FEATURE
KEEPING PACE WITH
WORKSPACE CHANGES
Luis De Souza, CEO of NFS Technology Group, explains how technology is continually developing to meet the changing needs of workspace managers and users.
It’s estimated that flexible working will be the main option for more than 70% of employers by 2020 – and that poses a developing set of challenges for facilities managers.
Around the world, companies are changing the way they organise and utilise their workspace. For instance, Facebook is putting thousands of its staff into a room a mile long; Google’s new campus in Silicon Valley is designed to encourage chance encounters.
As vice-president of Samsung Semiconductor Scott Birnbaum said recently, the most creative ideas aren’t going to come while sitting in front of your monitor. His company has designed its new headquarters “to spark not just collaboration, but that innovation you see when people collide,” told the Harvard Review. It’s a startling contrast to offices just a few years ago, when everyone had a desk and sat at it, and meeting rooms were formal spaces.
But now that’s changed, thanks to factors ranging from the rise in agile working to the arrival in the workplace of younger generations, who demand more flexibility in the way they work. Flexible workers need bookable desks where they can drop in and work without delay. And while some meeting spaces now are still
42 | TOMORROW’S FM
fixed rooms for formal occasions, others have become multi-use areas that can be repurposed as needed. They may even be open spaces useful for a casual working get-together.
Equipment such as AV must be available on demand – and videoconferencing needs to be easily accessible if staff are to buy in to making use of it.
“IF YOU GET SPACE UTILISATION
RIGHT, THE BENEFITS ARE HUGE.”
If you get space utilisation right, the benefits are huge. As Google and Facebook have realised, workers who are free to move around, mingle and swap ideas tend to be happy and creative. That pays off for a business in many ways, ranging from staff retention to increased productivity.
NFS has developed the leading room and desk booking and scheduling solution Rendezvous, to help office owners maximise the way their staff use workspace.
The software allows staff to book the space they need, together with services
twitter.com/TomorrowsFM
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54
