Implementing Smart Office Technology Post-Covid
As we slowly move out of Covid, those of us who run coworking spaces are going to be really busy. We now have to make up what we lost during the pandemic.
There is a huge amount of work for community managers—far more than when you’re in a steady state operation.
So this is a good time right now to prioritize office automation in your workspace, including implementing smart office technology and other building management tech.
Here are seven ways to implement smart office technology in your space.
1. Cloud-based Printing
Helping people load drivers for every different computer and every new system update is simply not a good use of your time. Sign up for a cloud-based print service. The most common ones in our industry are Ezeep and PaperCut. Rather than you and your members updating drivers every time an operating system updates, these companies manage it for you. You only do one connection to their print driver.
Pro-tip: Make sure you have an easy way to get the reports out of your printer and into your software. Deskworks lets you pull that information with one click.
2. Automated Access System
Your members want to use your space at times that work for them. That may be early in the morning, late at night, regular business hours, or all three. You may have a mismatch right now between how much you can staff and when people want to use the space. Enable members to get into the space during non-staffed hours by automating your access system.
If you have an access system that uses cards or fobs, that’s fine. But if you’re starting from scratch, do something that can use NFC (near-field communication) or Bluetooth. This way, people can use their phones to access your space and not have to deal with fobs.
Looking for more information on automated access systems? Read our guide, Coworking Access Systems: Ins & Outs for Space Operators.
3. Motion Sensing
As you recover, you need to be really efficient and not waste a dollar anywhere. This includes your energy use in the space. Use motion sensors to turn lights off when rooms aren’t in use. These sensors can be set to turn lights off after 15 minutes of no movement in the room. You can also use motion sensing on any sink you’re responsible for to make sure water is never left on.
4. Automated Check-in
With automated check-in, which you can easily do with office automation software, existing members are checked in as soon as they walk into your space. Whether full time members, part time members, or on a buckets of hours plan, people are automatically picked up on wifi and the time they’re in the space is checked against their membership plan.
This automated check-in enables you to sell plans that are less than full time. You can sell a 10 day a month plan and not expect people just to be on the honor system. They’ll be checked in automatically and their usage is tracked against their plan so they’re properly billed at the end of the month.
Automated check-in also provides a way for non-members to quickly buy a day pass themselves and a wifi code is delivered to them. The code and wifi access are held open for them for whatever period they bought. Contact the ace Deskworks team to learn more about getting automated check-in in your space.
5. Enterprise Level Wifi
You can’t manage your space with the router that is provided by your cable or broadband provider. You need proper enterprise level equipment. Nothing will kill your coworking space faster than having bad wifi. Your members will flee in search of a fast, reliable connection. This also means your wireless access points can’t be cheap ones. Go with an enterprise line.
6. Remote Monitoring for HVAC
Thermostats are inexpensive and wifi enabled thermostats are no longer cost prohibitive. So do yourself a favor and get wifi enabled thermostats. This allows you to monitor the temperature in your space right from your mobile phone. If someone adjusts the temperature inappropriately, you can override it from wherever you are.
In doing this, you’ll also reduce your expenses and save energy—which we should all want. You can also position your space as one that pays attention to the energy needs in the area.
7. Conference Room Access Points
Use small wireless access points in your conference rooms. This allows people to connect directly to that one point to get a great connection. It also lets you see exactly which space people are in—not just that they’re on the premises. The cost of doing this may not make sense for you right now, but it will soon, so start thinking about it now.
Implement Smart Office Tech Now
We’re not through Covid yet, but things are picking up for coworking space operators and the future is very bright for our industry.
Implement smart office technology and management now, automate as much as possible, and free up your community managers to do what they do best: building and managing your community.
Deskworks’ flexible, cloud-based coworking management software helps build a more automated, profitable and sustainable coworking space, shared workspace or business center. Schedule a demo with us to learn more about the power of Deskworks automations.
