Artificial intelligence (AI) has made significant inroads in today’s work culture and workspaces. As we go forward, we are bound to see it become an integral part of every organization, and every workspace in the years ahead. The need for AI’s usage in the workplace emanates from two core areas. The first is to reduce human effort and simplify work processes, and the other is to make the workspace smarter, supportive of productivity, and capable of the need for the building users to interact with it for their routine needs. Let us look at how AI is bringing about changes in these two areas!
AI impact on employees and work processes
AI-based automation is enabling organizations to adopt leaner operations by streamlining and automating routine processes. For instance, regular tasks such as data entry, preparing call notes, documenting minutes of meetings or transcriptions of conversations, payroll processing, and many other tedious tasks have now been automated through AI tools. This frees up time for the employees to focus on high-value and strategic works that help in faster growth of the business. If we look at technology companies then everyday tasks such as software testing are now being automated. Even aspects such as monitoring of employees’ performance, their daily timesheets, analysis of their skills, preparing operational schedules and even deployment of the right people for the right roles are being taken care of through AI automation.
AI impact on Employee Experience
There is no doubt that AI-powered tools are bringing about an unprecedented transformation in the workspaces. AI-powered sensors, facial ID scanners etc., have enabled seamless yet completely controlled access to premises. Employees do not need to touch anything, or carry any swipe cards, but get automated access to the parts of the building that they are authorized to enter.
Smart AI-powered facility management systems are enhancing employee experience in many other ways as well. These technologies are not only making the workspaces more energy efficient, convenient and safer but also amplifying employee experience by making their experience of the space more personalised as well as comfortable. A truly people centric approach.
Smart building solutions can automatically control factors such as temperature, humidity, air quality, luminosity of artificial lights used. Integrated applications are capable of helping employees book meeting rooms, order food and snacks. Different AI-powered building management apps are continuously learning and improving as per user behaviour. For instance, if a user is habitual of ordering coffee at 10 AM to start their workday, the system might observe for a few days to understand the pattern. Later, it might automatically make recommendations such as, ‘it is 10 AM. Should I order your regular coffee?’
Even for decision makers such as facility managers or company CEOs, the smart building management systems with integrated AI can provide a lot of invaluable information. For instance, there are tools comparable to Google for a particular workspace. A building manager could just enter the search term, “Hey genie, share with me details of energy consumption for the last week”, and once the query is entered, the system would automatically review the data and present the report for the last 7 day’s energy consumption details. Similarly, it can help in space utilization by identifying what percentage of office space is being used on each day and how it can be optimized.
Another critical area where AI will transform the workplaces is infrastructure management. Automated AI-powered building management systems have sensors and machine learning algorithms to real-time monitor each equipment’s performance whether it is the HVAC system, a computer, a display screen or the lighting and security systems. These systems can also store information related to vendor contracts and maintenance schedules, and raise alerts if malfunctioning equipment is spotted or send reminders to facility managers when maintenance checks are due.
In fact, the advanced platforms can also send emails to vendors and management service providers days before the scheduled maintenance checks become due. This ensures that there is no oversight or missed maintenance schedules for any big or small equipment due to the building managers being busy with other tasks. Similarly, such systems can identify security breaches, risk of fire, etc. Emergency response systems integrated with AI can real-time alert all personnel to prevent any security risks due to equipment failures or other causes.
Conclusion
AI-powered technologies are transforming workplaces in almost all aspects. Leading workspace design and build companies are leveraging AI innovation to create holistic solutions that transform employee experience, productivity and workplace efficiency and sustainability in numerous ways. Going forward, such AI integration will only expand with new features and capabilities being added to the smart building management platforms, and these will help employees enjoy absolute personalization and collective uptick in output!