HI there, 

STEP INSIDE THE INNERCIRCLE:

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

WE WORKED THE SAME WAY FOR 100 YEARS. WHAT WILL THE NEXT 100 BRING?

We worked the same way for 100 years. What will the next 100 bring? 

The subject line of our newsletter one year ago asked: “Are you back in the office yet?” In it we traced the origins of the five-day work week to a factory in New England early last century. This type of schedule has been a fixture since the 1930s when most companies began adopting a two-day weekend for their employees. 

No force in 100 years had disrupted this pattern until the disaster that washed ashore in March 2020. Today, employees and leaders everywhere grapple with new patterns of work and with what offices should be in COVID’s wake: surely no longer just places to arbitrarily perform work? 

The numbers speak volumes. A recent Gallup poll found that half of all American workers can do their jobs from home. Of them, 60 percent desire a long-term hybrid work schedule. Three in 10 employees work only from home; two in 10 onsite-only. This is the reality driving the hybrid office shift – and ongoing fuel for leaders to take a thoughtful, strategic approach to growth.

CASE STUDY: REDESIGNING A CORPORATE HUB TO MEET EMPLOYEE NEEDS

One InnerSpace client, a global employment company, needed to know how their office was being used – and by whom – in order to redesign this essential real estate for the greatest efficiency.  

In their corporate headquarters, we conducted a three-month population study last spring across 315 office zones. By leveraging their existing Wi-Fi infrastructure, we used our space analytics and utilization dashboard to analyze the tendencies of 1,420 people in 34 different teams. 

The company was able to pull custom reports that captured such intel as visit frequency data and traffic patterns, allowing them to understand how, where and when their employees preferred to work and how teams accessed resources. Check out the full case study here for all of the insights and key learnings they uncovered in order to optimize this office. 

WHAT TO THINK ABOUT WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT DATA

Of course, not all data is meaningful enough to rely upon. Too much of the wrong information, too much “noise”, can be overwhelming and difficult to discern answers. 

Start by figuring out the questions you need answered. For example, If you're wondering how to increase efficiency in your space, you'll want to look at workplace data analytics to understand your office usage to start. If you want to know how much your team would like to be in the office or working remotely, you'll want to gather hybrid work analytics via a survey. 

Working with various data from different sources will help you make strategic decisions and develop strategies to move your teams forward, and offer an important benchmark as your organization continues to evolve and grow.

For a deeper dive into different data types and how to optimize collection to best suit your needs, read our latest blog post here. 

HOW TO ESCAPE HYBRID INERTIA

From remote to hybrid, we’ve all been through an evolution in how and where people work. Still, the path forward to whatever will be a “new normal” remains murky – making it difficult for leaders to make decisions about office space.   

While it can be helpful to review approaches by other companies, it’s important to take ownership of your unique team needs by uncovering actual insights to map the way forward and support a strong work-life balance for employees. 

A well-executed hybrid workplace starts with, you guessed it, meaningful data that provides important quantitative metrics to help you weigh employees' feelings about a changing work world and how your work model – hybrid or otherwise – can be improved. 

Take a deeper dive here into successful hybrid strategies.

NEW IN SMART TECH

• There is plenty of big-time movement in the Smart home world. This PC Magazine article runs down the latest innovations for every room in the house, including the front and back yards, the garage, and a home gym. 

• Elsewhere, we’ve got a smart fan designed to decrease the number of viruses in the indoor air, with claims that it reduces airborne COVID and influenza.    

• Over in Scotland, we've got a Scottish project to deploy Smart sensors in homes to monitor temperature and humidity levels in a bid to minimize health issues caused by mold and dampness.

• As hacking and phishing schemes grow more creative, as the use of headsets and other wearables rises, and as the lure of metaverse technology draws nearer, Smart cybersecurity will be a critical area. This article explores how a robust cyber ecosystem must blend better training, greater awareness, and easier user experience for anyone to defend themselves.

IN OUR SPACE

• Take a tour through our spatial intelligence platform leveraging Arista Networks access points in our latest video with them. Imagine what’s possible by capturing and analyzing beyond people analytics from a system that gathers rich, reliable, highly-accurate data from Arista Wi-Fi access points coupled with our own patented algorithms.  

Source: Rhymes with Organge

That's a wrap... 

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

Happy early Thanksgiving,

YOUR TEAM AT INNERSPACE