Smart Buildings

Whether an office has already re-opened, is planning to re-open, or never fully closed during the COVID-19 crisis, each business shares two common goals: 1) keep employees and visitors safe; 2) keep the doors open. 

A popular question as we think about going back to the office is: how will I know if someone I work with has been infected? For the executive team, the question becomes: how do I avoid shutting down my business should one of my employees become ill?

This is the second article in a three-part series exploring what lays on the other side of COVID-19 for businesses. Click here to read part 1 

Throughout the evolution of corporate America, buildings didn’t tend to inspire much outside the ordinary. Apart from the shifting designs that reshaped cityscapes over the years, inside those buildings, the systems remained more or less the same. One decade after the next. 

Satisfaction in any company’s product or service often boils down to one key factor: ensuring an excellent experience. Looking after all the details that lead to happy people –  while simultaneously managing deliverables and operating costs – is both tricky and critical to a company’s success. Yet knowing what and where to tweak and improve can be difficult to discern on a day-to-day basis – and relying on customer feedback alone can prolong percolating issues, or be misleading altogether.

Tech titans like Google and Apple have made significant investments in mapping and navigation. They’ve taken their expertise in location data and started applying its value to the indoors. And over the last few years a number of startups have emerged to provide insights around indoor location data - primarily in retail. All claiming to have built breakthrough solutions. But yet, indoor data isn’t ubiquitous. Adoption of indoor location to create Smart Buildings remains highly customized and consultative. 

Raj decides that today he’d like to work in the west wing of the office – it’s quieter so he can focus on a major report that’s due. Tomorrow, he plans to work near the cafe for his brainstorm session, taking advantage of the camaraderie that tends to percolate there. Later in the week, he’ll telecommute from the road while visiting clients in communities across the region.

Indoor location data and IoT applications are revolutionizing how commercial real estate is managed to reduce operating costs and improve tenant experiences. The “smart buildings” of a decade ago look practically antique when compared to commercial real estate today. In the past, networked HVAC systems and single-building management systems helped lower operating costs. It was about being “green.” But nowadays, building managers and tenants expect more value from facilities management solutions.

Location-based technology has played a vital role in changing the way we operate. With Google Maps and Waze, the days of people walking or driving around with paper maps are almost gone. People can travel to a foreign place or country with fewer worries about getting lost. New customers can find businesses and services anywhere in the world. Furthermore, location mapping has helped create new business models like Uber, Tinder and Pokemon Go.

You could think about labor and real estate as your highest business costs. Or, you could think of them as your biggest assets. Indoor location can unlock that potential to improve your operations and create new products and services. 

What’s the first thing you picture when you hear the words “campus dining?” For many, the answer is long line-ups and bland food.

For any company, committing to an office space is a big decision. The selection and design process demands a lot from incoming tenants. Luckily, recent innovation can simplify the steps involved.

The demand for warehouse space has exploded in recent years as eCommerce continues to grow. But it's not just about the space. Customer expectations have evolved, which means warehouses need to operate more efficiently and extend services that reflect the customer journey. Often, this means embracing innovation and establishing new processes quickly.

In 1998, a group of healthcare professionals stood in front of a map of the hospital where they worked. They unspooled a ball of blue yarn, and used it to trace the path that a typical cancer patient would take to receive chemotherapy.

InnerSpace showcased the future of commercial real estate technology with other industry leaders during the CRETech New York symposium this past Thursday evening. Event host CRETech is a information firm committed to being the best source of emerging and innovative commercial real estate technology. Over 30 technology firms attended the event hosted at One World Trade Centre, 63 floors above beautiful New York City.

The saying ‘work is something you do, rather than a place you go’ is ringing increasingly true for many of us, particularly for those who work in office-based roles in the service sector. In fact, research by the TUC based on ONS data suggests that 4.2 million of us, or 13.7% of the workforce, now regularly work from home and another 1.8 million people would like to do so given the opportunity.