Cisco wanted to modernize its underutilized and outdated actual property portfolio to assist new and future methods of working.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 area in New York Metropolis into a sensible, data-driven setting that optimizes area utilization, improves person expertise, and serves as a mannequin for Cisco workplaces worldwide.
In at present’s world the place many workers can work from wherever with a secure web connection, getting workers into an workplace might be a battle. Why drive whenever you can sit comfortably in your individual area (and sweatpants)? This employee mentality catapulted into fruition with the pandemic. Years later, the workplace is not the first-choice area for a lot of staff. Actually, it should “earn” the commute. So, how did we create an workplace that workers need to and revel in going to and not using 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For years, our actual property portfolio had been underutilized and outdated.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 Sensible Constructing enterprise at Cisco. However the pandemic introduced additional readability. With the altering insurance policies, we noticed a better have to downsize, and discover solutions to questions we by no means had to consider comparable to:
- How many individuals are utilizing a sure ground 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 accessible to them?
- Will I have the ability to work comfortably and effectively whereas I’m within the workplace?
We knew the info we wanted 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 an alternative of counting on inconsistent badging information, we started to take a look at how we may use the community to unify the disparate parts throughout our infrastructure and visualize spatial information so we may harness the total energy of the Cisco expertise in our workplaces. And we had the right workplace to begin with— PENN 1 in New York Metropolis.
Divesting to speculate
Our formal design course of sometimes concerned our companions, together with architects and Mechanical Electrical Plumbing (MEB) corporations. Nevertheless, when that was halted as a result of pandemic, we introduced the method inside Cisco and began serious about the issue in another way and put the top person expertise first. We knew that the best way we used area was ceaselessly going to alter, and the notion of “divest to speculate” was constructed inside the finance group. The aim was to spend money on key workplace places and create hubs versus a number of underutilized areas.
Because it sometimes goes, organizations transition portfolio by way of 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 aim was to create an workplace that may be a magnet for workers and clients, a spot they may come to collaborate, meet, have fun, and extra.
To get began, we took a unique strategy than typical. As an alternative of designing the expertise across the area, we constructed the area round the expertise. We introduced collectively the most effective collective information of various minds and experiences from Cisco IT and Office Sources (WPR) to discover a strategy to unify our expertise and create a platform that may be versatile sufficient to adapt to the long run. 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 wanted to get a greater understanding of how the area was getting used, and what sort of infrastructure we may leverage to get perception, whereas guaranteeing the worker expertise could be the most effective 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 objectives, in addition to making the important information accessible to the suitable groups to assist 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 information already existed in our IT setting, we simply wanted to unify it to bridge the hole between Operational Know-how (OT,) Data Know-how (IT,) and actual property. We had been ready to do that with Cisco Areas, which allowed us to extract and mixture the info in a means 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 units 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 objectives. We unified information throughout the 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 units 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 several areas of the ground. They’re additionally geared up 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 units (Desk Execs, Desk Cameras, Precision Cameras, Room Bars, Room Kits, and Board Execs) to make sure each area is video enabled for an inclusive hybrid work expertise. Cisco Room Navigators allow seamless room reserving, calendar view, assembly info, and assembly extension with real-time occupancy visualization.
- Cisco Meraki sensible cameras: The 27 Meraki MV12 cameras carry bodily safety and superior analytics and insights.
- PoE (Energy over Ethernet): We energy every part from lighting and shades to environmental situations over the community and gather sensor information to feed into Cisco Areas and energy the Sensible Workspaces software.
By combining these Cisco merchandise and options, it allowed us to create wonderful worker experiences that ship a sustainable, but constructive working setting, conducive to each collaboration and particular person work.
Delivering outcomes throughout the enterprise
With the brand new hybrid work design, we decreased the ground plan of PENN 1 by 25% by area optimization. Each room was constructed with goal to amplify the intersection of individuals and area, whatever the office anybody is bodily in. We used the info from our complete expertise stack to energy quite a few outcomes and advantages together with:
- Blended 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 after they’re within the workplace, whereas nonetheless being inclusive of distant members, as 98% of conferences may have at the very least one distant participant.
- House optimization: We enabled 2X the variety of folks to be seated in half the area, with quite a lot of totally different room designs tailor-made to cater to quite a lot of totally different working types and wishes, 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 gentle and temperature controls.
- Power effectivity and sustainability: Power decreased by 36% purely from the change in design, with out considering the ground plan discount. We turned all linked endpoints into an power networking micro-power grid that’s totally 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.
- Value 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 by the unification of networking with collaboration and safety. With wonderful experiences turning into the norm for our workforce and quick access to data-driven insights for knowledgeable enterprise resolution making, the office is totally geared up to face the check 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 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 benefit with which we can assist our clients obtain comparable outcomes.
With Cisco Areas, every part turns into a sensor. For the primary time, we’ve digitized actual property with the info units from present Cisco expertise that enable 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 information we can assist you leverage. When you’ve got Cisco networking and collaboration units, that set expands. The pliability permits us to satisfy 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 will 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 pinnacle of retail operations.
We’re altering the conversations we will have with our clients round what’s attainable and shaping the way forward for sensible constructing expertise with the ability of unified information.
To study extra, take a look at this video, learn the PENN 1 case examine, and discover Cisco Areas
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