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How Mitie uses technology to enhance workplaces
Learn how Mitie uses technologies to provide live facility management insight to enhance connected workspaces.
Work is a major part of most people’s lives, second only to our families in importance. The quality of our workplace makes a huge difference to our wellbeing and our productivity. So, does your workplace facilitate the day-to-day, and inspire creativity, or does it just add to the stress and have a negative impact on employee satisfaction?
The working environment and design, and the impact they have on us, are factors that are attracting more attention, particularly in relation to hybrid working. The role of the workplace, and how technology can enhance productivity and colleague experience, is at the core of Mitie’s services.
As a leading facilities management and support services company, we put technological innovation and people at the heart of what we do. Central to our services is the concept of the ‘connected workspace’.
What are connected workspaces?
Connected workspaces represent a decisive move, beyond traditional facilities management, towards more productive ways of working using technology to enhance the environment.
Mitie’s Connected Workspace uses AI and machine learning to provide actionable insights, to improve asset performance, optimise resources and enhance the workplace experience. Integrated technology, like utilisation and occupancy sensors, can support strategic decision making to improve estate management. It can also inform a redesign of the physical space using smart technology to make sure it meets the needs of colleagues in today’s new world.
Modern commercial buildings, and the facilities in them, generate huge amounts of data. The innovative technology hub, that is Mitie’s Connected Workspace, puts it to good use.
The core elements of our Connected Workspace are:
- Data analytics and insights
- AI, augmented reality and machine learning
- Apps to facilitate the workplace experience
- Digital monitoring using Internet of Things
We can look at some of these to see how they work together to enhance the modern working environment.
How we use workplace technology to boost the efficiencies of the modern workspace
Data analytics and sensor technology
In the workplace, environmental and utilisation sensors are working remotely behind the scenes, 24/7, to monitor comfort levels, footfall trends, and room and occupancy usage.
Our team of analysts, data scientists and engineers, analyse the real-time data, to identify long-term trends and opportunities to enhance the workspace. The data-led insights we get, into the performance of the space, inform the optimisation measures that improve the workplace experience and save our clients time and money.
Through the intelligent use of environmental sensors and data analytics, Mitie increased productivity, for a major racing client, by 5%. We applied the same data-focused approach to their facilities management as they do to managing their racing teams. We did a full survey to find out how their 270 occupants used the facilities. We then installed more than 440 sensors to remotely monitor environmental factors including noise and light levels, temperature, air quality, motion and occupancy. The data analysis confirmed nearly 200 breaches in comfort policy. By fixing those issues we improved the comfort levels and enhanced the workplace experience for employees, and increased productivity by 5%. As a result of the remote monitoring, we were also able to reduce their annual energy costs by 3.4%.
Machine learning and automation
The data gathered by the analytics process is used to train autonomous systems that can learn and adapt to changing circumstances. Examples of systems that are enhanced by machine learning include:
- Monitoring spaces to optimise heating and cooling, improve comfort levels, and promote efficiencies in terms of energy savings and required resources.
- Cleaning robots operating autonomously at night, or when the workplace is unoccupied, to supplement cleaning regimes and enhance workplace hygiene.
- Integrated room booking systems, accessible from touchscreens outside each room or via mobile apps, to facilitate meeting logistics and space management.
- Predictive applications that study utilisation trends and predict future office requirements.
- Estate scenario planning using integrated workplace management systems to plan major relocations and optimise building use.
Apps to facilitate the workplace experience
Our digital workplace technology includes tools that help employees manage their working day and help businesses to gather feedback on how employees feel about their workplace.
Aria, our workplace app, makes it easier for employees to organise their day and manage their workspace. Using the app, they can check if desks are free, and book space, before heading into the office and order refreshments when there. They can log equipment faults and report incidents on site, like a hazardous spill, and find people in other parts of the building quickly.
Sphere, our workplace effectiveness measurement tool, measures how staff experience the workplace and what impact that might have on their wellbeing and effectiveness. It gives employees an opportunity to have their say on how they use the spaces in their building and how they feel when using them.
The tool also shows how different groups, like those with a gender, race or disability focused, experience the workplace. This helps employers to deepen their understanding of how they can improve their approach to diversity and inclusion by understanding the contribution the physical workspace can play. By using Sphere, our team helped a client identify the workplace improvements needed to enhance the wellbeing of their diverse workforce and positively impact their productivity.
Find out how Mitie can help you enhance your workplace
Mitie is one of the UK’s largest facilities management companies. We have unparalleled experience in using data-led technology to remotely monitor assets, and environmental systems, to optimise operational performance and enhance the workplace experience.
Our digital workplace technology is a central component of our comprehensive and transformational Science of Service® offering. Our team of workspace specialists use the latest technologies to create truly connected and people-centred workspaces.
Enquire now to see how your colleagues can benefit from Mitie’s Connected Workspace services and maintain a workplace that enhances wellbeing and productivity.
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