Well – just about everyone. Unfortunately, no one is quite sure what the full impact will be and what direction the changes will take. That uncertainties about the potential degree of change in such a significant component of the workplace is very difficult to plan for. It’s like being told ‘the workforce is changing; everyone will either be 4’ or 8’ tall. In 20 years. Maybe.’ As a workplace professional – what do you do?
Well, first thing is, don’t panic. And then, answer these four questions:
- What problem are you trying to solve? Utilization, User experience, Connectivity
- Do you have access to existing data that may be useful in solving this problem? Existing badge data, Log in data
- What technology, including data services, will provide any additional data needed to solve that problem? Sensors, apps, IOT
- What steps/actions are you prepared to take once you have the data? Hiring someone to manage, reconfiguring space or teams, changing protocols to allow mobile work
With answers to those 4 questions you can start to assess, select, and implement specific data solutions.
Allsteel sees technology implementing the workplace in 2 key ways:
- User workplace experience: the goal is to minimize friction when coming to the office
- Real Estate performance: the goal is to maximize utilization of space, increase efficiency, drive productivity and increase human connectivity.
The table below illustrates the specific components of the workplace that different technologies may impact. And you can see that some technologies, like sensors, can be developed and implemented to have an impact of multiple workplace components simultaneously. The sensors that allow a worker to find an open workspace in real time and that illustrates the most direct path to that workspace - improving the user experience - can also provide the FM team with occupancy and utilization trends – improving the performance of the real estate.
Of course, the elephant in the room is AI – Artificial or Augmented Intelligence. Its impact is just now being seen – identifying available workspaces based on individual user preferences, adjusting HVAC based on actual occupancy, alerting maintenance about potential equipment malfunction before it occurs. This series will explore AI and its potential impacts on the workplace.