In a commercial world that is increasingly making use of smart technology, effective use of data has rapidly become the easiest and most worthwhile way to manage building occupancy through workspace optimisation.

Because ultimately, in a commercial office building, everything comes down to people and how they engage with and use the space they are in.

Generating workplace benefits through occupancy data.

Understanding how employees move around the workplace and utilise spaces within the building is vital for businesses looking to implement cost and energy saving strategies through workspace optimisation. Up until recently occupancy data was manually collected and often inaccurate, making it of little value and out of date as soon as it is collated. Deploying building-wide sensors that have the capability to constantly sense and report on real-time occupancy within workspaces vastly improves the accuracy and value of this data over time.

By installing smart, connected lighting solutions fitted with intelligent sensor technology, building developers, owners and managers are now not only able to realise the benefits of energy and cost savings, they are also beginning to understand how the data can be used to deliver much greater value, much of which is being able to interpret and optimise how they are using their workspace.

A smarter way of working.

Modern lighting solutions have come a long way, far surpassing the humble bulb and switch that we are all familiar with, and also the rudimentary presence detectors of yesteryear. Thanks to modern in-built sensor technology, intelligent lights are now capable of leveraging the Internet of Things (IoT) to capture and deliver data that can be shared, analysed, reported on, and used to improve efficiency in the workplace.

This means that the answer to accurate occupancy and workspace management measures could quite literally be right above your head.

These intelligent lighting sensors are designed to respond to presence within a given space, and because lighting is ubiquitous throughout all commercial buildings the data extracted from these lighting sensors is incredibly accurate when incorporated with a high-density of sensor deployment. Being able to broadly share this sensor data is key and requires open interfaces that allow building operators to combine data sets and more accurately determine how their building is being used. It might sound like the future, but it is happening today.

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) enabled sensors also have the ability to receive signals from smartphone applications — offering possibilities to increase the data captured and the value of reporting. Centralised data is stored in the cloud, enabling trend-based historical reporting and deeper insights into workplace activity.

People, productivity, and the benefits of going smart.

When we consider productivity in the workplace, lighting control may not be the first thing that springs to mind, but it is something that can play a huge role in boosting (or reducing) employee morale and performance.

The data that lighting occupancy sensors collect can, therefore, be repurposed to increase comfort, enhance safety, and deliver cost savings all in one.

Lights possessing in-built sensors, will react to occupancy within any given space and deliver comfortable illumination as well as usable data. Lighting levels can be adjusted automatically based on the amount of natural daylight filtering into the building at various times of day, as well as switch on and off depending on whether an area is occupied or not. Sensors can also deliver value, improving safety measures by providing room occupancy data an organisation’s emergency response plan, or by ensuring everyone has been evacuated in the case of an actual emergency.

By capturing and analysing occupancy data across a building, facilities managers are able to gain better insights into how teams are working together, and how rooms and floors are being used (or not used) at various times of day. Sensors also provide valuable information around heating and lighting requirements that can be used to identify potential energy savings. The data that lighting occupancy sensors collect can, therefore, be repurposed to increase comfort, enhance safety, and deliver cost savings all in one.

An intelligent path to automation.

Many building owners and managers are faced with the challenge of reducing energy costs and greenhouse emissions, which can often necessitate a lot of physical intervention and monitoring of equipment. By utilising intelligent sensors, much of this manual labour can be automated.

For example, sensor data can be used to integrate with other systems in order to adjust heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), and lighting conditions in real-time, based on occupancy, resulting in energy and cost savings. They can also improve safety standards by automatically illuminating a stairwell, bathroom, or darkened hallway as employees enter and leave each space by linking the illumination of these areas (or zones) together, reducing the risk of trips and falls. They can be integrated with smartphone applications to enable users to interact and create lighting scenarios that suit them on a personal level. This historical data generated by the sensors can be analysed and leveraged to automate lighting and HVAC settings based on patterns of usage over time.

Lighting the way forward.

If you are thinking that implementing all of this smart lighting and sensor technology sounds like a complicated and time-consuming exercise, you are not alone. But the good news is that is not necessarily the case. In fact, many existing buildings can be upgraded to wireless connected lighting systems and installed without the need for a costly rewiring project through the rapid replacement of existing luminaires during a lighting upgrade.

Sensors are able to be integrated into existing light fixtures, meaning a commercial space can be efficiently upgraded to a flexible, cost-saving system in days, rather than weeks (or even months for some systems) with minimal disruption to operations, effectively delivering a ‘plug-n-play’ wireless intelligent lighting system.

So, once you have worked out what your occupancy and space management requirements are, implementing a smarter solution is relatively straightforward.

The future is smart.

It is clear that we are well on the way to a very near future where all commercial buildings and even homes will include some level of integrated intelligence, and that the way we daily engage with physical spaces will improve our quality of life, both at home and within the workplace.

The benefits of intelligent sensors are already clearly evident today. We can only see them continuing to increase as greater advancements are made both in the technology and in how we are able to exploit the data stream.

Shining a light on how to collect and use occupancy data