Dive Brief:
- Begin workplace renovations by planning around the technology employees and operators use, a Cisco executive says.
- The company has already scaled this blueprint, which treats IT infrastructure as the primary architecture layer, across 30 capital projects worldwide, according to Christian Bigsby, senior vice president of workplace resources at Cisco.
- As operators work to align office infrastructure with the demands of hybrid work, this tech-first approach can help organizations right-size meeting rooms, optimize building use and improve energy performance, Bigsby told Facilities Dive in an interview.
Dive Insight:
Many buildings need to be radically repositioned in the marketplace, with between 20% and 30% of assets non-viable without major reinvestment, Bisgby said. Smart buildings are one key way that landlords and facility managers can differentiate their buildings, he said.
Cisco’s “future-proofed workplace approach” began with its Penn One office in New York City. Technology is traditionally an afterthought of retrofits and new construction, but at Penn One, the company flipped that model, starting with the network, Bigsby wrote in a blog post Monday.
The building desperately needed renovation, he said. By starting with IT infrastructure and what the company wanted to accomplish in the space, Cisco was able to account for the the needs of major stakeholders when designing the space, according to Bigsby.
Laying the framework for smart sensors, automated lighting, HVAC, wayfinding and collaboration from the start allowed Cisco to build the space and experience around technology, “not the other way around,” Bigsby wrote.
“The collaboration and the connectivity between the technology, the people and the operators was arguably the biggest revolution that we went through,” he said. “That’s giving us great advantage in the marketplace, but more importantly, some amazing experiences for our employees. … The technology is … anticipating show-up rates, it’s anticipating meeting rooms, pre-loading rooms for heating and cooling. It’s been a game-changer.”
The integration of technology onto a single platform in the New York office, combined with significant reduction of space and adoption of power-over-ethernet lighting, allowed the company to eliminate thousands of pounds of steel and copper wiring, a $360,000 cost reduction through PoE deployment and a 36% cut in energy costs, Bigsby wrote in his post.
Since then, the company has scaled the approach across its offices in Atlanta, Paris, Milan and London. Now, it plans to harness the power of AI and predictive models to more effectively support capabilities like forecasting demand and attendance and early detection of maintenance irregularities, he said in his blog post.
This allows Cisco to plan catering and janitorial services based on near-real-time occupancy rather than static schedules and deploy maintenance more proactively to avoid infrastructure failures and downtime costs, he said.
“Gone are the days where the workplace was the primary place where work got done. Today, it’s a choice that employees will only make if they see the value it delivers for their career and their work,” Bigsby wrote.
By treating the network and IT infrastructure as the primary architecture layer, organizations can more effectively drive workplace experience that can result in measurable business outcomes, he said.
