Harnessing Smart Offices and Emerging Technologies for the Modern Workspace

Enhancing the Modern Workspace: The Role of Smart Office Technologies

A smart office is a workplace that uses technology to enhance the productivity, efficiency, and well-being of its employees. A smart office can leverage the capabilities of experience management, extended reality, and line-of-sight information to create a personalised, immersive, and collaborative environment for work. 

However, a smart office is not limited to a physical location. As the Modern Workspace evolves to accommodate remote and hybrid workers, a smart office needs to extend its benefits to them as well. This means providing seamless connectivity, access to relevant data and resources, and a sense of belonging and engagement for workers who are not in the same place. 

Some of the ways that a smart office can achieve this are: 

• Using cloud-based platforms and tools that enable online collaboration, communication, and file-sharing across devices and locations. 
• Implementing artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate tasks, optimise workflows, and provide insights and recommendations. 
• Utilising virtual reality and augmented reality to create realistic simulations, interactive training, and immersive experiences for remote and hybrid workers. 
• Leveraging wearable devices, sensors, and biometrics to monitor and improve the health, safety, and wellness of workers, regardless of where they are. 
• Applying gamification and social media to motivate, reward, and connect workers, and to foster a culture of innovation and feedback. 

By adopting these technologies and practices, a smart office can empower its workers to perform at their best, regardless of where they are. A smart office can also adapt to the changing needs and preferences of its workers, and provide them with a satisfying and fulfilling work experience. 

The Smart Office as Part of the Modern Workspace 

While the term “smart office” is commonly used, I view it as part of a comprehensive, employee-focused Modern Workspace approach. Additionally, the advantage is that creating a smart office doesn't necessitate starting from scratch; it's feasible to adopt practices incrementally, leading to the advantages of a connected, knowledgeable, inclusive, and analytical workplace for both companies and their employees. 

Some possible smart office technologies and how they deliver employee satisfaction, security, flexibility and address environmental concerns are: 

• Lighting, power and heating controls: These systems can adjust the lighting, temperature and energy consumption of the office according to the occupancy, weather and time of day. They can also allow workers to personalise their settings using their smartphones or voice commands. This can enhance the comfort and productivity of the workers, as well as reduce the carbon footprint and operational costs of the office. 
• Door access systems: These systems can use biometric authentication, such as facial recognition or fingerprint scanning, to grant or deny access to different areas of the office. They can also track the movement and attendance of the workers, and alert the security personnel in case of unauthorised entry or exit. This can improve the safety and privacy of the workers, as well as prevent theft and vandalism of the office equipment.   

Although quite often seen as a taboo subject, office equipment theft and its resulting impact must be considered along with capabilities such as asset tagging, with RFID associated to a user, to prevent employees inadvertently leaving the office with the incorrect device. 

• Desk and room booking systems: These systems can enable workers to reserve desks, meeting rooms, parking spaces or other facilities in advance or on demand, using their smartphones or web browsers. They can also display the availability and location of these resources on interactive maps or screens. This can optimise the space utilisation and allocation of the office, as well as increase the convenience and collaboration of the workers. 
• Monitoring systems: These systems can collect and analyse data from sensors, cameras, microphones or other devices that measure the environmental conditions, such as air quality, noise level, humidity or CO2 level of the office. They can also provide feedback and recommendations to the workers and managers on how to improve the health and well-being of the office. This can boost the morale and performance of the workers, as well as prevent illness and stress. 
• Spaces and places tools: These systems can use calendars, chatbots, presence sensing, desk booking systems or other tools to communicate and coordinate the schedules, tasks, preferences and locations of the workers. They can also facilitate the formation and management of teams, projects and communities of practice within the office. This can foster a culture of innovation and feedback, as well as enhance the communication and engagement of the workers. 
• Digital lockers: Integrated with other smart office systems, such as desk and room booking systems, monitoring systems, or spaces and places tools, they provide a more personalised and adaptive work experience. For example, a worker can reserve a locker and a desk in advance, and when they arrive at the office, the locker and the desk can automatically recognise them and adjust to their preferences, such as temperature, lighting, or chair height.  

