CIOInsider India Magazine
How AI will Make Office Experience Worth the Morning Commute
Dinesh is an industry veteran who has spearheaded leadership roles in prominent companies like AT&T, Lucent, Avaya, Jabra, and Cisco. He has been on the NASSCOM Executive Council and is also the Chapter Chair for YPO Bangalore.
Following COVID-19, space management, workplace efficiency, facility management, space optimization etc., have become the buzzwords among companies and their workforce. They want to establish common ground with preferred working arrangements and make the office experience worth the morning commute. According to Forbes Advisor, 12.7 percent of full-time employees work from home, 28.2 percent have adapted to a hybrid work model, and 59.1 percent still work in the office. To further explore these pressing problems, CIO Insider magazine engaged in an insightful conversation with Dinesh Malkani, Founder and CEO, Smarten Spaces. An industry veteran with 26 years of experience, Dinesh has held leadership roles across reputed firms such as AT&T, Lucent, Avaya, Jabra, and Cisco. Among the many feathers he added to his cap, the most notable ones include growing Cisco's business to over a billion dollars and building India’s first public voice mail system for AT&T Lucent and Avaya.
What are the factors driving the growth of the space management market today?
There are two top priorities for any organization. The first is space optimization, with people striving to make the most of the space they have. But given today’s relatively low occupancy rates, companies struggle to decide what spaces need to be kept or given up or which areas require more space while straining their budgets amid rising rentals. Therefore, they look at optimizing as the first problem statement to solve.
The second is the employee experience. Irrespective of the hybrid work mode, some prefer returning to the office, at least when their colleagues are coming over. Therefore, you want to give them the tools to be able to make these decisions or maximize their time in the office. Additionally, the ability to allocate space in real time on a demand basis and in a simple manner for employees becomes important as well. These are the two aspects that I believe every company is going through a transition, and that's what's driving the space management market.
What are some of the most cutting-edge technological interventions adopted by market leaders today in the space management industry?
Since the agile manner of working is favored and suitable for today’s progressing world, decisions
need to be driven by factoring in many parameters while taking optimization and footfall into account. This certainly calls for a lot of data, including a next-generation level of technology. Likewise, to unlock success in this market, I’d like to point out three or four aspects. The first is data capture. The IoT sources inside offices such as access control, badging information, WiFi, sensors, cameras, etc., clearly indicate collecting and collating data under one single source, which helps in decision-making, analytics and recommendations, among others.
The second is AI’s role around permutations and combinations, particularly in optimizing or making daily changes. For example, imagine the permutations and combinations in figuring out a way to deploy 500 people on a campus with 10 buildings and eight floors with irregular occupancy rates. Today, with AI-based systems, this decision could be made faster, thanks to the extremely complex and sophisticated algorithms.
The third innovation revolves around the ability to mine data. If you are wondering about your office's energy utilization, documentation regarding your lease agreement, or whether you have enough meeting rooms, you can capture a lot of data about it. With GenAI’s capabilities, especially in slicing and dicing, you could not only mine this data effectively but also make it enterprise-ready.
The final frontier is energy consumption, which either needs to be reduced or made buildings net zero more. Considering these four aspects, it definitely shows progress from linear systems to implementing these four technologies.
You could make great decisions through data-driven insights and help your company save up to 25 to 30 percent of cost while delivering a better experience.
We looked at what they have around asset management and energy management, among others, and at our capabilities. With the two of us put together, we could help deliver some of the smartest buildings and innovation in the space management and employee experience area. Moreover, partnering with Wipro gives us the ability to build a complete full stack for what customers are looking for. It helps drive the right kind of innovation, and their global presence is an added bonus that could help us to deploy these solutions globally as well.
What kinds of developments can be expected in the next five years?
Eventually, we want the full space to be controlled by leveraging AI capabilities, IoT, and big data and applications, among others. We aspire to reach a point where buildings are net zero, highly optimized and automated, enabling people to have a great experience. For instance, there should be abilities like monitoring and adjusting the thermal comfort of an individual’s temperature in a meeting room. These innovations could slash costs, increase adoption rates, and facilitate collaboration, driving productivity and satisfaction.
Also, robotics could be coming in in five years. In fact, it’s already here in the form of virtual agents, whether it's for cleaning, answering people’s questions inside buildings, receiving them or for different purposes. I think robotics will play a huge role moving forward as well.
Could you share some advice on capitalizing on opportunities and maintaining a competitive edge in today’s digital era?
My advice is to optimize, and I see a great opportunity in this area. You could make great decisions through data-driven insights and help your company save up to 25 to 30 percent of cost while delivering a better experience. If you could manage some of these aspects using technology, I think that's the key message that I would like to share with anybody out there with an office space looking to transform it, particularly in a hybrid world.
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