Office of the Future: How Tech is Transforming the Workplace

In the last decade, large corporations came to the realization that there is an enormous opportunity to transform the way they allocate, use, and manage office space. Many of these companies have millions of square feet distributed across the globe in high-rent districts, yet space was allocated using old school principles that assigned space inefficiently by today’s standards (e.g. 1:1 assignment, private offices).

We've evolved past this mindset given the pandemic, and the command for a workplace transformation is clearer now than ever before. Legacy processes simply will not sustain the workplace evolutions required to enable hybrid workforces to remain productive and continue to deliver. 

What Does the Future Hold for Returning to the Office?

The pandemic has certainly changed the game when it comes to deciding to work from home or in a physical office.

According to CBRE, about 40% of office space in the US is empty, leaving room for improvement. Some of the most popular building features include flexible and shared workspaces. As the trend shifts away from individual desks to collaborative spaces, employers must find a way to quickly adapt to this workplace transformation.

How Can Smart Occupancy Sensor Technology Transform the Workplace?

IoT (Internet of Things) or smart occupancy sensors are devices that leverage machine learning and artificial intelligence to keep track of occupancy and space utilization. These include different types of occupancy sensors that monitor desk, building, room and floor utilization, and are integrated with desk and room booking software to make workplace activity transparent to employees. 

Ultimately, the key with smart occupancy sensors isn’t simply the sensor - it’s combining the sensor data with advanced analytics and AI to create true spatial intelligence and understand the nuances of how the office space is used. 

Smart sensors can be used in the workplace to:

• Optimize the employee experience by providing actionable data to analyze employee behaviors, and guide smart office design geared toward collaboration and activity based working
• Reduce energy consumption by providing data for smart cleaning and smart building management
• Direct corporate real estate strategy by enabling access to data on building occupancy and space usage across the CRE portfolio
• Increase office use and meeting room use through integrations with room booking technology
• Plan for and address unpredictable attendance in the workplace through the collection of real-time occupancy data

How the Office of the Future Will Leverage Workplace Analytics

In our new guide, How to Leverage the Future of Workplace Analytics, you'll discover a deep-dive into the core challenges that workplace professionals face today as it relates to having the data they need to make informed design decisions.  We'll also introduce a glimpse into a future where workplace analytics platforms, like VergeSense, are fueling the critical growth and innovation enterprises need to transform their workplace experience across the globe.

The topics within the guide include:

1. Adopting Activity Based Working: Core Challenges

A look into the challenges enterprises are facing in understanding how employees and tenants use space. 

2. Opaque Visibility Through Incomplete Technology

The shortcomings of legacy workplace technologies and what workplace professionals are pinpointing as their biggest hurdles.

3. The VergeSense Difference

How today’s enterprises have used VergeSense data to get surgical about their space utilization modifications. 

4. The COVID-19 Pandemic Effect

A breakdown of the top issues surrounding the facilitation of a safe office re-entry in a post-vaccine society.

5. How to Future-Proof Your Workplace

The most critical components that workplace transformation technologies need to deliver, including information security and actionable metrics. 

View the free guide in its entirety, here.