Over the past few years, big data has elevated workplace strategy to new levels. Project teams leverage workplace data to create informed design solutions that help companies achieve corporate goals and optimize their real estate. Credit this watershed moment to technological advancements in the methods used to assess how employees utilize, experience, and interact with their workspace. Courtesy of wearable sensors, cloud-based storage, and sophisticated occupancy software, we can now easily track how often staffers are at their desks, how frequently conference rooms are occupied, and how high the noise level is in each department. In the aggregate, these data points—collectively termed Utilization Knowledge—provide a nuanced, real-time picture of how a workspace is being used.
But as data collection becomes increasingly ubiquitous, new challenges arise—namely, collecting and interpreting the data correctly to draw the right conclusions.
Surveying the Workplace
IA typically conducts a Utilization Knowledge survey in one of two ways: as an ongoing initiative, with the data providing continuous feedback over time, or as a single, discrete phase, usually to gather pertinent information in advance of a move or redesign. Assessing a space—even one that the client will soon vacate—is an ideal way to identify discrepancies between the office’s current state and the aspirational ideal. Additionally, the survey results often challenge long-held assumptions. For example, staff members may be requesting additional conference rooms—yet the data reveals what’s really needed are more smaller meeting spaces and breakout areas.
To facilitate these efforts, IA has developed a proprietary system, IA Survey, a robust tool that combines project design software with data collection and visualization capabilities. Designers also still rely on lower-tech information-collection methods (notes jotted on floor plans, data from an Excel spreadsheet), especially when assessing a soon-to-be-vacated workspace, since installing a sensor-based system would not be practical .