Cisco Meraki, a leader in smart spaces technology, in conjunction with CIO Dive, has released a report, “Smart Spaces: Innovation Hides in Plain Sight and Openly Delights,” exploring perceptions and potential uses for this technology in three key sectors. A survey of nearly 200 top executives and managers found that smart spaces technology can help organizations directly address their top priorities and challenges.
In smart spaces, network-connected sensors and cameras collect data that can be automatically and intelligently correlated with trends in space usage and conditions. This yields fresh insights into ways to boost productivity, performance, security, and comfort for employees, customers and students. Smart spaces also support sustainability and cut costs through increased energy efficiency and reduced waste.
This survey polled nearly 200 top executives and managers from manufacturing, retail, and K12 organizations with more than 500 employees and operated U.S. facilities.
Nearly all participants (91%) said their organization plans to change its indoor spaces in the next 1-2 years. The two most common reasons for these changes were:
- Increasing efficiency: 41%
- Supporting growth: 40%
Other important drivers for planned space changes include talent acquisition and retention, changes in demand for their products or services, security, creating healthier environments, and sustainability. By optimizing the configuration and condition of indoor spaces with smart spaces technology, organizations gain the flexibility to adapt to change and address emerging issues. Additional key findings include:
- Employee productivity/performance is the #1 organizational priority, cited by 52% of all surveyed leaders (59% manufacturing, 43% retail, 38% K12)
- Workforce issues or labor shortages are the top organizational challenge, cited by 39% of all survey participants. This increases the pressure for productivity and efficiency, as well as the need to provide supportive workspaces.
- Data-driven insights about spaces can help future-proof organizations. All three sectors expressed strong interest in how data from their spaces could strengthen business and operational decisions. Smart spaces solutions can help answer many important questions, from “How can we ensure safe and secure environments?” to “How can we enhance engagement with customers or students?” and more.
- Support for space changes already planned. In this survey, 58% of manufacturing leaders and 48% of retail leaders said that controlling costs and cutting waste are top reasons for changes to their indoor spaces already planned for the next 12-24 months. Addressing these issues is a key — and typically early — benefit of smart spaces. Adding this technology can enhance returns on projects that are already planned and budgeted.
“The future of smart spaces is here, today,” said Saralyn Dasig, Senior Product Marketing Manager for IoT at Cisco Meraki. “People have been talking about this technology for years, but until very recently it wasn’t practical. It would have required far more infrastructure, complex configurations, and specialized skill sets. With today’s cloud networking and computing options, a lot of those constraints have been eliminated.”
READ THE REPORT: Smart Spaces: Innovation Hides in Plain Sight and Openly Delights
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