Pharmaceutical company Roche has selected Dutch smart lighting solutions provider Signify, formerly Philips Lighting, to transform an area in one of its German offices into a smart workplace.
Roche said that the pilot office space at its offices in Grenzach-Wyhlen, Germany was equipped with Philips LED connected lighting and IoT sensors, using Signify’s Interact Office software to increase building efficiency and optimize space.
Signify said that the Interact Offices’ Space management helps to understand occupancy rates across buildings, floors, meeting rooms or even at desk-level by counting people and analyzing the number of workers in a given space. The solution provides corporate real estate professionals with accurate reporting on historic and real-time space usage to optimize space requirements and workplace designs.
“Understanding how our buildings are being used is key for Roche today and in the future. The data collected via IoT sensors and the lighting system using Interact Office software, gives us tremendous insights and best granularity in terms of occupancy, desk level accuracy and people counting in meeting rooms,” said Tobias Bächtold, digital real estate manager for Roche
According to research reports, up to 70% of workers waste up to 15 minutes per day looking for a meeting room and 24% waste up to half an hour a day. According to Signify, this will no longer occur with the launch of the Interact Workspace mobile app for personalizing lighting, wayfinding and booking free meeting rooms and workspaces. This mobile app enables employees to view which desks or meeting rooms are available and book the available room, the Dutch company said.
In addition to the mobile app, a public kiosk can also be used to assist employees and visitors with indoor navigation. Usually located at the entrance to the office building and next to elevators, the kiosk offers a user-friendly way for people to find their desired location.
“Our customers can use their lighting infrastructure and real-time occupancy data to guide employees wherever they need to go,” said Derek Wright, Global Sub-Segment manager Office, Education and Municipal buildings at Signify. “By looking at the 500,000 responses from the Leesman Index we can see that employees have high expectations of being able to find focus rooms for example, and yet the levels of satisfaction for this are extremely low. So, with our applications we aim to solve real pain points and bring quantifiable value to the workspaces of today.”