September 17th, 2019 6:43 am
IT requirements for your mobile workforce office design
As companies search for mobile workforce solutions, open offices are a popular choice for the office design solution. Open offices with their hoteling features provide a place for workers to land and have easy access to the technology they need.
According to the Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey that office furniture costs businesses $54 billion each year. Open office design drastically reduce the space needed, and therefore all that furniture.
Whether you call it hoteling or hot desking, this type of office design is great for reducing office costs, and it can be great for collaboration. When you add office phone booth pods into the open office design, employees get the privacy they need as well.
Does an open office sound like something you want to pursue? If so, then it’s important to understand that technology is at the center of these modern, mobile workplaces. Therefore, thinking through how to incorporate it into the design makes a difference in how well it works.
Technology and the Open Office Space
Offices comprise different types of spaces for a variety of purposes that you need to think about when considering the technology requirements.
- The conference rooms may need webcams for video calls and a touchscreen display. In that case, where does the PC component go and how is the room wired?
- To get away from distractions, huddle spaces are important. Modular pods and phone booths provide private spaces for open office environments. The pods include power outlets built into the table.
- How many employees work in the office on a given day? How will your network handle the ebb and flow? Where will everyone sit? How will you provide power and network connection to the various work areas
- What types of devices do your employees use? Laptops, mobile phones, ultrabooks, smart glasses? Make sure your infrastructure can handle the myriad requirements of these devices and the connectivity.
How to get started
It’s important for HR and Facilities to include IT in the conversation about the open office design. Three best practices that set you up for success are:
- Bringing IT, HR, and Facilities together to make a plan. By working together, you company can find the solutions and vendors best suited to help the company as a whole.
- Make sure the spaces are flexible and set up to scale with technology changes.
- Communicate with you employees. Let them know how the new space will work, and provide training on how to use the new technology tools
How we work, the technology we use, and workspace trends constantly change. That means you your office and its technology need to be flexible.
Need some help? Give our experts a call.
Did you like this article? Share it with your friends!
