When it comes to worktech, seamless connectivity and insightful intelligence are crucial for enterprise-wide success. But fragmented technologies and siloed data make it difficult to optimize real estate portfolios, enhance the employee experience, and see a strong return on investment on assets and capital projects.
Through recent and upcoming innovations in intelligent worktech announced in October 2024, we’re helping organizations remove barriers and unify solutions to deliver more efficiency and stronger productivity.
AI-driven value for enterprise employee and administrators
Magnetizing the office means creating spaces that support employee goals, and our research in the Workplace Index reports reveals that people commute to be with colleagues. But when the workforce is a mix of remote, hybrid work model, and onsite employees, setting up even a simple meeting in the office means employees must manually juggle schedules for multiple locations, people, and equipment.
Supporting connection, empowering collaboration
By automating tasks connected to collaboration, from booking desks and rooms to managing visitors, our new worktech features — many of them backed by AI — will improve the office experience by removing roadblocks and streamlining administrative workflows, allowing employees spend more time and energy on productive work.
Intuitive in-office collaboration with AI for Team Days, for example, makes it easier for employees to find colleagues, add them to teams, and see office schedules. Employees no longer have to find and select a suitable workspace, as the AI automatically allocates space bookings based on:
- Attendee needs
- Seating preferences
- Proximity to teammates
Integrations with Microsoft Copilot functionality will mean employees can book a meeting by asking to “book a meeting space for 5 people for tomorrow afternoon at 2.” Employees will be able to use natural language to plan collaboration sessions, book desks, and reserve meeting rooms.
With Microsoft 365 integrations, employees will be able to take online meeting invites that don’t yet have a reserved room, forward the invite to a designated room mailbox, and the system will automatically book the appropriate space.
Streamlining visitor management
Visitor management is critical to making a good first impression for guests while also streaming the check-in process for employees, but traditional manual methods cause delays that clutter lobbies.
With built-in facial recognition features at lobby kiosks, visitors will be able to check in as soon as their face scan matches a pre-registered picture. Instead of having to produce identification for the front desk, the whole process is automated, cutting down on wait times.
Instead of spending time setting up meetings with coworkers and visitors, employees will now be able to invest time and energy into preparing for them.
Concentrating on individual focus time
But coming to the office isn’t always about working in teams. There are also still times when employees need to be “heads down,” focused on individual tasks, and the office is the only place with the perfect combination of furniture, lighting, hardware, software, supplies, and relative peace and quiet.
Personal space booking helps employees reserve desks, lockers, equipment, and parking spaces on an hourly basis or for predefined shift patterns, ensuring they can make supports time-specific reservations that best match their individual needs and schedules. And now that the slots will be adjustable down to 15 minutes, the level flexibility is set to go up.
Leveraging employee-generated data
Employees will see many benefits from our new intelligent worktech, and every time they use them, they’re also generating insights for workplace managers. Data from the desk booking helps workplace leaders dial in space management, delivering the right types of workstations for employees.
A simple use case quickly shows the power of data. If a call center has high utilizations numbers across shifts for desks, parking, and lockers, the workplace manager knows the company is getting close to reaching capacity. Before employees notice the office becoming cramped, the company can convert areas with low utilization numbers to better support staff.
Data-led insights for facility workplace managers
Enterprise-level companies know that leveraging data for business intelligence starts with centralization. Research in the most recent Workplace Index report reveals that there are four stages to becoming a digitally connected workplace and how companies often struggle with data silos early on in their journey.
In fact, when asked about the challenges of digitally connecting assets, the most common answer from facility leaders was “We have siloed functions” at 28%. A very close second, at 27%, was “Incomplete data to provide actionable insights.”
Pooling data to break down data silos
Our new intelligent worktech features will combine sources of data to streamline workflows and strengthen reporting. Customizable dashboards that will make it even easier to finally see the big picture from different angles — each set specifically to best support different roles and responsibilities across the facility management team.
With a unified platform, workplace and facility managers can see stronger, faster workflows, where data moves seamlessly between teams. For example: service requests employees submit through the workplace management app can automatically appear in the asset management module, allowing the facility management team to use that data to generate, prioritize, assign, and track work orders without having to jump between applications.
Connecting the two removes the risks of data corruption and loss. Remember, it’s when data manually moves between platforms that human error can happen.
Capturing new data on occupancy and seeing it in new ways
Part of the solution for the future of the workplace is implementing systems that pool into a “data lake,” but enterprise-level organizations also need to find new data streams. New integrations with sensors and Wi-Fi data will improve the accuracy of occupancy tracking and support the transfer of employee and business unit information across platforms.
The use case: Facility managers and company leadership will be able to leverage all this new data using advanced asset data tools and dashboards for insights into trends, risks, and opportunities across a portfolio of facilities to drive a wide range of business decisions, including return-to-office programs, real estate portfolio rightsizing, HVAC schedules, and janitorial schedules.
Data-backed decisions for BIM operations managers
One of the key insights from our 2024 Workplace Index report was how in earlier stages of digitally connecting their workplace, organizations struggle to capture and combine data. Manual methods run the risks of corruption and loss, and while single platforms can contain reliable data, it remains siloed.
Later stages along the digital journey see solutions to these problems, but a new challenge can emerge: The data is there, but it can feel like you need to be an expert in modelling buildings to work with it.
Visualizing multi-dimensional data with digital twins
Supported by our innovations in intelligent worktech, space planners will be able to deliver space planning reports and occupancy management without needing to be a specialist in building design programs. Thanks to a focus on ease-of-use and cross-platform connections, departments will be able to use digital twin technology within their building and asset operational systems without Revit or 3D CAD training.
With a unified visualization of the building, including all its systems, a space planner will be able to, for example:
- Assign space to maximize utilization and support productivity
- Manage dependencies between assets and space
- Plan efficient moves and seating arrangements
Enterprise-wide, companies can use the digital models to support sustainability reporting, a critical area posing complex challenges for larger companies with facilities spread out across multiple legal and regulatory jurisdictions.
Meet Envision: Our vision for the future is centralized
But intelligent worktech is more than connectivity and insights. It’s about transforming these elements into a cohesive strategy that elevates your enterprise value. With the right support, companies can tackle the challenges of disjointed technologies and siloed data, discovering opportunities for growth.
Facility and workplace leaders might have much of the data they need, but traditionally it’s been hard to efficiently, effectively leverage it into actionable insight, explained Fabrice Martin, Chief Product Officer at Eptura.
“Data such as occupancy, lease terms and cost per area for their buildings, will enable these leaders to make smart, data-driven portfolio optimization decisions. But gathering this data and making sense of it is often hard and time-consuming, making real-time data-driven decision-making extremely difficult and often expensive,” Martin explained.
Eptura Envision is an advanced business intelligence tool that consolidates occupancy, real estate, and asset data to produce accurate, actionable reports for strategic decision-making. Pre-built dashboards and simplified, streamlined reporting will help leaders identify critical trends, risks, and opportunities across the built environment. And we will be incorporating more datasets in 2025.
“We believe it will be a game-changing and indispensable decision-making tool for our customers and cannot wait to see what you do with it.”
By Erin Sevitz
Erin has 15 years of experience, including 10 years in thought leadership on workplace management and the built environment. In her current role she oversees teams responsible for worktech insights and engaging Eptura’s 16,000 customers worldwide. Previously she led communications for the International Facility Management Association, a global industry nonprofit dedicated to professional development for workplace strategists, building managers, and corporate real estate.
