Evolving into the era of digitalization, smart technologies bring in a lot of opportunities to the society. Internet of Things (IoT) is gaining its popularity and influence because of its convenience to business operations and daily lives. More offices have been shifting to Smart Office with the assistance of IoT solutions, improving the workplace environment while reducing unnecessary costs.
What is IoT and Smart office?
Internet of Things (IoT), as its name suggests, interconnects different objects physically and virtually with the support of smart technologies and the internet. It moderates the exchange of data among devices and users to generate insights from tracking and interpreting data, and hence facilitates the understanding of user behaviour. As automation is highly emphasized in IoT, it brings flexibility and convenience to people.
Different from traditional offices, Smart Office gradually utilizes IoT solutions to improve the working environment and hence boost employee and business efficiencies. Facilities and objects in offices like doors and lighting systems are always linked with IoT devices and systems in smart offices. Some companies adopt IoT solutions for security purposes and limit access rights for externals, while some use it for internal uses.
Why are more offices shifting to smart offices?
Shifting from traditional offices to smart offices with the use of IoT solutions, it should involve a lot of technological and daily operational changes. Despite the required transition and adoption process, why is there still an increasing number of businesses shifting to smart offices? Let’s look into the benefits IoT solutions bring to your office below!
(1) Improve productivity and resource allocation
Have you ever encountered any messy conference room booking arrangements when you were to meet clients? Or felt that the lights in the office are too bright or dim for work?
With the smart technologies, facilities and systems are now adjustable according to the office needs and staff condition, instead of everything being controlled under the one single centralized system. It significantly boosts the flexibility and convenience in facilities utilization. The IoT solution in smart offices not only allows HR and management to keep track of the data with back end systems, but also understand employee behaviour for resources allocation. These all contribute to higher productivity of the whole company!
(2) Reduce energy consumption
Lighting, air conditioning and electricity are often some of the biggest sources of office expenses. In traditional offices, staff always have to manually adjust the condition of facilities which is quite inconvenient and time-consuming. With wider usage of automation in the office and the mobile application for remote control for facilities, it helps switching unused devices and appliances off, that helps reduce the unnecessary energy consumption, and hence the costs induced which is related to the next benefit.
(3) Lower HR and other operational costs
As IoT connects the whole office together, procedures like granting access rights, booking office facilities, etc. can all be handled in a more organized and efficient way with the assistance of the system. It requires less HR to process the manual operations and simplifies the daily routines of staff. Plus the second benefit we mentioned about cutting off the unnecessary energy consumption expenses, IoT solutions in smart offices greatly help lowering the HR and other operational expenses.