This blog is part of our ‘Sensors 101’ series for workplace teams.
There are all sorts of different occupancy sensors on the market, and workplace teams can use them in various ways to get the information they are looking for.
Here are some of the more general workplace sensors that offices have traditionally adopted in the past:
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Desk and phone sensors: These passive infrared sensors are activated by both heat signatures and motion. They can be used to increase a workplace’s office-to-desk ratio, and provide comparative data on how teams – or even whole departments – are utilizing desk space.
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Meeting room sensors: These could include less-complex ‘people counter’ sensors installed above doorways. Typically, meeting room presence sensors can help businesses understand whether their meeting spaces are the correct size for specific purposes, as well as how they are being used, which can inform design changes.
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People counters: These basic sensors typically use object recognition technology to capture foot traffic in offices, entryways, staircases, breakout areas or other shared spaces. They don’t provide much more information than numbers, but they can be helpful for places like sports stadiums, supermarkets or retail stores – especially where capacity limits are in effect.
But beyond these basic occupancy sensors, there are now much more sophisticated workplace sensors that provide real-time updates and live data streams of what’s happening around the office. That means business leaders can glean valuable insights from the information that the sensors collect for more informed decision-making.
XY Sense occupancy sensors, for example, send completely anonymized data (only the X and Y coordinates) that show up-to-the-second activity around the workplace. The real-time nature of this data capture, combined with the positional accuracy and immense coverage of each individual XY Sense unit, means that you’re finally able to understand utilization of a whole space – not just a device logged in and left on a desk, or a ‘person count’ in an entryway.
You can see the team clustered at a couch in the project space and for how many hours after touchdown desks are used by a particular team or neighborhood. This can help both commercial real estate (CRE) managers and business leaders understand how their space is being used – which is particularly helpful when trying to transition a workplace to a more hybrid environment.
There are plenty of different ways workplace teams use occupancy sensors, so make sure you understand your pain points before choosing the right product for your needs.
To learn more about XY Sense, download our solution brief or a book a demo with our team.
