Virtual office: Kumospace or Gather (part 2)

And the Winner is ... before revealing our choice for the virtual office, let's take a moment to read how we arrived at this decision. In my previous post, I mentioned our intent to enhance our remote work experience by incorporating some of the benefits of a physical office into our virtual environment. This would allow us to hire people from various regions and locations without the need of having physical offices around the Czech Republic and still experience high level of interactions.

During our exploration, we considered three options: using Gather, trying out Kumospace, or simply sticking with our current setup of scheduled meetings on Microsoft Teams. After spending significant time in both Gather and Kumospace, we decided to evaluate these two platforms more deeply.

Over four weeks, our team experienced a variety of interactions in these virtual spaces. We held morning stand-ups, leadership meetings, one-to-one discussions, and even casual catch-ups in virtual "kitchen" and team-specific areas. This variety gave us a well-rounded view of each platform's capabilities.

To gather detailed feedback, we conducted a thorough survey asking our team members questions such as:

- Would you want to work on this platform long-term?

- What is your favorite feature or activity?

- How do you feel about the layout and design of the space?

- What are the platform's positives and negatives?

- How often do you see yourself using this platform for daily interactions?

The survey also included a rating system from 1 to 5 for various features like meeting recording, desktop sharing, chat functionality, personal status updates, space customization, and integration with other tools like Outlook and MS Teams.

After reviewing responses from 22 individuals about each application, totaling 44 detailed feedback forms, we chose Kumospace as our preferred virtual office platform.

Reasons for Choosing Kumospace

Our selection wasn't based on shortcomings of Gather; rather, it reflected our specific needs and preferences. Here’s how the platforms compared in our analysis:

Satisfaction Levels

Kumospace: Generally, satisfaction with Kumospace was high, with many ratings falling within the 71-90% range. This indicates that our team found Kumospace highly fulfilling and suitable for our virtual office needs.

Gather: Gather's satisfaction scores were more varied, with the highest concentrations around the 41-60% range. This suggests more moderate feelings about its effectiveness as a virtual office tool.

Positives and Negatives

Kumospace Positives: Many appreciated Kumospace for its realistic office simulation, effective privacy management through personal offices, and overall simplicity. The platform supports a conducive work environment similar to a real office.

Gather Positives: Gather was praised for its game like environment, variety of virtual spaces (including outdoors), and fun elements like carts and customizable avatars, offering a unique blend of work and play.

Kumospace Negatives: Some users noted distractions from public announcements and occasional sound issues.

Gather Negatives: Users reported dissatisfaction with the on-camera meeting experience and difficulty in navigation. Its game-like elements also made it potentially more distracting.

Final Thoughts

While both platforms offer unique advantages and have areas for improvement, Kumospace emerged as the more favored choice, especially for long-term use as a virtual office tool. Our decision was particularly influenced by the feature allowing personal space customization, such as the ability to close or open doors, signaling availability to colleagues with the option to knock.

I would like to extend a big thank you to both Gather and Kumospace for allowing us to try these two platforms for such a long time. I wouldn't consider this article as buyer's advice or an objective review of the platforms. This is simply a description of our journey, and your team or organization's preferences may differ.

Stay tuned to my blog for more insights and experiences with virtual office setups!