Cisco wanted to modernize its underutilized and outdated actual property portfolio to help new and future methods of working. By leveraging its personal, distinctive networking and collaboration applied sciences, Cisco was in a position to rework its PENN 1 office area in New York Metropolis into a good, data-driven setting that optimizes area utilization, improves person expertise, and serves as a mannequin for Cisco workplaces worldwide.
In at this time’s world the place many workers can work from wherever with a steady web connection, getting workers into an workplace could be a battle. Why drive once you can sit comfortably in your personal area (and sweatpants)? This employee mentality catapulted into fruition with the pandemic. Years later, the workplace is now not the first-choice area for a lot of staff. In truth, it should “earn” the commute. So, how did we create an workplace that workers wish to and luxuriate in going to with no mandate?
Rightsizing actual property in a post-pandemic world
For years, our actual property portfolio had been underutilized and outdated. We knew this even previous to the pandemic after I started main the Sensible Constructing enterprise at Cisco. However the pandemic introduced additional readability. With the altering insurance policies, we noticed a higher must downsize, and discover solutions to questions we by no means had to consider comparable to:
- How many individuals are utilizing a sure flooring at any given time?
- What’s the air high quality of the utilized areas?
- If an worker makes the commute to an workplace, will a workspace be obtainable to them?
- Will I be capable to work comfortably and effectively whereas I’m within the workplace?
We knew the info we would have liked to reply these questions and make knowledgeable choices existed on the wi-fi community. Nonetheless, it wasn’t available or simple to entry. So as an alternative of counting on inconsistent badging knowledge, we started to have a look at how we may use the community to unify the disparate elements throughout our infrastructure and visualize spatial knowledge so we may harness the total energy of the Cisco expertise in our workplaces. And we had the proper workplace to begin with— PENN 1 in New York Metropolis.
Divesting to speculate
Our formal design course of usually concerned our companions, together with architects and Mechanical Electrical Plumbing (MEB) companies. Nonetheless, when that was halted as a result of pandemic, we introduced the method inside Cisco and began excited about the issue otherwise and put the tip person expertise first. We knew that the way in which we used area was without end going to alter, and the notion of “divest to speculate” was constructed inside the finance group. The objective was to spend money on key workplace areas and create hubs versus a number of underutilized areas.
Because it usually goes, organizations transition portfolio when it comes to area each ten to fifteen years — the usual size of a company lease. As a part of this pure evolution and “divest to speculate” technique, we selected to close down seven workplaces across the New York Metropolis space to spend money on the modernization of PENN 1 and our new hybrid work mannequin. The objective was to create an workplace that might be a magnet for workers and clients, a spot they might come to collaborate, meet, have fun, and extra.
To get began, we took a distinct method than typical. As a substitute of designing the expertise across the area, we constructed the area round the expertise. We introduced collectively the very best collective information of numerous minds and experiences from Cisco IT and Office Sources (WPR) to discover a strategy to unify our expertise and create a platform that might be versatile sufficient to adapt to the longer term. We wished to make sure we may simply make modifications and improve the expertise over time with out the necessity to rebuild an workplace.
Unlocking the info for insights and motion
To do that, we would have liked to get a greater understanding of how the area was getting used, and how much infrastructure we may leverage to get perception, whereas guaranteeing the worker expertise could be the very best that it could possibly be. It wasn’t simply in regards to the area. It was additionally in regards to the new methods of working, our sustainability and wellness targets, in addition to making the crucial knowledge obtainable to the fitting groups to help these initiatives. If we did it proper, we’d create a workspace that would scale for future wants and developments.
Right here’s the gorgeous factor. With our highly effective portfolio of networking, collaboration, and safety options — this knowledge already existed in our IT setting, we simply wanted to unify it to bridge the hole between Operational Expertise (OT,) Info Expertise (IT,) and actual property. We have been in a position to do that with Cisco Areas, which allowed us to extract and combination the info in a approach that made sense and was reportable to ship outcomes for everybody.
Cisco Areas is a single scalable, dependable cloud platform that digitizes area and makes them safer, smarter, extra sustainable, whereas delivering seamless experiences.
Implementing Cisco Areas at Penn 1
Cisco Areas integrates the info from the community and collaboration gadgets and visualizes it right into a customizable dashboard to tailor to the wants of the precise groups extracting the info for his or her individualized targets. We unified knowledge throughout your complete Cisco portfolio utilizing:
- Cisco Areas: PENN 1 finish customers have a 3D floorplan enabling insights into occupancy, air high quality, CO2 ranges, temperature and humidity, and the power to view and maintain open workspaces and rooms. It runs on Webex collaboration gadgets all through the power.
