ARE THE LINES BLURRING BETWEEN THE PHYSICAL AND DIGITAL SPACE?

Prescient words indeed. Increasingly we are living in a world where we are interacting with, and generating, data all the time.

A typical morning commute is largely spent in the cloud – browsing Facebook, posting selfies to Instagram, checking email – where once it may have involved reading a newspaper or a book.

These seemingly benign activities are generating a wealth of data which can be used to target advertising with pinpoint accuracy or, in the case of Cambridge Analytica, allegedly influence elections.

2001 Has Come True

Technology has become all-pervasive in often unexpected ways. A few years ago, the thought of speaking to a computer would have seemed either preposterous or Stanley Kubrick stuff. Now, we’re talking to Alexa in the kitchen.

From the initial novelty of playing Spotify or switching on the lights, technology has moved on to the extent that Google now has the capability to conversationally handle two requests at a time and will soon be able to make calls on its owner’s behalf.

With these devices becoming commonplace it’s easy to forget you are throwing out commands not actually to a physical device but to the cloud itself.

As a recent article in Medium notes, the technology to process and understand the nuances of language – it’s a combination of speech recognition and artificial intelligence (AI)  – is complex with so many permutations of words to understand as well as their context.

A combination of faster consumer broadband and constantly learning AI has meant the processing power required is now readily available.

The Alexa or Home device is necessary as a physical interface but it’s the cloud that’s doing the heavy lifting – a voice search uses 100 times the computational power of a simple text-based web search.

Becoming part of a digital bubble

Increasingly, the notion of a built environment and the internet is becoming blurred.

With access to public wi-fi it is now possible to be present in the physical world as well as having a reach that is global.

Our personal bubble is no longer constrained to the immediate vicinity – as commentators Laurent Beslay and Hannu Hakala have noted, the notion of a private and public space is blurred. They cite the example of how a murder scene is part of a digital detection bubble that expands to include information from smartphones, CCTV and other sources.

Work is something you do, not somewhere you go

In the world of work, new technology has blurred the physical and digital boundaries.  Thanks to powerful mobile technology and wi-fi, work is no longer somewhere you go but something you do.

This has impacted on workplace design as it has become more centred on activity-based working with a move away from traditional open plan offices to more collaborative spaces.  A recent study commissioned by IFMA “Alternative Workplace Strategies” found that 58% of respondents had implemented an alternative workplace program to improve collaboration – up from 39% in 2013 which indicates quite a cultural shift in just 5 years.

Workplace analyst Ryan Anderson has suggested that increasingly:

“workers should be embraced as consumers”.

That’s consumers with their own ways of doing things using consumer technologies, such as Dropbox, that are often simpler and more efficient than their corporate counterparts.

What’s more they are also consumers of the space they inhabit.

The growth of digital transformation

Technology is not just changing processes relating to employees it is changing them across the board. At its heart, digital transformation constantly challenges the status quo about how companies transact with employees, customers, suppliers, partners and stakeholders.

Digital transformation delivers tremendous impact across areas such as:

• Customer experience
• Operational agility
• Culture and leadership
• Workforce enablement
• Digital technology integration

These are all tangible areas which are being driven by the adoption of agile technologies. In a competitive world where technology is moving at a lightspeed pace then it is imperative not to be hindered by legacy systems.

What the rise of IoT actually means for our workplaces

Beslay and Hakala suggested that the internet would become more embedded into the built environment. Their prediction has come true with the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT).

For facilities and real estate professionals, the IoT offers a tremendous opportunity for gathering real-time information about their space and its consumers.

With such systems in place it is possible to move from reactive management to a more predictive style. One example of IoT in action is  sensor technology which enables facilities managers to accurately measure not only how much space is being utilized but how.

Letting technology enable radical decisions

Sensors can inform radical decision-making to save costs – for example, if managers analyze past data to determine that usage of hot desks is 50% lower on Mondays, they can shut down whole floors that day each week to save on worker and energy costs.

Sensor technology is also a gift for the “consumers” because they can see on a digital floorplan where the available workspace is and check in/out automatically as the sensors detect their presence. Time wasted on finding a desk can be invested in knowledge work.

