While consumer behavior has drastically changed during the pandemic, it’s evident that businesses have started making certain changes to rebuild lost revenue. Tech-savvy companies are now leveraging Internet of Things (IoT) technology to transform their workplaces into smart offices. IoT enables businesses to cut down on their energy consumption levels and create optimum working environments, so what will the future of IoT look like?

What Is a Smart Office?

The future of IoT will no doubt mean more smart offices. A smart office is typically a workplace where many devices or intelligent objects are connected to the internet so that you can collect and analyze data without the need for human interaction. The future of IoT can help you save time and money at the office by investing in intelligent office security and smart inventory solutions. Automating some of the menial tasks that often consume most of your valuable time at work helps you and your staff to become more efficient in completing projects.

The Emergence of Smart Offices

Most business owners have started realizing the conventional office setting is somewhat outdated and entirely arbitrary. Businesses have learned that their employees don’t have to deal with unhealthy commuter lifestyles to get to a specific office to do what they could have done from their own homes. In fact, most work-related tasks in your business can be adequately executed without having your staff assemble at the office.

Modern-day computing power and high-speed internet connectivity have catapulted the culture of working remotely. While offices haven’t become obsolete just yet, they are bound to experience rapid evolution. Soon, employees will be working from a more efficient, seamless, and intuitive environment. That is why you should consider integrating IoT technology at various levels of your office to make it more enjoyable and sustainable. Like intelligent homes that are more satisfying and comfortable, smart offices are more functional and interactive workplaces.

The idea is to stack up tiny improvements on top of another until you create a great work environment that impeccably interacts with the user. So far, the smart office idea has had the largest impact on utilities, payroll, real estate, and energy.

Future Applications of IoT in the Office

Common examples of smart office IoT applications include:

Smart Climate Control

Investing in a smart thermostat technology is one way you can change your traditional office into a smart office. The corporate world has widely adopted this technology as an energy-efficient solution for controlling the internal climate of the workplace. By ensuring the internal environment of your office is comfortable, you can boost the overall productivity of your employees. Besides, you can implement smart climate control in different ways, including installing intelligent sensors to track physical parameters such as temperature and air quality in real-time.

Occupancy Detection

You can also use IoT sensors to detect the occupancy of various spaces such as meeting rooms and video conference booths. Motion sensors are great for monitoring how your workplaces are being utilized. IoT-sensor-based detectors will help you ensure that your precious office spaces are used in the most prudent ways.

The technology will further help you implement the right space-saving strategies to get the most out of your office real estate. The technology comes in handy during this pandemic when businesses implement social distancing measures in their limited office spaces. IoT has helped many companies make informed space allocation decisions that are efficient.

Smart Furniture

Your employees will always feel comfortable and pleasant whenever they get to work or in the office if you equip their workplaces with smart furniture. Invest in the ergonomics of your employees’ work positions and intricate systems that give them feedback on their work behaviors. It will help your staff be able to personalize their work experiences and eventually make them more productive.

Future Benefits of IoT in the Smart Office

Adopting a smart office that enables IoT comes with a myriad of benefits, including:

1. Energy Management

An IoT-enabled workplace allows employees to work remotely from the comfort of their own homes. It means that the cost of running a smart office is way lower compared to traditional offices with several desks, air conditioning units, and phones. In other words, transitioning into an intelligent office can make you sizable savings without compromising quality and productivity. An intelligent office with smart climate control and occupancy detection sensors will help you prevent energy wastage.

2. Workplace Space Optimization

Scheduling meeting rooms, video conferencing booths, and other workspaces can be challenging if you don’t have the right strategy. An intelligent office installed with occupancy detection helps avoid last-minute changes, flawed plans, and delayed coordination, which may waste time and valuable resources. A smart office streamlines the management of desks, remote booking, and tracking to ensure optimal employee productivity.

3. Improved Sanitation and Hygiene

Every business needs to ensure it maintains high levels of hygiene during this challenging period during the pandemic. A smart building ensures that areas such as showers, desks, lifts, and gathering areas are regularly sanitized. You will receive alerts to sanitize these areas based on usage so that you don’t waste resources sanitizing areas that have probably not been touched.

4. Personnel Screening

Introduce safe access to your office by installing facial recognition and thermal temperature screening technologies. You can utilize the data you collect from the technology and map it onto contact tracing that will be very helpful if employees contract infections. Some businesses have invested in self-assessment and random assessment apps used to regularly examine employees’ health.

Use video analytics technologies to track the movement of your employees so that you can start preventing crowding in a single place. An IoT-enabled workplace is not only cost-effective but also easy to maintain. The connected intelligent devices and sensors in your smart office will constantly collect and analyze data that you’ll use in making informed decisions.

Conclusion

As businesses plan the reopening of office space, there is a massive paradigm shift in the business environment that most people previously never imagined. To stay relevant on the market and be ahead of the competition, you need to creatively embrace the the future of IoT technologies.

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