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Five Critical Insights About Smart Space Technologies
Resilient, productive, and attractive companies create smarter physical spaces to work in.
1%
of survey respondents are either exploring, piloting, or implementing smart space technologies.
The options for how to secure a bright future for your business have advanced significantly. They have also become more complicated. An emergent area of high potential is the physical space where work gets done. Is there potential in making smart investments in spaces that are smarter? The answer is a resounding “yes.”
Smart spaces leverage advanced technologies, sensors, and monitors to transform into more connected, safe, and productive environments to work. Highlights from our recent global survey below make a clear case for why manufacturers around the world are investing in smart space technology and see it as a competitive advantage.
What are smart spaces?
Smart Spaces can be defined as spaces where the application of IT and IoT technologies are used to enhance connectivity, security, and intelligence. The potential of this technology is to enable manufacturers to become resilient, productive, and attractive places to work.
Smart Spaces can be defined as spaces where the application of IT and IoT technologies are used to enhance connectivity, security, and intelligence. The potential of this technology is to enable manufacturers to become resilient, productive, and attractive places to work.
When leaders across the globe were asked to identify their biggest internal challenges to growth, access to talent ranked at the top, and not by a little. As a result, respondents ranked culture, employee engagement, and retention among the top strategic investments to be made in the next 24 months, highlighting the importance of creating smarter spaces.
When leaders across the globe were asked to identify their biggest internal challenges to growth, access to talent ranked at the top, and not by a little. As a result, respondents ranked culture, employee engagement, and retention among the top strategic investments to be made in the next 24 months, highlighting the importance of creating smarter spaces.
Top limits to growth
Access to workforce
Organizational silos
Culture
Top strategic investments
IT security
Culture & employee engagement
Hybrid/remote work capabilities
Space utilization now and in the future
- Changes
- Currently Monitored
- Capacity to Monitor
As expected, manufacturing, shipping and receiving, and warehouse were the top three current uses of space revealed in the survey. Home office space ranked fourth. In fact, 88% of respondents estimate that the need for home office space would grow or stay the same in the future.
• Increase • Remain the same • Decrease
• Increase
• Remain the same
• Decrease
Manufacturing floor
Shipping and receiving
Warehouse
Home offices
Monitoring various workspaces is common for manufacturers; however, as smart space technologies have matured, a shift in where manufacturers intend to invest more is starting to shift as well.
The top spaces manufacturers currently monitor:
Manufacturing floor
Warehouse
Data center and server rooms
Shipping and receiving
Logistics
Monitoring various workspaces is common for manufacturers; however, as smart space technologies have matured, a shift in where manufacturers intend to invest more is starting to shift as well.
The top spaces manufacturers plan to increase their capacity to monitor:
Logistics
Remote equipment and equipment storage
Remote eqpt. and eqpt. storage
Coworking space
Testing labs
Lobby
Use cases for smart space technology
Use cases for smart space technology
With significant advancements in sensors and monitors and the ever-increasing complexity of manufacturing operations, the use case for smart space technologies is endless. However, the aspects of and use cases for smart space technology point to clear themes and applications.
Use cases for smart space technology
More than 50% of those surveyed indicated that creating or enhancing smart spaces was either extremely important or important to their organization.
With significant advancements in sensors and monitors and the ever-increasing complexity of manufacturing operations, the use case for smart space technologies is endless. However, the aspects of and use cases for smart space technology point to clear themes and applications.
Most valuable aspects of Smart Space Technology
Safe Environments
Safe Environments
Protect employees, spaces, monitor compliance, and securely connect to what matters most
Smart Factories
Smart Factories
From asset tracking to analytics to productivity enhancements and automation
Remote Manufacturing
Remote Manufacturing
Provide workers with what they need to maintain operations no matter where they are located
Hybrid Work
Hybrid Work
Enable an agile workforce with a seamless experience across any team or geography
Top use cases for Smart Space Technology
Safety
Safety
Securing remote workers, monitoring environmental conditions, and safety and regulatory compliance
Security
Security
Tracking equipment, monitoring restricted spaces, anomaly detection, and protecting sensitive data
Productivity
Productivity
Automation, preventative maintenance, remote control, process efficiency, and enabling remote workers
Safety
Safety
Securing remote workers, monitoring environmental conditions, and safety and regulatory compliance
Security
Security
Tracking equipment, monitoring restricted spaces, anomaly detection, and protecting sensitive data
Productivity
Productivity
Automation, preventative maintenance, remote control, process efficiency, and enabling remote workers
Most valuable aspects of Smart Space Technology
Safe Environments
Safe Environments
Protect employees, spaces, monitor compliance, and securely connect to what matters most
Smart Factories
Smart Factories
From asset tracking to analytics to productivity enhancements and automation
Remote Manufacturing
Remote Manufacturing
Provide workers with what they need to maintain operations no matter where they are located
Hybrid Work
Hybrid Work
Enable an agile workforce with a seamless experience across any team or geography
Top use cases for Smart Space Technology
Safety
Safety
Securing remote workers, monitoring environmental conditions, and safety and regulatory compliance
Security
Security
Tracking equipment, monitoring restricted spaces, anomaly detection, and protecting sensitive data
Productivity
Productivity
Automation, preventative maintenance, remote control, process efficiency, and enabling remote workers
What’s being monitored, and what will be
The types of sensors available are many, with more sensor technology being created every day. However, the following technologies sit at the top of the list for what manufacturers are using or plan to use in the future.
Temperature
Air Quality
Humidity
Vibration
Voltage
Top underlying sensor technology used or planned for:
Digital
Operations Optimizations
Employee Productivity
Wireless
Cloud Managed
Safety & Security
Video
Supply Chain Management
Video Technology
One underlying smart space technology that benefits from all the other underlying technologies is video. Its application and use cases are rapidly expanding.
Some of the top-ranked use case for video:
Track and trace
A capability that utilizes video technology to identify objects, like vehicles or boxes, and can trace their movements across one or multiple cameras over time.
Video analytics (VA)
Also known as video content analysis (VCA), VA is a solution that automatically analyzes video to detect and determine temporal and spatial events like motion, object and shape recognition as well as flame and anomaly detection.
Facial recognition
A technology that uses biometrics to map facial features from a video and compares the information with a database of known faces to find a match.
Conclusion
Investments in IT security, employee engagement, and hybrid work capabilities are of the highest priority for manufacturers around the globe. The business case for leveraging those investments to create more connected, secure, and productive spaces is also clear. The industry must continue to relentlessly pursue more productive, safe, and healthy work environments. Creating smarter spaces is a vital part of that endeavor.
Getting Started
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