There’s a great deal of discussion at the moment about the future of working as businesses and employees reflect on the shift in working practices many of us have experienced in 2020. How these lessons transfer into the future of the way we work will be up to the business, but assessing the performance of connectivity will be essential for an ever-evolving workspace.
Connectivity requirements for office buildings and enterprise sites grows more complex everyday and for facilities managers and those analysing site coverage, strong insight into in-building service will become increasingly crucial. More and more companies, led by the likes of PwC, are retiring landline phones from their office desks in the face of BYOD practices, increasingly flexible working arrangements and a “Mobile First” mentality. There are definite advantages to this approach in terms of both operational savings and employee preference, but it places a more pressing need on ensuring voice services are well provisioned across the estate.
But it’s not all about connectivity for people, the buildings themselves are increasingly dependent on strong mobile service as businesses increasingly invest in IoT solutions. This is unlocking a range of positive benefits in terms of efficiency and productivity with 70% of SMEs already looking at or using IoT platforms to improve current products and 52% see it as a springboard for launching new services (BT Business). Outside of product use cases, IoT is being increasingly used to identify ways of reducing the overheads associated with managing an office facility. This can include everything from improving energy efficiency to coordinating the occupancy of meeting rooms, but those tasked with implementing these systems need to ensure their connectivity provisions are able to support them.
No two buildings are the same and it can be difficult to understand if mobile service is operating at an acceptable level due to the nature of its geographical location, number of floors and even the specific materials used in its construction. Certain locations within office complexes, such as simulation labs or lecture halls, will likely have a higher dependency on connectivity that can cause significant disruption when it doesn’t meet demand. This creates the need to understand service levels by rooms and areas and not just the estate as a whole. Having this information will prove essential when it comes to making cost-effective improvement decisions regarding any required rollout of Wi-Fi hotspots or DAS systems.
Our consulting team, working in conjunction with analysis tools such as our Surveyor application, can help both operators and facilities managers gain greater insight into in-building service by mapping received service directly against floor plans and blueprints.
To learn more about Surveyor, visit our web page here and request an overview today!
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