In partnership with some of the leading entities in the industry such as LG, Philips, AFC, Commscope and knowledge partner GACS, the fourth Annual Smart Office India Summit 2018 was held last month at Shangri-La’s Eros Hotel in New Delhi. The conference witnessed a full-fledged exchange of experiences, knowledge and ideas marking yet another successful edition of this knowledge platform.
The summit commenced with a closed gathering to brainstorm over the evolving smart office trends in the sector. Deliberating on the subject of ‘Rethinking smart workspaces and putting light to work in office design’, the roundtable discussion brought together VPs, COOs, facility and project heads of eminent organisations.
Speakers at the roundtable session:
- Rajat Malhotra, COO, Integrated Facilities Management, West Asia, JLL
- Jagvinder Pinny Mann, senior portfolio manager, Microsoft India
- Vibhu Narayan, VP and country head, Corporate Services, Reliance Jio
- Colonel Praveen Kumar, head – Infrastructure, Planning & Development, TCS
- Akshay Lakhanpal, Co-CEO and joint MD, Space Matrix India
- Sukanto Aich, senior director, Philips Lighting South Asia
- Sahibjeet Grewal, VP – Administration & Projects, Interglobe Real Estate Services
- Deepak Ohylan, VP, Global Facilities, DELL
- Bhumesh Gaur, VP – Global Real Estate, American Express
- Sunil Khatwani, VP & business head – System AC Division, LG
- Architect Kartik Punjabi, managing director, VPCPL
- Deepak Uppal, executive director, Vatika Group
Sharing their keenness and knowledge of integrating intelligent design, the facilitators spoke about the important aspects considered while incorporating or upgrading smart technologies into workplace systems. Reliance Jio’s Vibhu Narayan, Vatika Group’s Deepak Uppal and TCS’ Colonel Kumar pointed out that the critical parameters of the adoption of any new technological advancement is cost, sustainability and usability of the system.
American Express’ Bhumesh Gaur, in acknowledgement of manufacturing companies, said, “Many companies offer products that are sustainable, environment-friendly and smart. These are directly advantageous in conserving energy and money at large. But we are still working towards achieving utmost smartness.” Rajat Malhotra of JLL added, “Making technology work in the building environment, while taking into consideration the implementation, commissioning and retro-commissioning of the upgrade is the way to make any technology work.”
Sukanto Aich pointed out that Philips actively strives to make spaces healthier and more sustainable through innovation by investing in green technologies. The company continuously acts towards reducing the environmental impact of their operations and secure healthy ecosystems.
TCS’ Colonel Praveen Kumar delved on the different ways of leveraging and implementing best practices in office design.
The conference started off with a keynote address by TCS’ Colonel Praveen Kumar, who delved on the subjective description of a typical smart office space. He touched upon different ways of leveraging and implementing best practices in office design, build, sustainability, architecture and energy efficiency, to deliver and build corporate centres.
Laying the foundation – Panel speakers:
- Akshay Lakhanpal, Co-CEO and joint MD, Space Matrix India
- Bhumesh Gaur, VP – Global Real Estate, American Express
- Captain Rajesh Sharma, MD, Cushman & Wakefield
- Deepak Uppal, executive director, Vatika Group
- Mili Majumdar, MD, GBCI India and senior VP, USGBC
- Sahibjeet Grewal, VP – Administration & Projects, Interglobe Real Estate Services
- Sameer Saxena, MRICS, India Real Estate Leader, Mercer India
- Vivek Dahiya, MD – North India, Cushman & Wakefield
- Moderated by Vibhu Narayan, VP and country head, Corporate Services, Reliance Jio
The first panel discussion focused on the role of innovation and technology in ‘laying the foundation’ for buildings. Moderator Vibhu Narayan asked about initiating a technologically-innovative and smart building. “Sustainability, energy-efficiency, collaboration and co-intelligence must be considered from the planning stage to create spaces that work to retain the talent of the workers,” shared Uppal. Space Matrix India’s Akshay Lakhanpal agreed, adding, “When offices and technology are designed keeping the end users in mind, only then do we build successful business spaces.”
When asked about the importance of green building concept for an employee per se, Mili Majumdar, who represented GBCI India and USGBC, rightly pointed out that “a green building ensures that the quality of living and working indoors is favourable for the well being and productivity of the inmates.” While Mercer India’s Sameer Saxena reinforced that “buildings voice the ethos of the organisations. Acceptance and implementation of green practices is a need.” Taking about the declining per-employee area in offices, Sahibjeet Grewal of Interglobe Real Estate Services highlighted, “When looking at creating better human experiences within limited bottom lines, we should be aiming at infusing comfort and friendliness of the users to their workspace.”
Gaur posed his views on the process of moving forward towards innovation: “Employee awareness among different verticals is continuously increasing; this pushes companies to provide better working conditions and environment for employees to be productive.” Audience member at the time, Deepak Ohlyan of DELL, added, “The enforcement agencies must be at par with the standards and requirements of buildings, in terms of growth and technology.”
