Whether you are an in existing office or moving as a building owner or tenant, transitioning to a ‘Smart Office’ could improve your employee experience and save you money. So how do you go about it?
A Smart Office is one where data provides the basis for decision-making, which in turn can enhance the working lives of your employees, customers and suppliers, whilst saving money and boosting sustainability performance.
A Smart Office is one where data provides the basis for decision-making, which in turn can enhance the working lives of your employees, customers and suppliers, whilst saving money and boosting sustainability performance.
That’s a lot of benefits, but how you get there can feel a little overwhelming.
It doesn’t have to. As the Smart Building network specialist behind some of the smartest buildings in Europe,* we have a very clear idea of how you can start the transformation towards your Smart Office.
5 top tips to ensure success in your Smart Office transformation
1. Bring in multiple stakeholders. When Facilities, Estates and IT teams work together, common goals can be fulfilled by combining skill sets. Facilities and Estates teams are likely to be responsible for the day-to-day management of Operational Technology & IoT, but successful implementation won’t be possible without IT integration.
2. If you are a tenant in a building, integration with your Building Management System (BMS) is possible. Often a tenant can have more influence than expected. Most new/recently modernised shell and core networks provide great end user/tenant integration capabilities.
3. Look at how the ‘office of the future’ expands past the physical walls. There should be a seamless transition between in-office, at-home and remote working. Addressing security and application accessibility initially will lay the foundations for this seamless transition.
4. Ensure you have a future-proof core network and security infrastructure. There is an abundance of workplace technologies, sustainability platforms and hybrid working initiatives that can be adopted on a journey to Smart. Without an ever dependable, easy to manage, next generational network with the relevant security applications and policies from the get-go, any improvements can be impossible to successfully implement.
5. Build a true partnership between yourselves and the technology/product partners you will rely on. Work with experts who have experience in similar projects and have a history of testing implementations before ‘go live’. This will avoid problems further down the line and stop the common post-project disaster of ‘untangling the lights on the Christmas tree’.
*Ideal network installations include 150 Holborn, Battersea Power Station, Coop Live Arena. We have also supported numerous tenanted organisations in their journey to Smart Offices in the finance, insurance, retail and distribution sectors.
