SuccessFactors' Stunning New HQ Has Walls Made Of Plants ... And Absolutely No Soda!

For its gorgeous new headquarters in South San Francisco, SuccessFactors had a goal: an office that's as "frictionless" as the Web-based software it sells.

It's a concept called "office as a service," Roy Ng, senior vice president of business operations, told Business Insider.

"Office as a service" is a play on "software as a service," the business of Web-delivered applications in which SuccessFactors is a huge player.

For SuccessFactors, a unit of software giant SAP, it means a space that you can use on demand, working as well for out-of-towners as for regular employees.

For example, the lobby is a cross between an airport terminal and a hotel check-in desk, with flight times, hotel information, and a concierge. (The location itself is minutes away from San Francisco International Airport.)

There's a bus service that picks up employees from all over the Bay Area, gadget-filled nooks and crannies, Cisco videophones on every desk, flat-screen TVs, and digital signs everywhere.

Thanks to CEO Lars Dalgaard's passion for fitness, the building includes a 5,000 square-foot gym with yoga, Pilates and spinning classes. To get between floors, they're encouraged to take the stairs.

And junk food, particularly soda, is banned. Beverage dispensers offer mineral water and tea. The food machines have granola and baked, not fried, chips. Organic fruit is trucked in daily.

And the reception area wall is made of plants.