A Smart Return to the Office Sponsored Feature

How can the office survive as a hive of in-person collaboration and productivity? Occupiers and landlords alike face a challenge in finding the answer. To bring users back to office spaces, offices must become more than just a workplace – they need to be a destination and that destination must be smart-enabled.

We need to leverage smart technologies to remove daily frictions for building users, to support individual productivity and to adapt spaces to the needs and wants of those working within them. Creature comforts are not the only part of this – environmental sustainability is a top priority, and smart technologies provide the means to measure, analyze and optimize on the carbon footprint of a building.

In a post-pandemic world, with so many people continuing to work from home, the office has to evolve into a holistic place to connect and achieve. Commercial real estate landlords are challenged to create safe, inspirational spaces, allowing tenants to collaborate and socialize, and encouraging individual productivity to flourish like never before.

When it comes to smart spaces across the APAC region, WiredScore’s research shows that 86% of occupiers will not sign a lease for an office building that is not smart-enabled. Smart is more than just a buzzword for the office of tomorrow. It’s a necessity.

Making Strides Towards a Smarter Office

Successfully creating outstanding smart spaces means reframing our relationship with the built world. This means making inspiring office structures that are more sustainable, cost-efficient and future-ready than ever before. Let’s dive deeper into what that really means – for both occupants and landlords.

Workspaces That Work Harder

The working from home phenomenon has seen us develop a much clearer idea of our preferred environment. As seasoned remote workers, we are accustomed to adapting workspaces to our preferences. Now, workspaces have to adapt to us. With 83% of respondents stating that wellness is a top concern in their offices, it’s clear that occupiers in 2022 and beyond want a space that’s personalized – decked out with customisable lighting, temperature and ambience. There’s so much more that a smart building can provide these users too, in order to make their workday seamless: it can book their desk and meeting space, monitor the air quality in their workspace, reserve their spot in the EV parking bay, and tell them how many people (and who) will be in the office.

Digital and Resilient Spaces for a Greener Future

Embracing a smart office enables environmental, social, governance (ESG) and resilience factors, key in helping employers stay competitive and relevant. In fact, more than one in four occupiers consider working in a sustainable building their main concern when choosing a new office. This figure rises sharply when it comes to the importance of environmental factors – practically all respondents think that landlords and developers must leverage technology to make their buildings more environmentally sustainable. Investments in smart infrastructure (like base building systems, integration layers, and IoT sensors) are critical for enabling buildings to measure, optimize, and improve their operational carbon footprint. For example, building owners can use real-time occupancy info to dynamically adjust air conditioning, heating, and lighting according to a given space’s occupant density.

As technology-backed smart workspaces transit from being the niche to mainstream, employees and businesses can be empowered through seamless technology for solutions that prepare and equip, and adapt to the changes that lie ahead.

As Asia’s landlords and businesses fight to retain relevance post-pandemic, the desire for smart-enabled spaces is only going to increase. And with smart spaces come smart expectations. In today’s workspaces, occupiers want smart tech that’s adaptable rather than static, and that’s actually useful rather than ornamental. Developers and asset holders who focus on implementing technologies that evolve with unique user requirements will be rewarded with engaged and committed tenants, and buildings that retain long-term relevance.

Learn more about smart buildings at WiredScore.com

The writer is Global Director of APAC at WiredScore.