As well as sensor technology, other technology is coming into play such as beacons. It is now possible for the A/V department to use this technology to track in real-time where their equipment is – useful when dealing with expensive and covetable laptops for example.

Our conclusion

It seems that Microsoft’s Satya Nadella was right – we are already living in a world where the cloud and the IoT are empowering our personal and working lives, and that looks likely to continue.  When it comes to adopting and adapting this technology, it seems the only limit is our imagination.

The physical world and the digital realm are blurring in many ways:

• The growth of video-conferencing where the participants may be in multiple physical locations but thanks to high speed broadband and HD resolution they appear to be in the same room.
• Mobile technology has enabled people to become digital nomads working anywhere they please while still, literally, having the whole world at their fingertips.
• Retail companies such as Lowes are using virtual reality to enable to their customers to test lights, materials and home products in their “Holorooms” before they make a purchase.
• DHL are using augmented reality to enable its pickers, using Smart Glasses, to visullay display where each picked item needs to be on a trolley.
• The British Army has pioneered the use of VR so that potential recruits could enjoy a life-like simulation of military training from the comfort of their own homes.

It has taken seven years for virtual assistants to become mainstream consumer products. Who knows what the year 2025 holds?

WHAT 6 TANGIBLE BENEFITS DOES CATERING SOFTWARE GIVE YOUR WORKPLACE?

Effective meetings need fuel – but is your organization wasting food and money on bad catering? Our useful infographic reveals the benefits catering software brings your business.

6 WAYS TO HACK INTO STRESS-FREE MEETINGS – AND BEYOND

It’s no surprise that Nike’s Oregon HQ lives up to the company’s sporty image with two soccer fields, a gym, putting green and running trail – but despite all the facilities, employees still manage to get through a whole lot of work.

Meetings remain a pillar of productivity within almost every office environment. It is where we come together as a team, and hammer out our plans for success.

In fact, Forbes reported that every day 11 million meetings  take place in the US.

So, with today’s technological advances it’s understandable why meeting room manager software is necessary and a pivotal part of the workplace.

Booking a room, or rooms, for your company’s meeting space, can sometimes be a challenge. Whether there is difficulty organizing the meeting– particularly across multi time zones, or trouble finding the right space.

Other potential problems include making sure resources such as video and AV conferencing are available, changes in arrangements that have not been communicated to those attending the meeting, or accounting for no-shows.

The technology behind meeting room manager software has developed rapidly to meet the demands of our workplaces, due in part to the constant continuing trend towards agile working, and the necessity of more flexible conferencing and meeting spaces where co-workers can collaborate freely.

Let’s take a look at some modern-day meeting hacks that will allow your employees to get more engaged in all aspects of a meeting, just by utilizing updated meeting room management software.

Here are 5 ways to hack into stress-free meetings:

1.  Online booking:

Online meeting management software allows the user to book the space and specific technology they need for their meeting via an app on their smartphone or tablet, and also allows them to clearly define what their catering needs are, in the same transaction.

This technology works across multi-locations and takes time zones into consideration.

2.  Easy view of available desks and space:

Room occupancy sensors allow for a real-time view of meeting room space and resources by detecting when a room is in use – or when it has been left vacant.

This information is then displayed in an easy-to-view graphical format for employees to view, choose and book where they want to work.

Hot desking is made easier with the help of sensors working in combination with meeting scheduling software. This provides a self-service function that saves time and removes obstacles to enable more flexible working conditions.

3.  Ordering AV, VC and catering all at the same time:

Meeting management software also allows employees to book the technology and resources they need for their specific meeting, and defines what their video conferencing, projectors, and catering needs are, in a single transaction.

This resource scheduling system will also keep an up-to-date inventory of equipment like AV etc., so there’s less chance of showing up for a meeting and finding that the essential equipment is missing.

4.  Automatic release of unused meeting rooms:

Last minute changes to a meeting can lead to wasted time and admin if the problem is not addressed quickly.

Luckily, the scheduling aspect of meeting room manager software lets everyone involved in a booked meeting know about any unforeseen changes, immediately. This reduces administrative time, and further, reduces the number of no-shows (one of the most widespread complaints people have about meetings).

