HI there, 

STEP INSIDE THE INNERCIRCLE:

your monthly recap to stay connected with the world of Smart tech and Smart life.

TOGETHER FOR MENTAL HEALTH

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and at InnerSpace we are keenly aware of how work environments can influence on employees’ mental health. Incorporating thoughtful workspace design into an overall employee engagement strategy is now table stakes. As Susan Chang from HOK pointed out when we interviewed her about the importance of thoughtful design in a hybrid workspace, “people have made unbelievable changes in their personal lives. To expect them to suddenly revert back to how things were can be quite detrimental to culture and morale.”  

Data should be used to support real estate changes to ensure that leadership is making informed decisions when it comes to employee behavior and well-being. This is why we always talk about going deeper with metrics other than occupancy data alone. Our technology uncovers where employees tend to congregate, meeting room usage, how people move between floors and more. Before companies can create spaces conducive to employee needs, they need to understand team-based behaviors and patterns.

NEW WHITEPAPER! EXCLUSIVE SNEAK PEEK FOR INNERCIRCLE SUBSCRIBERS

All this talk about occupancy data, average dwell time, and pathway analysis can be a lot to digest at once, so we’ve put together a brand new guide on the Science of Indoor Space  – a practical, easy-to-read look at how to maximize your office footprint to make sure it suits both employee and business needs.  

Spatial location intelligence is our bread and butter here at InnerSpace, and this guide breaks down why companies need more than occupancy data, or “people counting,” to really understand the use of space. Data-driven conclusions based on behavior insights can help you invest wisely and build ambitious office designs that truly serve employee needs. 

For a limited time, InnerCircle subscribers have exclusive access to this guide. Download it here now

LOVING YOUR WORKSPACE IS THE ULTIMATE PRODUCTIVITY HACK

In an era when employers are still grappling with the “Great Resignation,” workspaces are playing a bigger role in employee productivity and retention. Workspaces are as much about work as they are about well-being. 

In this blog post, we explore how optimal workspace design comes from a combination of proactive change management practices, spatial analytics data, and tech-enabled optimization tools such as seat sensors or room reservation systems. Talia Poleski, our Director of Client Success, said it best: “The only way to know exactly what’s going on is to measure it.”

Adapting the design of a space to suit business needs isn’t a one-time, all-or-nothing task. As needs change, workspace design can evolve. Adding context to the data by communicating with employees and listening to their needs and concerns is the most robust way to ensure the workspace is optimized for productivity and employee satisfaction.

MAKING THE MOST OUT OF EVERY SQUARE FOOT

Planning for hiring and real estate expansion are some of the biggest on-going challenges facing leadership in companies all over. Using a case study of a hospitality group that used InnerSpace’s platform in their head office, we recently took a deeper dive into how  to improve office performance by leveraging WiFi. 

WiFi location data offers an unbiased reflection of what’s happening in each office, floor, zone, or conference room. Our client used their employees’ smart device’s WiFi signals to identify workplace behaviors and patterns of movement to ensure real estate resources support the need for collaborative spaces and room versatility.

NEW IN SMART TECH

Artificial intelligence is helping customer service chatbots become more personable and a lot less annoying, according to Axios. The conversations between customers and bots are only as good as the data on the backend, so the more data they're trained on, the better they are at providing relevant answers.

Forbes is reporting on the top ten smart home trends this year, with integration, artificial intelligence, and touchless technology rounding out the top three. Also on the list? At-home health tech like smart doorbells that can take your guests’ temperatures to help screen for COVID-19 symptoms. 

In a turn of events that surprises absolutely no one, researchers have found that Amazon uses Alexa voice data to target users with advertisements. The company confirmed that users will receive “interest-based ads” but disputed the researchers' findings that “ad targeting implies significant data sharing across multiple parties.”

The benefits of smart technology extends to at-home care for seniors, according to the New York Times. Innovations in sensors and lighting can be programmed to create a schedule and alert caregivers when seniors may need support.

IN OUR SPACE

• Check us out in Microsoft’s Azure Marketplace and Cisco’s Meraki Marketplace, online stores that feature the best of the best in IT applications and software.
  
  
• If there’s one thing we know, it’s using data to support a successful hybrid transformation. We shared our thoughts with our friends over at IoT For All, click here to read the article.

That's a wrap... 

THANKS FOR READING, FOR SUBSCRIBING, AND FOR BEING PART OF THE CONVERSATION.

Stay safe,

YOUR TEAM AT INNERSPACE