Offices are seeing consistent adoption of hybrid work arrangements, blending remote and in-office experiences to drive team member collaboration. To support productivity in the workplace, Eptura joins the Microsoft Places ecosystem, supporting their dedication to innovation and amplifying our shared mission to redefine the future of work.
Hybrid continues to be the new way to work
With the hybrid work model, employees have the flexibility to choose the work settings which make them the most productive. Sometimes it’s working solo from their home office, for focus time. Other times, employees need to engage, and nothing beats the effectiveness and excitement of working together in the office.
With the flexibility required with different employees coming in at varying times and inconsistent days, the office needs to flex to meet the needs of the teams that it supports. When employees are traveling into the office they need transparency as to who will be there, and ensure they have a desk and meeting rooms booked to support their day. They move quickly between individual work time, to in-person collaboration to virtual meetings and need an office environment to support their dynamic work schedule.
The solution is worktech that helps create a connected workplace where employees can easily see who’s going to be in the office and where they’ll be while they’re there. With AI-backed room and desk booking, for example, teams can ensure everyone is matched to the right places at the right times.
The connected workplace helps bring people together and expands beyond to inform the entire office ecosystem that makes up a building’s built environment.
Building efficiency with better data
When employees use worktech to schedule in-office collaborations, they generate data that facility managers can then leverage for better space planning, optimizing utilization, cutting costs, and right-sizing their real estate portfolios.
Remember, hybrid has removed the easy predictability built into the standard Monday to Friday, 9-to-5 work week. Every facility manager used to work with the same consistent numbers, making it possible to accurately budget for space and energy costs.
The predictability is still there, but now it’s specific to every workplace. The only way to know what’s happening at your building is by capturing the right data and unlocking the hidden trends. Over time, these can also reveal opportunities to right-size. For example, a large meeting room with few reservations can make more sense if remodeled into three smaller breakout spaces.
Eptura and Microsoft: A strong partnership for a more productive workplace
At Eptura, we have always been at the forefront of delivering industry-leading tools and combining powerful solutions that unify workplace and asset management to help you operate your buildings and support hybrid work.
And thanks to our partnership with Microsoft Places, we’ll deliver even more value to help with flexible and hybrid working.
By bringing together Eptura’s expertise in worktech solutions with Microsoft’s collaboration insights, we’re set to shape the future of work with planned platform integrations for:
- Visitor management
- Floorplan utilization
- Space optimization
Our future integrations will connect Microsoft Places with physical offices through Eptura unified platform to help enterprises gain occupancy and utilization insights from across their real estate portfolios. Employees will connect easily with their physical environments and one another, creating a streamlined, supportive employee experience.
“The partnership between Eptura and Microsoft Places brings together two industry leaders who share a common vision of empowering organizations to thrive in the new era of work,” explains Fabrice Martin, Eptura Chief Product Officer.
“This collaboration aims to provide businesses with the tools they need to enable employees to seamlessly transition between different work environments, ensuring a consistent and productive experience regardless of location.”
Our existing integrations with Microsoft improve employee productivity through easier connections and better collaboration.
Office 365: Plan collaboration days, manage conference room and desk reservations, and enable visitor workflows in Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Outlook Web Access, and Microsoft Exchange
Teams Rooms: Leverage calendar reservation data to easily start virtual meetings from in-room video equipment
Our other integrations with Microsoft also ensure that leaders can deliver right-sized, secure workspaces.
Azure Active Directory: Maintain secure user access with Microsoft’s enterprise cloud-based identity and access management solution
Power BI: Analyze advanced data insights about space utilization and employee preferences by leveraging data visualization
The Eptura platform for collaboration and building asset management are available on the Microsoft Marketplace and delivers global scalability through the Microsoft Azure network.
By Jonathan Davis
Jonathan writes about asset management, maintenance software, and SaaS solutions in his role as a digital content creator at Eptura. He covers trends across industries, including fleet, manufacturing, healthcare, and hospitality, with a focus on delivering thought leadership with actionable insights. Earlier in his career, he wrote textbooks, edited NPC dialogue for video games, and taught English as a foreign language. He holds a master's degree in journalism.
