The total market size of smart workplace is expected to reach more than $43 billion by 2020 according to recent research by MarketsandMarkets. This growth in spending is designed to help companies improve efficiency, while also reducing overhead costs.
Typically, IT spending has been reserved for maintaining legacy software systems and implementing cloud storage systems, but the relatively new technological concept of intelligent workspaces are quickly gaining momentum and helping making modern offices even smarter.
Benefits of Smart Offices
Smart offices made initial strides in the early 2000’s centered on cost and energy optimization, specifically with motion sensor lighting. However, as technologies have improved and costs have decreased, companies have increased their technology adoption rates and are seeing unrivaled benefits.
The following are the top four benefits of how businesses can take advantage of smart offices:
1. Identity Management
Organizations are now implementing facial recognition programs and ID trackers to assist with physical office security, as well as improving employee efficiency. Geo-location tracking technology allows companies to professionally monitor the location of employees to review efficiency. An example is in a hospital, providers can track nurses to monitoring how much time is spent with each patient to help improve care and productivity.
Companies in need of additional security at their physical offices are also automating protocols to integrate with identity management technology for remote security clearance, meaning employees can simply look at a security camera to access secure locations based on facial recognition software.
2. Energy/Resource Utilization
Similar to how many offices began with lighting automation, modern smart offices are realizing increased benefits by applying technology to help further reduce utility costs and optimize resource management.
For example, one increasing trend is commercial HVAC units integrating with smart technologies, such as apps that allow offices to control the temperature remotely, including individual floors and rooms. This results in reduced costs for the building owners, as well as the utility costs for tenants.
In addition, there has recently been a rise in green technology automation with indoor plant watering systems that deliver the precise amount of water and nutrients to keep plants healthy.
3. Navigation
Companies with large campuses, such as Google and VMWare, need streamlined methods for assisting new employees and visitors with on-sight navigation. This technology can range from outdoor touch-screen maps to corporate-sponsored map apps that help individuals become familiar with their surroundings. Other businesses, like Amazon and Ikea, can also benefit from navigation technology to help employees quickly find products in warehouse or to provide customers in-store directions to specific departments.
Navigation technology can also be used with digital customer service to help answer the questions that individuals may have while exploring stores or large company campuses. This provides another touchpoint for customer/employee engagement aided through technological advances of smart offices.
4. Automation
Automation is the biggest appeal of integrating smart technology into an intelligent office. With the advancement of artificial intelligence and data management programs, businesses can track new metrics that enable the company to optimize business processes and better target customers.
For example, the retail and hospitality industries heavily rely on foot-traffic patterns as indicators of performance. By adding automated technologies, these patterns can be more accurately measured and monitored. Geo-location technology can also help with automation by providing coupons, notifications or customer service cues automatically once an individual enters a specific location.
Feel free to contact E-SPIN for smart workplace infrastructure and application security, infrastructure availability and performance monitoring solution.
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