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Chances are, you’re well aware of smart home devices like Amazon’s Alexa, Google’s Home, or Facebook’s Portal. They let you control your temperature, lighting, and entertainment systems with your voice. What makes these devices “smart” is their ability to connect to and take control of these systems. automating your home’s heat, or turning off your lights to turn off when you’re not in the room.
Smart Spaces follow much the same concept as these smart devices, but with much more utility. Smart Spaces are usually office environments. Smart Spaces are ecosystems for technology. Systems, sensors, and software work together to create a workspace that adapts to the needs of the workers.
Another important aspect of Smart Spaces is their ability to gather data, and then put that data to use. Say you were planning to redesign your office, and you wanted save space. The sensors used by your smart office tell you, through data, the areas that see more movement and the space that’s wasted. This information will let you get the most out of the space you have available.
First, Smart Spaces can save money by lowering your energy bill. With lights only used when they need to be, you can reduce energy usage by up to 90% (we worked with Carleton University to show this). This would decrease your costs, without sacrificing the comfort of your employees.
With a Smart Space, you can adjust the space to fit the needs of the workforce, though employees wouldn’t be able to make changes themselves. This is important because to be productive, your employees should be comfortable and healthy. Recent studies have shown that lighting and other environmental factors play more of a role in your health than you might imagine (Forbes: benefits of lighting). Along with the more tangible, comfort related factors is social responsibility. People are more likely to apply at and remain a part of companies that make use of green building and energy saving initiatives (Freeman, 2013. pp 79-91), as concluded by a thesis paper on the subject by Janice Freeman of Texas A&M University,
“Buildings have a significant impact on the well-being of occupants, the study identified effects from; the quality of the indoor environment, the features of the building that result from energy efficiency and green building design and, the presence and commitment to an organizational corporate social responsibility program.” (Freeman, 2013. p91)
Finally, there’s the environment. It’s no secret at this point that Climate Change is a legitimate threat to our planet, and CO2 emissions around the world are still far too high. It’s clear that something needs to change, and that we all need to do our part to reduce our emissions, but how? Remember the potential 90% reduction in your energy usage? Aside from benefiting your bottom line, it would also reduce your carbon footprint. So now you can save money and do your part in saving the environment while improving your office’s comfort and efficiency.
That’s not even mentioning the improved security and emergency response that Smart Spaces can provide. You could be alerted of break-ins, fires, damage, or assets leaving their predefined areas. Smart Spaces provide lots benefits and all building owners should think about upgrading their space.
So now that you know what Smart Spaces are and what they can do for you, you might be wondering where you can go to learn some of the finer details, or where you could start the process of turning your business into a smart business. That’s where illumenai can help!
Our website is full of useful information, for example our White Paper results from the Carleton University study shows exactly what kind of cost-saving our methods can achieve (request your copy here). Also on our site, there is more in-depth information on the benefits I’ve mentioned so far, along with a few more.
July 8, 2020, 2:55 pm