- Cisco Catalyst 9000 switches and entry factors: 43 Cisco Catalyst 9166 Wi-Fi 6E APs are deployed in a high-density design to supply wonderful protection and seamless roaming and maximize location-detection capabilities to permit Cisco Areas to watch occupancy in several areas of the ground. They’re additionally geared up with built-in temperature, humidity, and air high quality (VoC) sensors to supply knowledge on environmental efficiency.
- Cisco Collaboration Units The PENN 1 workplace is supplied with 92 Cisco collaboration gadgets (Desk Professionals, Desk Cameras, Precision Cameras, Room Bars, Room Kits, and Board Professionals) to make sure each area is video enabled for an inclusive hybrid work expertise. Cisco Room Navigators allow seamless room reserving, calendar view, assembly data, and assembly extension with real-time occupancy visualization.
- Cisco Meraki good cameras: The 27 Meraki MV12 cameras deliver bodily safety and superior analytics and insights.
- PoE (Energy over Ethernet): We energy all the things from lighting and shades to environmental situations over the community and accumulate sensor knowledge to feed into Cisco Areas and energy the Sensible Workspaces software.
By combining these Cisco merchandise and options, it allowed us to create superb worker experiences that ship a sustainable, but optimistic working setting, conducive to each collaboration and particular person work.
Delivering outcomes throughout the enterprise
With the brand new hybrid work design, we lowered the ground plan of PENN 1 by 25% via area optimization. Each room was constructed with function to amplify the intersection of individuals and area, whatever the office anybody is bodily in. We used the info from our total expertise stack to energy quite a few outcomes and advantages together with:
- Combined presence enablement: 100% of areas within the new workplace at the moment are video enabled, and we elevated the variety of collaboration areas by 40%. We’re connecting folks in new methods once they’re within the workplace, whereas nonetheless being inclusive of distant contributors, as 98% of conferences may have at the very least one distant participant.
- Area optimization: We enabled 2X the variety of folks to be seated in half the area, with quite a lot of completely different room designs tailor-made to cater to quite a lot of completely different working types and desires, with out compromising person expertise.
- Wellness and person expertise: With 20% of the world’s inhabitants being neurodiverse, we designed the workplace to cater to various sensory and area wants with acoustics and customized mild and temperature controls.
- Power effectivity and sustainability: Power decreased by 36% purely from the change in design, with out making an allowance for the ground plan discount. We turned all related endpoints into an power networking micro-power grid that’s absolutely tracked, managed, and monitored and eradicated the necessity for 3,000 lbs (about 1360.78 kg). of metal and 1,000 lbs. of copper wiring materials by deploying PoE infrastructure.
- Price effectivity: We skilled a 5% discount in CapEx, and saved $250k in development prices.
1 is now a real testomony to the distinctive energy of our portfolio, and the outcomes enabled via the unification of networking with collaboration and safety. With superb experiences turning into the norm for our workforce and quick access to data-driven insights for knowledgeable enterprise choice making, the office is absolutely geared up to face the take a look at of time and ship outcomes for workers, clients, IT, and everybody throughout the enterprise.
Paving the trail towards chance
The PENN 1 workplace in New York Metropolis proudly stands for example of what the way forward for workplaces can appear to be, and the mannequin we use as we develop different workplaces world wide. The platform we constructed with PENN 1 is similar mannequin deployed at our workplaces in ATL, Washington DC, Milan, London, Paris, and shortly to be Austin. What’s most enjoyable, is the convenience with which we can assist our clients obtain related outcomes.
With Cisco Areas, all the things turns into a sensor. For the primary time, we’ve digitized actual property with the info units from current Cisco expertise that permit us to optimize area like by no means earlier than. This units the stage for wayfinding, asset monitoring, utilization, and extra. With Cisco networking in place, there may be highly effective knowledge we can assist you leverage. When you have Cisco networking and collaboration gadgets, that set expands. The pliability permits us to fulfill our clients the place they’re and layer on high of what they have already got.
Our workplaces give folks a motive to come back to the workplace, enabling higher collaboration in every single place. We’ve already confirmed that we are able to do our particular person work from wherever. However we’ve amplified the expertise with expertise as an asset that may present insights to not solely IT, however different influencers and consumers within the market whether or not it’s actual property or the top of retail operations.
We’re altering the conversations we are able to have with our clients round what’s doable and shaping the way forward for good constructing expertise with the ability of unified knowledge.
To study extra, try this video, learn the PENN 1 case examine, and discover Cisco Areas
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