Data is growing at an exponential rate globally and its impact is undeniable. It has changed how we communicate, navigate, travel, pay, shop and work. In fact, an IDC whitepaper estimated that by 2025, 75% of the world’s population will interact with data on a daily basis.

The value of data is increasingly being felt in the workplace too as more offices upgrade their digital capabilities and drive their transition into ‘smart offices’. Data provides insights for efficient workspace design, help improve the overall experience, and eventually increase productivity for everyone.

Increasingly, companies are recognising the importance of the office as a space that brings employees together, cultivating a strong community culture and empowering them with the necessary tools and resources to work more efficiently. As a result, they are turning to data and technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things (IoT) to enhance human connections at the workplace.

While traditional offices are increasingly harnessing the benefits of technology, co-working spaces, which are becoming more popular with enterprises and large corporations, are taking their use of technology to a whole new level. According to Colliers, the flexible workspace sector in Singapore continues to maintain a positive growth momentum, and the total flexible workspace footprint in Singapore has nearly tripled since 2015. At JustCo, the growth of enterprise clients is set to grow by 60% in the next 5 years.

Revolutionising Workplace Design with Data

Data is a key enabler in the digital transformation of workspaces to become smarter and more intuitive for their users. In building the co-working spaces that epitomises the “Future of Work”, JustCo partnered Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company to leverage data analytics and technology to deliver a Smart Digital Workplace at our Marina One centre – a tech-empowered modern workspace that promotes creativity, collaboration, mobility and increased productivity among members.

An Aruba study revealed that 73% and 70% of people in Asia Pacific reported a positive impact to their productivity, and improved collaboration when working in spaces with widespread use of new workplace technologies respectively. More businesses and IT professionals are therefore on the hunt for solutions that enable a technology-driven workplace without inherent concerns of increased complexity or cost of their technology environment.

By leveraging spatial and social analytics, we are able to dive deeper and derive anonymised data on how members utilise the workspace and better understand their behavioural patterns. For one, the company is able to analyse the usage patterns in a centre across different spatial zones using graphical representations including heat maps and histograms to learn which areas are in high demand and which are under-utilised. Solutions can then be quickly effected to meet the needs of users accordingly. A Senion survey found that an estimated 60% of employees spend an excessive amount of time searching for available conference rooms – time which can be used more efficiently, just by tapping on data analytics.

The JustCo mobile app – a single online platform that provides members multiple features and opportunities to connect – is another example of using data to improve workspace experience. Wherever they may be, members are able to not just book meeting rooms, but also locate the nearest available meeting room, work desk, or facilities through an in-built map in the app that enables in-space navigation.

All of this comes at a critical point where workspace design can largely affect the employees’ experience and make all the difference when attracting and retaining talent for businesses.

Building Connections

As more companies offer their employees flexible work-from-home arrangements, the incentive for many to come into a physical office are the human connections and strong sense of community they cannot otherwise obtain. Technology is the catalyst for improved communications and efficiency.

We are taking this a step further by leveraging smart tools to better understand members’ interactions with one another at a centre or at networking sessions. Apart from creating a variety of shared spaces and events for members, it has also deployed spatial and social analytics to distil more specific insights. These can then be used to reconfigure spaces to optimise interactions among members, and ultimately create new opportunities for members to collaborate and innovate. The JustCo mobile app and its ‘Just Connect’ function also enables members to seamlessly connect with one another – be it to collaborate on a work project, try out products or services, or simply to network.

As technologies continue to advance and employee expectations continue to change, the workplace will continue to evolve. The future of the modern workplace is one is designed based on the needs of users, with the right data to provide the insights. Through analytics, businesses are now able to provide the right tools, services and spaces for people to be more productive, creative and collaborative, and this can ultimately positively impact the business bottom-line.