JLL is working with Microsoft to improve its workplace management technology and help streamline flexible work environments, the company announced Wednesday.
Through the JLL Osis technology, facility leaders will be able to automatically convert AutoCAD drawings and integrated workplace management system data into the indoor mapping data format used by Microsoft Places. This will enable its operators to more rapidly provide automated floor plans that can help employee experience and reduce the time and cost needed for manual conversions, JLL says.
In May 2024, JLL began piloting Microsoft Places, an AI-powered connected workplace app, to support hybrid workplace models. The application simplifies the booking process for meeting rooms and shared seating, allowing employees to see where team members booked tasks and automatically release unused rooms or desks that have been booked.
Bolstering the product with its own Osis technology will improve the processing and updating of spatial information in integrated workplace management systems with proactive portfolio data sharing that can help to reduce time and cost for commercial real estate and IT teams, JLL says.
The system also integrates with Microsoft Copilot, providing information to IT, real estate and facilities teams to inform space management and adoption, Microsoft says.
“This collaboration will enable businesses to seamlessly integrate Microsoft’s suite of AI-Powered solutions with JLL’s comprehensive real estate services, empowering organizations to create more efficient, flexible, and engaging work environments,” Brennan McReynolds, principal group product manager and strategy lead of Microsoft Places, said in a statement.
“For space managers and planners, Osis ensures that updates to portfolio and floor plan data are reflected immediately in Places,” added Reeves Davis, president of technology solutions at JLL.
Integration costs remain a significant barrier to adopting workplace and AI technologies, “due to a lot of the existing technology that we use around commercial real estate often facing compatibility issues,” Jaymie Gelino, global chief operating officer of project and development services at JLL, said on a webinar in May. “Legacy systems weren’t really designed to cover the modern data processing demands that we’re looking at.”
To help with this challenge, the Osis integration for Places will also be compatible with both legacy and modern BIM formats, JLL says.