5.  Digital signage integration:

Meeting room manager software also integrates with the latest in digital signage in order to help guide attendees to the right place.

Some of the goals that can be easily accomplished with the implementation of panels with digital signage are:

• wayfinding to a meeting room
• advertising and brand building
• displaying internal information (for corporate employees)

These days, companies around the world are using panels/digital signage solutions in order to help their business run more efficiently. There is no shortage of choices for your company to explore when it comes to this meeting room management and communication resource.

Furthermore, meeting room management software is already being utilized by digital-savvy corporate law firms and organizations to keep their employees happy and productive, while at the same time, streamlining all their other in-house operations.

Supported by real-time data, resource scheduling technology provides facility managers and office occupiers the opportunity to engage in an end-to-end view of their workspace with comprehensive reporting.

This business intelligence also enables facilities managers to see exactly how their workplace is accomplishing the demands of their employees, while at the same time, helping them to make informed decisions going forward when scheduling meetings.

In closing, as meetings will most likely always be a part of office life, these hacks are quickly becoming the “norm”. Adopting them in your workplace will provide opportunities for collaboration that spark success and innovation within your company.

HOW AUSTRALIA IS TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE WORKSPACE SCHEDULING REVOLUTION

Employees in Australia spend 5.6% of their time every week in meetings, according to the Bytesized Guide to Resource Management.

So should we be worried that a famous economist once said: “Meetings are indispensable when you don’t want to do anything”?

Well, maybe…even if you add up just the salaries, you can see meetings are an expensive commodity.

Maybe they’re worth every penny, though. With collaboration a serious driver of innovation, meetings are where we make magic happens, where colleagues spark ideas and create the buzz that fuels the business.

No wonder organisations put plenty of resource into designing workspaces that encourage productive meetings.

Take Amazon. Its massive doughnut-shaped HQ in America is set up in pods dedicated to teamwork, focused work or socialisation, radically rethinking a traditional office layout.

Like other parts of the world, Australia is thinking hard about how people work. Organisations are working hard to create the right kind of space for them to hold effective meetings.

Companies are also spending heaps of money on renting office space – after payroll, it’s the second biggest cost to a business.

However, many employees say meetings are still a drain on their productivity, for a number of reasons:

• Not being able to find a suitable meeting room
• Finding rooms that have been booked out, but are empty
• Wrong-sized meeting rooms of the wrong size. 73% of meetings are for two to four people, but 53% of rooms are set up for at least seven.
• People using rooms they haven’t booked

These are all findings from the Bytesized Guide – sponsored by NFS. (You can download it here.)

In fact, a CBRE workplace report found:

Only 30% of the space in a meeting room is actually used.

So who can afford to leave 70% of their workspace unused?

Savill’s July report on rents in Australia shows top offices in Sydney are costing more than $1,500 sq m, and rents in some areas continue to go up.

CBRE says the way we work is changing into something less formal, and that’s causing a problem with unoccupied space in our offices.

“Meetings are becoming more intimate,” says the CBRE report. “A greater number of smaller meeting areas and collaborative spaces are required.”

So many office managers and owners need a major rethink about how they organise their space. And thankfully, a workspace scheduling revolution is taking place that provides all the answers.

Good meeting room booking software means a company gets good value for its money per square metre; staff feel good and work well, and the end result is that customers benefit because streamlined operations mean lower costs.

Modern workspace management systems provide cost-saving solutions for businesses of all sizes.

So here are 7 signs that it’s time to invest in meeting room booking software for your workplace.

1.  Your agile workers can’t find a suitable desk.

Flexible working has been demonstrated to help employees feel in control of their working day – but if they can’t arrive, sit down and start work they will find their productivity and job satisfaction take a hit.

With meeting room and desk booking software they can easily locate and reserve their desk or meeting space online or via an app.

Desk and room occupancy sensors link up with the meeting room booking software to provide graphical real-time views of the office so it’s easy to identify the right place.

Many state-of-the-art systems also integrate closely with MS Outlook for further convenience.

