Using smart space technology to enhance your visitor experience, improve your operations and reduce cost

SMART SPACE TECHNOLOGY — From sensors to geofencing and more efficient exchange of information. The idea of smart spaces has the potential to change the way we approach things like security, compliance and even visitor management. With help from Gartner® research we’re digging into how you can use smart space technology to improve your visitor management processes.

In a recent report Gartner® wrote that “Smart spaces represent a new approach in terms of design and integration patterns and architectures to create new outcomes from a catalog of legacy, new and emerging technologies and services.”[1]

But how can you use smart space technologies to improve your visitor management, security and compliance processes? That’s what we’ll take a look at in this article.

What are smart spaces?

The easiest way to explain smart spaces is that they are physical spaces that are enhanced by technology to make life easier and safer for the people who use the space. For companies this often means facilities equipped with technology to make the workers more efficient and productive, the facility operations less costly and more sustainable, and the experience of clients, partners, and other visitors more pleasant.

What are the top use cases for smart space technology?

While there are a number of use cases for smart space technology such as smart access, air quality monitoring and energy management, the Gartner® report Emerging Tech: Top Use Cases in Smart Spaces¹ found that “Resource management has emerged as the smart space use case that is most impactful in unlocking greater operational efficiency.”

The report further detailed that “Resource management consists of a variety of single or multiple use cases across industries such as space planning, space inventory and occupancy management, workspace management, asset life cycle management or entire facility management, and more such use cases.”

In a similar vein the publication IndustryWeek listed safe environments, smart factories, remote manufacturing and hybrid work as the most valuable aspects of smart space solutions.²

Looking at safety applications they focused on how it can help protect employees as well as spaces and the ability to easily monitor compliance. For smart factories they highlighted asset tracking, analytics and automation, and for remote manufacturing and hybrid work they focused on the ability to provide workers with what they need to maintain operations no matter where they are located.

How can smart spaces and smart space technology enhance your business?

While the specific benefit you gain from implementing smart space technology will always depend on the technology, space or organization in question, there are a couple of ways in which your business can benefit from smart spaces that we want to highlight here, and that is cost reduction, risk mitigation, and an enhanced experience.

Reduce cost

Smart spaces can help reduce energy spend through things like real-time adjustments of heating, cooling and lighting based on changes in weather or building occupancy. In the same sense monitoring occupancy trends will let you strategically scale facility services based on an estimated number of occupants.

Mitigate risk

The monitoring and remote access capabilities usually offered by smart space technology allow operations leaders, facility management, maintenance, and security to spot issues when they arise or even prevent them entirely. Spotting early warning signs of problems with infrastructure or occupancy is how smart space technology can help reduce repair cost or inconveniencing visitors and employees.

Enhance experience

Smart access technology, especially technology that ties into your security systems, like employee check-in systems with a geofence app or visitor QR sign-in will help immensely when it comes to improving the experience for occupants while also helping you provide a safer, more protected space.

Applications for smart space technology in visitor management

While the term “smart” is often attached to technological gadgets like phones, televisions, and sound systems or even homes and offices, the common denominator that makes all of these things “smart” is the connection to the internet and in most cases the IoT (internet of things).

When it comes to smart spaces, and especially smart space technology within visitor management, the common denominator is less a connection to the internet (although this is often a prerequisite) and more the exchange of data needed to make the visitor experience better and more secure.

These are only a few examples of how smart space technologies can tie into the field of visitor management to make your facilities more secure while also making life easier for your occupants. Depending on your industry and the size of your organization there are undoubtedly dozens more.