Sunil Khatwani, VP & Business Head – System AC Division for LG, spoke highly of the panel for its insight and continued the conference by presenting his address on innovations taking place in LG specifically in the HVAC segment. His address was followed by a presentation by Vikas Malhotra, director and head of marketing – B2B Business, South Asia for Philips Lighting, about ‘The New Normal of Workplace’. He said, “Philips is soon moving into IoT for the lighting industry to provide smart, energy-efficient, low-cost products, whose value is beyond just illuminating spaces.”
Designing smart – Panel speakers:
• Architect Ninad Tipnis, founder, JTCPL Designs
• Architect Vistasp Bhagwagar, principal architect, AVA Design Studio
• Architect Nirmal Mangal, country head – India, director, M Moser Associates
• Architect Kartik Punjabi, MD, VPCPL
• Sanjeev Sethi, director – Global Workspace Solutions, Adobe India
• Moderated by Sathish Rajendren, COO – India, Facilities & Asset Management Services, Knight Frank
The second panel discussion was aimed at decoding the concept of ‘Designing smart’. Moderator Sathish Rajendren kicked it off by discussing the meaning and key attributes of a smart design. Ninad Tipnis commented, “A smart office is the convergence of all experts that help evolve the office space. The best facilities are created when all stakeholders collaborate and operate to their fullest and the team focuses on the plan and works towards delivering it sincerely.” Agreeing, Vistasp Bhagwagar added, “Everything concerning real estate, neo-facilities and smart offices has to be agile, healthy, multi-purpose, flexible and embracing. A smart workplace is one that allows technology to layer simultaneously with the function of different spaces.”
Members of the second panel discussion: (L-R) Sathish Rajendren, Sanjeev Sethi, Kartik Punjabi, Nirmal Mangal, Vistasp Bhagwagar and Ninad Tipnis.
Talking from the perspective of the end user, Adobe India’s Sanjeev Sethi said, “For me, a smart building should be street smart, sustainable, wellness- and safety-ensured, financially-stable and technology-updated.” Nirmal Mangal shared a slightly different idea, saying, “In a global sense, a smart office is a digital workplace, where IoT becomes the part of the work life itself. We, as designers, try and allow today’s millennials to customise their environment as per their comfort and style of working.” Plunging deeper into the conversation, Kartik Punjabi concluded, “Adaptability and flexibility of workplaces are a demand of the user today. In the spaces given for employees to work, how they adapt, change and collaborate as and when needed makes any design smart.”
Post a short networking luncheon, Shobhit Jain, technical manager – North, East & Central for CommScope, spoke about ‘Smart Connectivity for Next Generation Workspaces’. In the industry note, DELL’s Deepak Ohylan elaborated about the many sustainable initiatives and cost-saving techniques that can be managed by an organisation through a smart office.
Meet the facilitators – Panel speakers:
• Deepak Ohylan, VP – Global Facilities, DELL
• Colonel Ashok Prabhakar, VP – Commercial Services, NIIT Technologies
• Vibhu Narayan, VP and country head, Corporate Services, Reliance Jio
• Jagvinder Pinny Mann, senior portfolio manager, Microsoft India
• Captain CK Bhandari, DVP – Administration, Aviva India
• Sunil Khatwani, VP and business head – System AC Division, LG
• Moderated by Rajat Malhotra, COO, Integrated Facilities Management, West Asia, JLL
The third and final panel discussion revolved around bringing out the best possible insights from leading facility heads and operators of the industry. Moderator Malhotra opened the discussion by asking Jagvinder Pinny Mann of Microsoft India about when a facility head should be involved in the design process. Mann stated, “FMs should be on the table since the inception of the business plan. With this, it becomes easier for us to partner and work with architects.”
Members of the third panel discussion: (L-R) Rajat Malhotra, Colonel Ashok Prabhakar, Vibhu Narayan, Jagvinder Pinny Mann, Captain CK Bhandari, Deepak Ohylan and Sunil Khatwani.
Adding to the dialogue, Narayan said, “Since facility heads need to face the rights and wrongs of the functions of the building post-construction, they need to voice decisions in the planning and designing stage itself. Facility managers are, however, yet to become an integral part of the core team of smaller businesses and firms.” Contrary to popular view was Aviva India’s Captain CK Bhandari’s personal experience. He said, “I look after real-estate accusation, projects and end facility management in my world. Fortunately, I am placed at the head of the table, amongst architects, project managers and owners.”
Colonel Ashok Prabhakar of NIIT Technologies shared his views on smartness of a workspace, saying, “While we are looking at integrating technology, HVAC controls, IoT and other accessibilities for end users, we should also be looking at their interests and essentials. Gymnasiums, recreational spaces, cafes, etc, fills the gap for bringing in utmost wellness and productivity amongst employees.” Addressing another gap in smart design, Ohlyan iterated, “A lot of data is collected on the central database. But, we lack at analysing the same and turning our space into a more productive setup.”
Visitors at the Summit glancing through the products displayed at the partners’ stalls.
At the end of the third and final discussion, the facilitators were felicitated and thanked for their participation. With an aim to creating more profitable data centres and business spaces, the eventful day concluded. Bibhor Srivastava, group publishing director, on behalf of ITP Publishing India and the partners, concluded the evening with a note of thanks.