AI and Modern Meeting Rooms 

One of the significant applications I envision for the combined use of this technology and the integration of AI lies in adaptive meeting room systems. Picture a scenario where a meeting is scheduled for six participants who all initially accept.

However, AI detects that only half intend to be in the office, prompting it to reserve a smaller conference space; thereby making the larger room available for others. AI could further analyse usage across multiple floors of a building and suggest consolidating attendees on a single floor during low occupancy, thus enhancing energy efficiency. The potential for leveraging this intelligent building data to optimise the workplace experience is vast. 

Using Technology to Promote and Improve Workplace Culture 

However, a smart office is not the only component of a Modern Workspace. The technology and tools that support the workers should be accessible and adaptable regardless of where they are working from. Whether they are at home, on the road, or in a co-working space, they should be able to connect and collaborate with their colleagues and clients as easily and effectively as they would in the office. They should also be able to maintain their social bonds and sense of belonging to the organisation and its culture. Therefore, it is critical to create a seamless and flexible work environment that empowers the workers to choose when, where and how they want to work. 

Coming to the office should not be seen as a burden or a requirement, but as an opportunity and a benefit. Working remotely should not be seen as a disadvantage or a compromise, but as an option and a privilege. 

The workplace is not just a physical space where we perform our work tasks. It is also a social and psychological space where we interact with our colleagues, managers, customers, and other stakeholders. It is a space where we express our identity, values, and culture, and where we experience emotions. It is a space that can influence our productivity, creativity, engagement, satisfaction, and well-being. 

Therefore, creating a workplace that supports and enhances the employee experience (EX) and well-being is crucial for any organisation that wants to succeed in the new era of work and technology. However, designing such a workplace is not a simple task, as it requires considering the diverse and evolving needs and preferences of the employees, as well as the environmental and technological factors that affect them. 

The Strategic Value of Smart Offices: Beyond Trends to Tangible Benefits

Smart Offices are not just a trend or a gimmick. They are a strategic investment that can enhance the productivity, creativity, well-being and satisfaction of the workers, as well as the performance, efficiency and sustainability of the organisation. They can also provide a competitive edge in attracting and retaining the best talent in the market, as well as meeting the expectations and preferences of the customers and partners.  

However, creating a Smart Office is not an off-the-shelf solution. It requires a careful assessment of the current and future needs and goals of the organisation, as well as the capabilities and limitations of the existing and potential technology. It also requires an optimisation of the physical and digital infrastructure, as well as the policies and processes that support the work environment. Moreover, it requires a holistic and flexible approach that considers the entire Modern Workspace, not just the office, and enables the workers to work from anywhere, anytime and however they want, with the same level of effectiveness and engagement. 

Partnering with CDW for a Tailored Smart Office Solution

CDW can help you navigate the complex and dynamic landscape of Smart Offices and Modern Workspaces. We have the expertise and experience to help you understand your current situation, identify your opportunities and challenges, and design and implement a tailored and scalable solution that suits your specific needs and objectives.  

We can also help you monitor and evaluate the impact and outcomes of your solution, and provide ongoing support and guidance to ensure its success and improvement. CDW is a leading provider of Modern Workspace solutions, and we can help customers design, deploy, and manage the modern workspace that suits their vision, goals, and values. CDW can help customers with: 

• Assessing their current and future needs and challenges, and developing a roadmap for the workplace transformation. 
• Choosing and integrating the best hardware, software, and cloud solutions that enable seamless and secure connectivity, communication, and collaboration across devices, platforms, and locations 
• Providing end-to-end services and support, from installation and configuration, to training and adoption, to maintenance and optimisation 

CDW understands that the workplace is more than just a place. It is an experience that shapes the outcomes and impacts of the organisation and its people. We can help customers create a workplace that delivers the tools for employees to be amazing, and the insights for businesses to understand how they can optimise operations and designs to deliver all of this, while balancing investments and environmental impacts. 

Smart Offices for the Modern Workspace is the final part of a four-part Modern Workspace series, other articles include thoughts on Harnessing Technology To Revolutionise Meeting Spaces, Measuring and Improving the Employee Experience, and Extended Reality and Line-of-Sight Information.