2.  Meeting rooms are booked – but no-one has turned up to use them.

This often happens when the details of a meeting have changed, but no-one has remembered to tell the attendees.

Meeting room scheduling technology notifies everyone automatically if there are changes in the time or venue of the meeting. If the software detects that a room is not being used as booked, it releases it into availability for someone else to use.

Meeting organisers can also book catering for the meeting in the same single transaction, and the caterers are included in any updates.

3. People are booking expensive external meeting rooms.

When staff find it difficult to locate an internal meeting space, they often take the easy way and book a room externally.

This can be costly. One global utility with almost 500 rooms over 40 locations saved $100,000 in three months once it reduced external bookings by implementing easy-to-use space utilisation technology.

4.  No-one’s using your video conferencing.

VC saves time, money and reduces staff stress – but not if it’s tricky to set up, or attendees don’t show up.

Meeting scheduling technology can help, providing a simple way to book a video conference even in multiple locations that can improve the uptake of VC in an organisation.

It’s worth making the investment in the technology.  Companies can save up to 30% of their travel costs by using VC – and it helps staff wellbeing, too.

5.  Your team works in many different locations.

Arranging a conference across locations and even time zones can be an admin nightmare. If it takes too much time, people often decide it’s not worth it.

Meeting room scheduling software takes time zones into consideration automatically for locating and booking space with the right resources, and  also automatically adjusts for any changes.

6.  People are missing meetings

No-shows are a modern-day office curse. Ever waited in a room for colleagues to turn up, or missed a video conference yourself?

Scheduling technology helps get people to their meetings on time – even visitors – by sending clear instructions to everyone including the attendees,  support staff and caterers.

The technology integrates with digital signage and room panels, too, which guide attendees to the right room and make sure security keeps track of visitors to the building.

7.  You’re not sure if your space is being well-used.

You’d think companies would only rent the amount of space they actually need – but that’s not always the case.

It can be difficult to check that space is being used in a cost-effective and productive way.

For instance, if it’s a dedicated desk, how much time is it unoccupied? Every time it is, it’s a drain on company coffers.  Maybe it would work better as agile working desk available to more than one person.

Desk scheduling technology provides detailed reports that show how every square metre is being used. This helps office managers make informed planning decisions, highlighting under-used spaces and making sure the office is the right size.

Work and wellbeing

Millions of people globally are ill every day because of stress, and others are so frustrated with their working conditions that they move on to a different company.

Companies need to not only recruit but also retain a talented workforce, so this can be a problem. .

And it makes great sense to have an office that makes sure your highly-skilled employees can get on with their jobs in an efficient and enjoyable way.

Removing everyday obstacles such as locating a desk or meeting space, and ensuring that collaborative tools are readily available can make the difference between being a welcoming workplace – or an office they’ll avoid.

So watch out for the 7 signs that tell you it’s time to take advantage of the workspace scheduling revolution.  They show your workplace is already evolving – and failing to keep up could be a big mistake.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS COUNT: TOP TIPS TO WOW AT YOUR NEXT MEETING

It’s an old saying, but there’s certainly something in it – first impressions really do count.

Cornell University psychology professor Vivian Zayas discovered in 2016 that people do judge a book by its cover – and continue to be influenced long after that first meeting.

That’s pretty important when it’s your company reputation which is at stake.

Often, we use meetings to pitch ideas and business proposals to other organizations, or to other internal departments. In order to succeed in our aims, we need a successful meeting – so it’s crucial to create the best impression we possibly can, right away.

There’s certainly no sign that our passion for conferencing is cooling. In the US every month, we hold no fewer than 220 million meetings.

Those meetings are expensive. Each one costs on average $338 when you take salaries into consideration – not to mention the travel costs of getting everyone there, and all the admin that goes into arranging the event.

When a meeting pays off and produces results, it’s worth every cent. New business relationships are started, contracts are agreed and the wheels of commerce really start to turn.

So when deciding to invest in setting up a meeting, you want it to be a good one, productive, positive and business-enhancing.

