Five Benefits of the Smart Office

Five Benefits of the Smart Office

A smart office is most likely in your future whether you’re ready for it or not. Industry experts estimate that by 2020 one in five buildings will be smart offices and will need to support up to 50 billion connected devices.¹  

Technology is driving digital transformation and changing our workplace behavior and the work space itself. The smart office will enable your digital savvy employees to work whenever they want to and wherever they are. Millenials are an important force in driving this digital transformation. It’s estimated that by 2025, millennials will make up 75 percent of the workforce². Much of the smart office technology we’re seeing is a result of their cultural preferences. 

Today’s smart offices are outfitted with technologies not possible so many years ago. Who would have thought that by driving into the parking garage at work, the building will act as a virtual secretary? Or that a sensor can recognize your license plate and tell your smart phone where there’s an open desk and when your next meeting is. 

The smart office is one with unrestricted mobility, no assigned desks, anywhere connectivity, and IoT-enabled environmental elements such as doors, lights, shades, cooling and heat. It’s designed to help you increase productivity, reduce costs, streamline operations and improve end-user satisfaction across your enterprise. Here are five points to consider when evaluating your smart office evolution. 
1. Understand the opportunity 
The smart office will enable your digital savvy employees to work whenever and wherever they want. A smart office will also help you optimize space and provide more dynamic, collaborative spaces designed to promote creativity and productivity. 

2. Build on a robust foundation
A strong foundation is the bedrock upon which the smart office is built. An integrated wired and wireless network infrastructure will give you a flexible growth model and a way to implement the ever-evolving technologies of smart buildings and hundreds or even thousands of IoT sensors. It will also integrate existing equipment and new cloud-based applications. 

3. A digital-ready network means smart business
63% of enterprises are still using manual or minimally enabled networks. But enterprises with digital-ready networks report two to three times the rate of growth in revenue, customer retention and profits compared to organizations with less mature networks. 

4. Extend intelligence throughout the building
It’s estimated that 50% of all energy in a commercial building is wasted³. You can use smart building technologies to reduce costs, increase user comfort and monitor security. IoT sensors can close the shades on a sunny day; turn off the lights at night; regulate HVAC temperature/maintenance; and monitor building access and security. 

5. Empower collaboration 
Provide communications capabilities that help employees and customers easily come together using a variety of devices and media such as interactive white boards, collaboration applications, and personalized customer communications.

 

Find the right partner
Implementing a smart office building requires a strategic partner that can guide you every step of the way from design, deployment and management. We can help with:
• Smart edge/IoT devices 
• Unrestricted wireless connectivity
• Advanced network infrastructure
• Network switching and routing
• On-premises collaboration tools and cloud connectivity

For more information about Black Box smart office services, contact us

1. Honeywell. Put Your Buildings to Work: A Smart Approach to Better Business Outcomes. 2015
2. Social Chorus, Rethinking Communication for a Multigenerational Workforce. 2016.
3. IBM, Energy and Environment. https://ibm.com/ibm/green/smarter_buildings