Cisco wanted to modernize its underutilized and outdated actual property portfolio to assist new and future methods of working. By leveraging its personal, distinctive networking and collaboration applied sciences, Cisco was ready to rework its PENN 1 office house in New York Metropolis into a sensible, data-driven setting that optimizes house utilization, improves person expertise, and serves as a mannequin for Cisco workplaces worldwide.
In as we speak’s world the place many staff can work from anyplace with a steady web connection, getting staff into an workplace could be a battle. Why drive whenever you can sit comfortably in your individual house (and sweatpants)? This employee mentality catapulted into fruition with the pandemic. Years later, the workplace is now not the first-choice house for a lot of employees. In reality, it should “earn” the commute. So, how did we create an workplace that staff wish to and revel in going to with out a 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For years, our actual property portfolio had been underutilized and outdated.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 once I started main the Good Constructing enterprise at Cisco. However the pandemic introduced additional readability. With the altering insurance policies, we noticed a larger must downsize, and discover solutions to questions we by no means had to consider similar 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 of 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 selections existed on the wi-fi community. Nevertheless, it wasn’t available or straightforward to entry. So as a substitute of counting on inconsistent badging information, we started to have a look at how we may use the community to unify the disparate elements throughout our infrastructure and visualize spatial information so we may harness the total energy of the Cisco know-how in our workplaces. And we had the right workplace to start out with— PENN 1 in New York Metropolis.
Divesting to take a position
Our formal design course of usually concerned our companions, together with architects and Mechanical Electrical Plumbing (MEB) companies. Nevertheless, when that was halted because of the pandemic, we introduced the method within Cisco and began excited about the issue otherwise and put the tip person expertise first. We knew that the best way we used house was perpetually going to vary, and the notion of “divest to take a position” was constructed within the finance group. The purpose was to put money into key workplace places and create hubs versus a number of underutilized areas.
Because it usually goes, organizations transition portfolio when it comes to house each ten to fifteen years — the usual size of a company lease. As a part of this pure evolution and “divest to take a position” technique, we selected to close down seven workplaces across the New York Metropolis space to put money into the modernization of PENN 1 and our new hybrid work mannequin. The purpose was to create an workplace that might be a magnet for workers and prospects, a spot they may come to collaborate, meet, have fun, and extra.
To get began, we took a unique method than typical. As a substitute of designing the know-how across the house, we constructed the house round the know-how. We introduced collectively the most effective collective data of numerous minds and experiences from Cisco IT and Office Assets (WPR) to discover a technique to unify our know-how and create a platform that might be versatile sufficient to adapt to the longer term. We wished to make sure we may simply make adjustments and improve the know-how 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 house was getting used, and how much infrastructure we may leverage to get perception, whereas guaranteeing the worker expertise can be the most effective that it could possibly be. It wasn’t simply concerning the house. It was additionally concerning the new methods of working, our sustainability and wellness targets, in addition to making the essential information obtainable to the precise groups to assist these initiatives. If we did it proper, we’d create a workspace that would scale for future wants and tendencies.
Right here’s the gorgeous factor. With our highly effective portfolio of networking, collaboration, and safety options — this information 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 had been ready to do that with Cisco Areas, which allowed us to extract and combination the info in a manner that made sense and was reportable to ship outcomes for everybody.
Cisco Areas is a single scalable, dependable cloud platform that digitizes house 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 particular groups extracting the info for his or her individualized targets. We unified information throughout all the 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 flexibility to view and maintain open workspaces and rooms. It runs on Webex collaboration gadgets all through the ability.
- Cisco Catalyst 9000 switches and entry factors: 43 Cisco Catalyst 9166 Wi-Fi 6E APs are deployed in a high-density design to offer wonderful protection and seamless roaming and maximize location-detection capabilities to permit Cisco Areas to observe occupancy in numerous areas of the ground. They’re additionally outfitted with built-in temperature, humidity, and air high quality (VoC) sensors to offer information on environmental efficiency.
- Cisco Collaboration Gadgets The PENN 1 workplace is supplied with 92 Cisco collaboration gadgets (Desk Execs, Desk Cameras, Precision Cameras, Room Bars, Room Kits, and Board Execs) to make sure each house 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 sensible cameras: The 27 Meraki MV12 cameras convey bodily safety and superior analytics and insights.
- PoE (Energy over Ethernet): We energy the whole lot from lighting and shades to environmental situations over the community and accumulate sensor information to feed into Cisco Areas and energy the Good Workspaces software.
By combining these Cisco merchandise and options, it allowed us to create wonderful 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 diminished the ground plan of PENN 1 by 25% by way of house optimization. Each room was constructed with objective to amplify the intersection of individuals and house, whatever the office anybody is bodily in. We used the info from our total know-how 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 individuals, as 98% of conferences could have at the very least one distant participant.
- Area optimization: We enabled 2X the variety of folks to be seated in half the house, with quite a lot of completely different room designs tailor-made to cater to quite a lot of completely different working kinds 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 house wants with acoustics and customized gentle 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 linked endpoints into an vitality 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 building prices.
1 is now a real testomony to the distinctive energy of our portfolio, and the outcomes enabled by way of the unification of networking with collaboration and safety. With wonderful experiences changing into the norm for our workforce and quick access to data-driven insights for knowledgeable enterprise resolution making, the office is absolutely outfitted to face the take a look at of time and ship outcomes for workers, prospects, 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 like, and the mannequin we use as we develop different workplaces around the globe. 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 may help our prospects obtain comparable outcomes.
With Cisco Areas, the whole lot turns into a sensor. For the primary time, we’ve digitized actual property with the info units from current Cisco know-how that permit us to optimize house 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 information we may help you leverage. In case you have Cisco networking and collaboration gadgets, that set expands. The pliability permits us to satisfy our prospects the place they’re and layer on high of what they have already got.
Our workplaces give folks a purpose 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 anyplace. However we’ve amplified the expertise with know-how as an asset that may present insights to not solely IT, however different influencers and patrons 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 prospects round what’s attainable and shaping the way forward for sensible constructing know-how with the ability of unified information.
To be taught extra, take a look at this video, learn the PENN 1 case examine, and discover Cisco Areas
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