk.

The operators who close the gap feel it fast. Among multi-location operators, invoicing drops from the #1 time sink to #8, because payments and accounting are talking to each other. iQ Offices grew from 2 to 5 locations in Canada and runs a QuickBooks connection for each site from a single OfficeRnD account.

CEO Kane Willmott put it plainly:

the platform is “taking a huge administrative burden out of our location level.

The full report breaks down the time-sink ranking by portfolio size. It flips almost completely as you grow, and it tells you which problem is coming next. For the billing side specifically, here’s how automated billing works across multiple locations.

Why AI stalled in flex this year

In 2025, 26% of operators told us they were using AI tools and only 14% ruled them out. In 2026, active use is 18% and 30% have no plans.

Part of that drop is method. This year we asked about specific business functions, which produces more careful answers, and the sample is larger. The direction is still clear: a year of trying AI moved a real share of operators from curious to uninterested.

The likely reason sits in one small question. We asked the operators using AI how their tools connect to their space management platform. Only 18 had a setup to describe, so treat this as a signal:

Two-thirds are copy-pasting or paying a developer. Smaller operators are about twice as likely to be the ones copy-pasting, and they’re the group with the least spare time to do it.

An AI tool that can’t read your members, bookings, invoices and occupancy has nothing to work with. Someone has to feed it, and that usually stops by week 3.

This matches what’s happening outside flex. Gartner predicts that through 2026, organisations will abandon 60% of AI projects that aren’t supported by AI-ready data. In MuleSoft’s research, 80% of IT leaders named data integration as a major obstacle to AI adoption.

For a flex operator, “AI-ready” has a simple meaning. The tool can see live member and booking data without anyone exporting a CSV. An operator with 1.65 of 5 systems connected has very little for AI to read.

If you’re still weighing where AI fits, our guide to practical AI for coworking covers small, measurable starting points. The first question to ask any vendor: can it read my platform data directly, or does it need an export?

The one-hour audit

Most operators who run this check find at least one integration they already pay for and never switched on. It costs nothing, and it’s the quickest way to find out which side of the 1.65 average you’re on.

1. List the 5 categories. Payments, accounting, door access, CRM, network. Next to each, write the vendor you pay today.
2. Check your platform settings. Mark which ones are live. Check the settings page itself; memory tends to overcount.
3. Match what’s unconnected against your platform’s integration list. On OfficeRnD Flex, that’s the integrations page. Anything on your list and theirs is a quick win.
4. For each live connection, write down what still needs a person. Does door access switch off automatically when a membership ends? Do credit notes reach the ledger? A connection that syncs half the data still leaves the other half to your team.
5. Fix in this order. Payments to accounting first, since billing is the market’s #1 time sink. Door access second, because it has the widest gap and generates the most tickets.

For what each connection should do once it’s live, see our breakdown of the 8 integrations every coworking tech stack needs.

Get the full report

The audit is move #2 of 6 in The 2026 Flex Space Tech Stack Report. The other 5 are in the report, along with:

• The full connection breakdown from 1,276 operator accounts
• How the time-sink ranking flips between 1-site and 7+-site operators
• Accounting leaders by region (one market has no leader at all)
• What 36% of operators still do by hand when writing quotes
• Year-on-year movement on every tech challenge since 2025

FAQ

What integrations does a coworking space need?

Five categories cover the core of a flex operation: payments, accounting, door access, CRM and network. Operators in our 2026 survey ranked accounting (57%), payments (57%) and door access (54%) as the most useful. Virtual office and mail management matters more for smaller operators.

How many integrations does the average flex operator have connected?

1.65 out of 5 core categories, based on data from 1,276 operator accounts on the OfficeRnD platform. 14% have none connected, and exactly 1 account has all 5.

Why do so many AI tools fail to stick in coworking spaces?

Most can’t read live member, booking or billing data. Among operators using AI, two-thirds either move data by hand or pay for a custom API. When someone has to feed the tool, it usually gets dropped within weeks.

Should I consolidate vendors or connect the tools I already have?

66% of operators prefer better connections to the vendors they already use, and that split has held for 2 years. Consolidation suits operators who’ve had integrations break or never had time to set them up. It can also swap a visible software cost for a hidden staff-time cost.

What should I connect first?

Payments to accounting. Invoicing and billing is the most common time sink for operators overall (27%), and it drops to #8 for multi-location operators, who have usually connected the two. Door access is the next best fix.