Pie in the sky or reality? Smart office solutions that cater to the user and their usage.

The modern office world

Digitalization is proceeding apace, and not only when it comes to building automation. With modern building management systems, all the individual systems in a building, from lighting to heating to air-conditioning can be controlled in a single system. Sensors, actuators and valves communicate with the system via the cloud, set the temperature, adjust the shading and humidity. Gas and smoke detectors ensure safety together with specific access systems.

And thanks to intelligent dashboards, consumption data and far more besides can be accessed from anywhere, anytime. The benefits are obvious. Smart control of lighting, heating and air-conditioning significantly lowers running costs — even if the last person forgets to switch the lights off.

In addition, there are user-oriented smart office applications that should make life easier for everyone. There are comprehensive solutions on the market now that can be controlled completely on your smartphone. Check-in and check-out times are recorded via a sensor as soon as an individual enters the office. You can book meeting rooms on your smartphone and regulate the temperature or lighting. If you have saved personal settings, this occurs automatically at a meeting, for example. Thanks to smart lockers, a forgotten key is no longer a problem and the cafeteria will still work with smart pay and without cash. An online system sends push notifications as soon as guests or packages have arrived, notifies birthdays and provides an office-wide messenger.

Sounds good, right? The catch as always is in how it is implemented – and the associated costs. Really comprehensive smart office systems that also provide the relevant interfaces with building technology systems, require quite a bit of investment. Which is why many companies choose only particular modules initially, which may be expanded later on as needed. In any case, it is also true here that you should keep an eye on technology developments and always consider what makes sense and is future-proof for your company.