Today, at Microsoft Ignite in Orlando, Steelcase unveiled new ways to improve people’s experience at work in front of a crowd eager to learn about the future of technology. Earlier this year, Steelcase and Microsoft worked together to design Creative Spaces, an ecosystem of spaces created to boost creative work. Now, Steelcase is announcing news that represents the continued work it is doing with Microsoft to explore the future of work. The IoT solution, built on the Microsoft Azure platform, will help organizations create workplaces that respond to the needs of people while optimizing real estate investments.

Steelcase revealed its new solution, Workplace Advisor, a sensor-based system that collects anonymous workplace data, with incredible accuracy. It delivers advanced analytics for real-time, 24/7 reporting, with enterprise-reliability and security. Steelcase also previewed a companion mobile app, Personal Assistant, which will access this data to give people more choice and control over where and how they work, and will encourage them to offer feedback about what spaces are effective and which ones need improvement.

NEW TOOLS FOR A NEW WORKPLACE

Research conducted by Steelcase and Microsoft shows that work today has dramatically changed as organizations require more creative work to drive innovation and growth. Most workers — 72 percent — believe their future success depends on their ability to be creative. Yet, 42 percent of employees do not think their office is a great place to do creative work, citing issues such as lack of privacy, conference rooms unequipped for collaboration and uninspiring environments. At the same time, up to 46 percent of office space may go unused at any time as people search for better places to do their work.

“Organizations and their employees know they need to work differently, yet most offices are stuck in the past. People say they can’t find the right places to work yet valuable real estate sits empty. There’s a lack of real-time data about what’s working in the office and what’s not,” said Jim Keane, CEO Steelcase. “Working with Microsoft we envisioned a digital transformation in which cloud-enabled technology and big data help organizations serve the needs of human beings at work, and create workplaces that can respond quickly to the ways people are actually working. The technology also fosters a feedback loop in which employees can tell organizations what places are successful and why – they can vote with their feet and rate spaces on the app. “

On the Ignite stage, Keane, and Sam George, director, Microsoft Azure IoT at Microsoft Corp., demonstrated how two new workplace technologies embedded in the workplace will augment the experience of employees and the organization.

STEELCASE WORKPLACE ADVISOR

Workplace Advisor is a cloud-enabled, space sensing network built on Microsoft Azure IoT that collects and analyzes anonymous data to provide organizations meaningful insights about how its people work and how its office is performing. Steelcase then layers its expertise over top of the data, to generate actionable insights into how people are working and how the workplace needs to change.

STEELCASE WORKPLACE ADVISOR

The Personal Assistant app enables people to:

Find colleagues – Workers can quickly find colleagues by searching the app to see if they are nearby.
Find a room – The Personal Assistant app will help employees quickly find an available room with the amenities, tools and technologies they need.
Rate and improve their experience at work – The Personal Assistant “shot clock” alerts workers when the meeting is nearing completion and proactively checks future availability in case additional time is needed. When the meeting is over, attendees can rate their experience in the room evaluating things like technology, privacy, distractions and more.

“Microsoft Azure IoT enables companies across all industries to drive digital transformation by addressing business problems in new ways, gain new insights through connected solutions and create greater efficiencies in business processes,” said Sam George, director, Microsoft Azure IoT at Microsoft Corp. “Today’s announcement with Steelcase is an example of cutting edge work in the smart spaces industry that brings together people, technology and place to increase productivity and employee satisfaction.”

For more information on Steelcase Workplace Advisor and Personal Assistant built on Microsoft Azure see Smart + Connected Spaces.