In this digital era, one of the factors helping corporations increase the performance of their workforce and therefore improved output, is to modify the atmosphere and environment in the workplace. Currently, ‘Smart Office’ is the concept applied by many leading companies to make this change in their workplace. It has been proven that smart-based office design can really change office life for the better.
What is Smart Office?
“Smart Office” is a work environment concept designed to respond to and motivate employees to increase productivity and creativity using technologies to facilitate and create harmony under the concept of a ‘happy workplace’.
The main focus of Smart Office is to adapt IoT (Internet of Things) solutions and technology, sometimes called ‘smart solutions’ to the office space. Instances of smart solutions that can be connected to each other and controlled easily via mobile applications are as follows:
- Intelligent Control Solution : A system that allows electric appliances to be automatically turned on and off depending on the occupancy of the room.
- Smart Booking System : A system that helps you book a meeting room or Hot Desk easily via a mobile application.
- Visitor Management System : Smart technology designed for visitor management using facial scanning or a QR Code.
- HR Mobile Application : A system allowing workers to record their time-in and time-out in real time using GPS, including functions for requesting and approval of employees’ expenses and overtime payments.
- Smart Digital Whiteboard : A solution that simplifies presentations in meetings.
- Smart Film : A solution allowing transparent partitions to be converted to matte for privacy purposes.
Applying this technology in the office helps promote convenience and flexibility for employees, increasing well-being for a happy workplace.
Thai Businesses Facing All-around Problems
Thailand’s business sector, whether large or small in scale, face a number of internal challenges, reducing the ability to compete with rival companies, restricting growth. These challenges include:
- The gap between older and newer generations of employees whose working mindsets and behaviors vary greatly;
- Internal communications that are troublesome, adding to work ineffectiveness;
- Inadequate labor costs meaning companies are unable to hire more personnel to alleviate workloads;
- High leasing costs affect value: most companies pay high office rental rates but cannot utilize all facilities on offer.
These are familiar problems facing Thai businesses, regardless of size. Many corporations attempt to solve such problems by investing heavily but this affects sustainability. However, taking advantage of the Smart Office concept can mitigate and even solve these problems.
How Can Smart Office Help to Solve Problems for Thai Companies?
- Use Smart Office to motivate and inspire employees.
Smart Office builds good working relationships and a more harmonious office environment. This helps to unify employee feedback. The company may then enjoy a higher profile and attract potential workers, while existing employees can regain the motivation and enjoy increased creativity. - Use Smart Office to Increase Productivity
If the workplace implements new environmental designs with modern facilities to support their workforce, minimizing unnecessary working processes, employees will undoubtedly improve focus on their jobs. Increased productivity, performed efficiently to desired outcomes, benefits the overall performance of the company. - Use Smart Office to Increase Value and Reduce Costs.
With the modern office design concept, office space can be utilized fully. Businesses can take advantage of technology to increase productivity and efficiency, allocating employees to where they are most needed within the corporation. This reduces workloads and therefore, the pressure on employees.
Therefore, Smart Office is an important, if not a critical issue for Thai companies to adopt in present times, because it can help increase performance and competitiveness, promoting the opportunity for a leap in growth.
Key Points
- Smart Office is a concept designed to meet the actual needs of employees, implementing IoT technology to help employees thrive and remain flexible at work.
- The problems facing Thai businesses can be mitigated and solved sustainably by designing offices as ‘Smart Offices’.
- Smart Office can be used to unify employee feedback leading to solutions affecting people, places, equipment and ultimately, business costs. Implementing Smart Office offers huge benefits to Thai business.
