Co-working through smart technologies

Co-working, collaborative home office activities outside of the actual office space is strongly welcomed by young, social media-influenced workers, but studies like the one by the ifo Institute nonetheless emphasize that 74 percent of all workers who are actually allowed to use the home office are still mostly present in the corporate office.

The ifo study concludes that this kind of flexibility makes workspace management more difficult. In other words: Organizing high workspace utilization remains a major challenge. Jenny Noon, Facilities and Real Estate Director at Time Inc. UK, comments: "As our traditional media company Time Inc. UK reinvents itself for the digital age, the way we work is also changing. We have introduced a 'modern approach to working' across all our branch locations. This includes 'hot desking': employees sharing workstations with the aim of creating a dynamic, collaborative and inspired working atmosphere."

Linked needs

"The changed look and feel of our office also helps us work differently," elaborates Jenno Noon of Time Inc, "These changes foster the creativity we need for the important business transformation. They also allow us to work more efficiently by making better use of our expensive real estate in London. - We even designed a 'pub environment' for one of our publications."

Jenny Noon continues, "While a modern work environment brings many benefits, it also comes with the risk of having fewer desks than employees. By now being able to book desks in advance through touchscreens, concerns about whether a free workstation will be available when you arrive at the office are alleviated."

Touch screens for desks

Condeco recently won the "Queen's Award" for its innovative solution to the workstation problem and is now launching the latest generation of touch screens for desk booking. By equipping each workstation with a small internet-enabled screen, Condeco is enabling the introduction of a workstation booking system designed to combat wasted space.

Features such as the LED lighting system, which indicates when a desk is free, are particularly useful. It could also better show the presence of employees. Via beacon technology, employees will also be notified in the future about free workstations in their vicinity based on their location.

Workplace booking screens make office spaces receptive to user and business needs, enabling companies to transform the way they work from the ground up.

Decision-maker

Multiple analytics using these screens allow decision makers to reflect employee habits in the design of the office. Paul Statham, founder and managing director of Condeco, says: "All the developments in the world of work - from flexible working hours to the use of different office locations - are causing headaches for management. And while the many changes are meant to simplify work life, the net effect of all the changes is to make office design more complicated."

"In some offices, finding a free desk is a real challenge. The idea behind the workstation booking touchscreens is that employees can simply enter an office and see directly which desks are available. After logging in, an employee can also see where a particular colleague is sitting, for example. This is very important for successful collaboration."

Condeco's research and development team has created a product that combines a simple user experience with a competitive price; making it both affordable and straightforward to deploy. Multiple analytics using the booking displays allow decision makers to reflect the habits of employees in the design of the office.

You can find more information about the workstation booking touchscreens at this Link