An increasing number of businesses and organisations are converting their workspaces into smart offices due to the benefits these models provide in terms of productivity and employee satisfaction.
The primary forces behind this growth are the advancements of IoT technologies, the increasing demand for solutions that increase energy efficiency, and favourable national regulations.
Let’s dig deeper into smart offices’ most important design features and how they are helping shape the future of the workplace.
What is a smart building?
Smart offices are one of the primary smart buildings examples. These buildings feature a range of technologies that allow businesses to automate processes, maximise efficiency and increase the comfort of their occupants.
These technologies can be used in commercial and residential buildings, ranging from IoT sensors to cloud computing to artificial intelligence (AI).
Notable examples of smart office buildings from around the world include The Edge in Amsterdam and Southworks in London (the first building in the country to obtain the Smart Building Certification Platinum certificate).
Increasing workers’ comfort with smart desks
Smart desks are among the primary features of smart offices.
Desks designed with ergonomics in mind provide the user with a high level of adjustability, enabling them to customise their position and height to suit their individual needs. These features help workers lower the incidence of musculoskeletal problems that may be caused by sitting in unnatural positions or for prolonged periods.
Smart desks also feature charging stations for mobile devices, as well as built-in monitors and adjustable lighting, which can positively impact workers’ productivity.
Using smart desks also increases office layout flexibility. Their flexibility allows workers to switch between sitting and standing throughout the workday without moving things and having to rearrange the workspace. Thanks to this feature, it becomes easier for employees to collaborate on tasks and projects without any redesigning efforts.
Optimising lighting and temperature with IoT technologies
Smart offices can leverage the power of Internet of Things (IoT) tech to optimise lighting and temperatures in their spaces. These devices communicate with each other in a network structure, which allows them to monitor and control various environmental elements (e.g., space occupancy, light intensity and temperature) and create an optimal workspace that is both comfortable and energy efficient.
For example, IoT lighting solutions can adjust the brightness to the current amount of natural light available in the workspace, which has the dual benefit of saving energy costs and providing workers with adequate levels of illumination. These systems can also turn off lights automatically when no one is present in the room.
Temperature sensors are able to detect changes in the room’s temperature. When connected to an IoT network, they can communicate with HVAC systems and set the temperature in the room according to user preferences, positively affecting workers’ comfort and productivity. They can also ensure that heating and cooling systems are only operating when needed, thus further reducing energy costs.
Smart sensors are also helpful when it comes to monitoring air quality. When detecting higher levels of CO2 or PM2.5 than normal, they can alert staff so that corrective measures can be taken immediately.
Enhancing collaboration through smart conference rooms
Smart conference rooms are designed with the goal of boosting collaboration between teams, as well as facilitating negotiation between partners. Some of their distinctive features include automated lighting, voice-activated technology, interactive displays and video conferencing capabilities.
Automated lighting can adjust the room’s illumination to the mood of the meeting or presentation, which can positively affect participants’ receptiveness to the topic at hand.
Voice-activated technology allows users to control the various features of the room with voice commands, which reduces the time needed for set-ups and manual adjustments and enables participants to maximise the amount of time they spend on the meeting itself.
Interactive displays can facilitate collaboration by allowing users to share documents from their mobile devices onto the wall and annotate displayed documents.
Finally, video conferencing tools make it very easy for those not physically present in the room to fully contribute to the discussion.
Increasing office security with smart technologies
Smart offices can also make your workforce feel safer and minimise events like theft, vandalism, or fires.
By employing modern security tech, they can readily detect suspicious activity and either trigger automatic responses or alert security staff and the authorities.
For example, modern keyless commercial door lock solutions allow workers to access the office or specific rooms by using digital credentials on their smartphones instead of relying on keys and cards. Unlike physical credentials, digital ones are much easier to revoke in case of loss or theft.
Another example is video analytics solutions that analyse large volumes of data collected by the office’s video cameras to detect irregular patterns that may indicate suspicious activity. This also allows security staff to concentrate on tasks that require human participation.