Intelligent Office: A Luxury or Necessity for Better Productivity?

 

We are surrounded by technology that promises to eliminate hassle from our lives by ‘learning’ what we want and when. With the Internet of Things, we connect objects to the internet to be able to control them remotely, or facilitate communication between them without involving humans!

 

In the business space, efficiency is a game-changing metric. Even a tad bit of improvement in your business efficiency can prove to be your edge over competitors. IoT is not only improving the way we live in our homes, but also making workplaces more secure, efficient, and smart.

 

We typically spend 8-10 hours a day at work. It isn’t shocking to want that space automated using IoT. Smart office systems are steadily gaining momentum. The market amounted to $22.21 billion in 2017 and is expected to reach $46.11 billion by 2023, believing this latest report.

 

IoT in the workplace can include an array of hardware components and technologies such as smart devices, AI, robots, etc., that open you to newer opportunities.

 

 

The Pros of a Smart Office Powered by IoT

 

There are benefits of switching to smart office systems:

 

• Energy savings – Automatic lighting and temperature controls can help you utilize power resource more efficiently, and might even reduce your power consumption and lead to subsequent savings.

 

• Employee productivity – By automating a number of repetitive tasks, you can help employees focus on what they do best. Achieve better office productivity by allowing your workforce to tackle high-value tasks and leave the monotonous ones to automation.

 

• Convenient environment – If the staff have control over the temperature and humidity in their workplace, they can make a suitable working environment and tailor the office conditions to their preferences.

 

• Business process efficiency – Using IoT devices streamlines business processes and automates them, thereby eliminating manual error, improving the speed of tedious tasks, and achieving better efficiency.

 

• Workplace security – If you want to make your office secure and safe, IoT devices can help achieve that. A number of security solutions such as smart cams, connected sensors, and access control systems can help achieve workplace security. Moreover, these solutions can increase internal transparency and reduce administrative corruption.

 

Smart office systems are changing the future of work. Are you on board?

 

 

Intelligence in Office: Use Cases and Examples

 

Despite the huge growth potential in the concept, the smart office market is still in its nascent stage of development.

 

Here are a few solutions you can consider for your workplace as a step towards intelligent office systems:

 

 

• Digitise attendance management with digital badges and biometric identity checkpoints.

 

• Install smart cams that could capture the image of each visitor, let you know about their visit when the office is closed, set up a call with you remotely when you are out of office, etc.

 

• Consider smart lighting solutions or automated window shades to customize the light intensity and colour while helping you cut back on energy waste.

 

• Use climate control technologies such as thermostats that can create an optimal working environment by adjusting office temperatures automatically.

 

• Transform your conference rooms with IoT to simplify and automate room occupancy management, scheduling, space management, and collaboration for meetings. Devices that can help are smart projectors and interactive boards.

 

• Install smart desks that learn about each employee’s preferences. These will help your workforce get even more productive with customized seating preferences.

 

Few IoT devices in the office space will have a keyboard. Which means voice control will be the standard communication mode with IoT devices in the workplace just as in the home. An array of devices in the workplace will be coordinated with the help of a single virtual digital assistant- making it seamless to get things done in the workplace.

 

 

Managing IoT Devices in the Workplace

 

As is with any other innovation, organisations will need to have a policy around the use of IoT devices in the workplace. Policies and access control are necessary for the sanity and security of any workplace.

 

Enterprises will also need to formulate rules around what kind of devices their staff can bring in themselves. IT teams will have to work hard to ensure that devices connected to corporate networks are secure and safe from external and potential internal threats.

 

 

Despite the benefits of IoT in the workplace, consumers have shown skepticism to adopting the technology. Intelligent offices have more than just automated lighting and temperature controls. They help achieve energy efficiency, process efficiency, and workplace security, resulting in a higher ROI.

 

Intelligent office space can become key to your employer branding efforts and help you attract the best talent. A slight improvement in your business efficiency can become a powerful competitive advantage.

 

 

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