We’ve come up with our top tips on how to make sure you wow at your next meeting – with a little help from the latest workplace management technology…

1. Find the most appropriate meeting space for your needs
2. Make sure the space is firmly booked – it may be more than one room in different locations
3. Organize the meeting at the best time for everyone – including different time zones
4. Make sure all delegates receive full details
5. If details change, ensure everyone knows
6. Consider the people who will be setting up the room
7. Don’t forget supporting technology – video conferencing and AV
8. Think about refuelling – consider the catering
9. Get your delegates to the right place, securely
10. Start on time.

Obvious, we hear you say? You might think so – but lack of organization, no-shows and the failure to provide correct facilities are among the top reasons why meetings fail.

And a failed meeting is no way to create a great first impression.

1. Find the most appropriate meeting space for your needs

This involves a lot more choice than it once did, when offices had formal meeting rooms and often a boardroom that was seldom used.

Today’s workspace needs to be more flexible, providing facilities for formal and informal meetings, and for agile workers who work in different locations.

Meeting spaces can still be formal, or they could be breakout areas where people can hang out and collaborate in a more casual manner.

Given this level of complexity, it’s worth exploring the capabilities of conference room booking software, which has evolved to suit exactly these circumstances.

This clever technology gives employees immediate online access to locating and booking conference rooms (and hot desks, if needed). Using an app, they can select exactly the meeting space they need, and make a reservation with a couple of clicks.

2. Make sure the space is firmly booked – it may be more than one space in different locations

What if your meeting is in multi-locations? Previously, coordinating this used to be a real admin headache.

In many organizations, conference room booking is still in the hands of administrators. It’s a time-consuming and boring job when they could be spending their time more profitably on more important issues.

The self-service functions of conference room booking software provide a solution that is simpler, less frustrating and far more cost-effective.

3.  Organize the meeting at the best time for everyone – including different time zones

If you’re organizing a video conference, time zones can add to the complexity – but not with conference room booking software.

This handles the time differences automatically. And by removing a major obstacle to using this useful collaborative tool, it encourages uptake among the workforce with all the benefits that brings.

4. Make sure all delegates receive full details

So basic – yet so important. A scheduling system does it for you, with no need to send out emails manually.

5. If details change, ensure everyone knows

No-shows are caused when people fail to find out that their meeting has changed. However, it can be can be complicated to make sure everyone is kept fully up-to-date.

Conference room booking software does it automatically, no matter how many details are amended.

6. Consider the people who will be setting up the room

It can be easy to forget about the admin staff who are making sure the conference room is set up as required, with the right seating and technology.

The conference scheduling system won’t forget them, though – they receive automatic updates like everyone else.

7.  Don’t forget supporting technology – video conferencing and AV

There’s no video conference without video conference equipment, but a surprising number of video calls fail because the equipment is not available at the allotted time.

A meeting room scheduling system keeps a real-time inventory of all equipment at all locations, making sure it’s ready to use when needed.

8. Think about refuelling – consider the catering

Catering for a meeting can sometimes be dismissed as a small detail, but it’s important; refreshments give delegates a break and help them refuel for further debate.

A good meeting booking system makes it easy to book catering at the same time as you book the room – and it included the caterers in any amendments or cancellations so there’s no waste.

9.  Get your delegates to the right place, securely

Visitors to a building – whether they are internal or external – may find it difficult to make their way to the right room; it’s also important for security to have clear details about where visitors are.

The answer is digital signage, which integrates with a conference room scheduling system and guides all meeting guest to the right space with minimal effort.

10.  Start on time

This is a major part of meeting efficiency – even a five-minute delay costs dearly when you work out the salaries of the people involved, not to mention the frustration delays can cause.

With all of the above points addressed, you should certainly be able to start most meetings on time, with all guests in place and ready to roll.

And if by any chance there’s still a meeting room booked and no-one meeting there, it’s not wasted space – the system will detect the space is unoccupied and restore it to availability.

So – are you ready to make a great first impression?

Technology can’t help you with the content of your meeting, of course…

But providing delegates with a well-organized meeting in suitable, comfortable surroundings with appropriate equipment has got to be the best way to create a great first impression. And with luck and your effort, it could be the first step in a long and fruitful business relationship.