Smart Spaces

Hotdesking for creatures of habit

Author: Peter Smith, Head of Business Development, IAconnects Technology
Issue : read all articles online read as pdf

There could be any number of reasons why a person could be five minutes late to work, such as public transport delays, and this could mean they can’t sit at their usual desk, which is now occupied by someone else. To some people this may seem trivial, but it can cause differing levels of anxiety for employees who are used to a specific routine.

IoT helps out

So, how can IoT help with a flexi-desk policy? A simple IAconnects and EnOcean-based solution would be to install self-powered wireless seat and/or desk occupancy sensors, and door contact sensors alongside presence detection sensors for meeting rooms.

By processing live data through the MobiusFlow gateway into an employee accessed application, you will be able to immediately see where free desks or rooms are, instead of walking aimlessly trying to find a free space.

Saving thousands of hours

But what if the desk is already taken by the time you reach it? Adding one simple feature to the employee application will allow the reservation of a desk. The employee would then have a set number of minutes to get to the desk e.g. ten minutes from entering the building. Once the employee is sat at the desk, the sensors would pick up on this, and update the application.

A gateway provides the valuable sensor information to intelligent IoT platforms such as IBM Watson or Microsoft Azure, for smart data usage. Large organizations could make significant savings of thousands of working hours by implementing these solutions and systems with the two keys being increased employee productivity and energy/cost savings.