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Posts Tagged ‘actual utilization’
Time To Take A More Strategic Approach To Energy Management
November 17th, 2011
Energy management is becoming a greater focus for many organizations, and for good reason. Industry uses one third of all of the energy consumed in the United States and totals costs of up to $100 billion a year. Many companies and organizations have now begun to put energy management programs in place but unfortunately many of these only focus on reducing energy consumption through efficient lighting or more efficient HVAC systems.
The truth is if these organizations want to reduce their energy consumption and costs, a more strategic approach needs to be taken. The energy consumption of all rooms and resources used by the organization needs to be managed and monitored, not just upgraded to more efficient equipment.
Many times rooms, resources, and equipment insides an organization can go unused or underutilized and if organizations don’t have occupancy detection and solutions to track actual utilization in place they have no way of knowing. If organizations put these solutions in place they can then manage and monitor the energy consumption of rooms and resources to reduce energy consumption where and when resources are going unused.
While upgrading and updating lighting and HVAC systems is beneficial for organizations, a more strategic approach needs to be taken when trying to reduce energy consumption. It’s much more important to change the way you are using your resources, so your organization is actually making the way they work more efficient, not just their equipment.
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Actual Utilization & Occupancy Detection
Posted in Energy Management | 
Tags: actual utilization, energy management, occupancy detection, reduce energy consumption
How Federal Agencies Can Speed Up The Growth Of Telework Programs
November 16th, 2011
A FedScoop survey of over 300 IT executives from both federal government agencies and the private sector about the growth of telework in both the public and private sector.
Federal agencies are now required to put telework plans and policies in place as a result of the Telework Enhancement Act. Although federal agencies are required to put these plans and policies in place, according to the survey these federal agencies may still be behind the private sector when it comes to telework.
Facts From FedScoop’s Telework Survey
- 9 in 10 federal agency managers said they trust their employees to telework, but only 61% of those surveyed said their managers allow them to telework. This would suggest that buy-in from management may not be the problem, but having the technology in place to telework is. Federal agencies should utilize on-demand and SaaS to deliver the same software and programs an employee would access in the office wherever they may be.
- 43% of federal employees believe that their agencies do not provide them with the necessary technology to telecommute, where only 13% of private sector employees shared those feelings.
- 75% of federal employees acknowledged that their agency has designated a telework coordinator, but just over half of these people had ever met with that person.
How Can Federal Agencies Get Up To Speed When It Comes To Telework?
- Utilize On-Demand Software and SaaS. When creating an environment for employees to work remotely, it’s important that they have access to all of the same things they can access in the office as well. On Demand software and Software as a Service (SaaS) allow employees to use the same software they use in the office to get their jobs done wherever they can access a web browser.
- Implement Office Hoteling & Hot Desking Programs. With more employees telecommuting there will be an increase in empty desks and underutilized space. Federal agencies should no longer provide permanent desks and workspaces to employees who aren’t frequently in the office. Instead allow employees to schedule desks and workspaces for when they will be in the office with Office Hoteling and Hot Desking Solutions.
- Efficiently Manage Video Conferencing & Teleconferencing Equipment & Resources. Just because employees will no longer be in the same physical space doesn’t mean there will be no collaboration and meetings. Meetings can happen through video and teleconferencing. It is important to manage these resources efficiently. Federal agencies should implement scheduling software that allows them to manage video conferencing equipment, phone bridges, and employees’ schedules all at once.
- Analyze The Actual Utilization of Rooms & Resources. Much has been made about how much the government can save if federal agencies embrace telecommuting. Costs can be significantly reduced through telework, but only if the agencies understand where those savings can come from. Actual utilization of rooms and resources can be monitored and measured and then analyzed to help federal agencies reduce office space, energy consumption, and all the costs that go along with them.
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Capturing & Analyzing Actual Utilization
Posted in Alternative Workspace, Energy Management, Saas, Workplace Business Intelligence, Workplace and Facility Management | Tags: actual utilization, federal telework, FedScoop Telework Survey, Government Hot Desking, Government Office Hoteling, government telework, Saas, scheduling software, Software-as-a-service, telework enhancement act
Executive Order Calls For Reduction in Costs Associated With Travel & IT Devices
November 15th, 2011
In an executive order released by the President earlier this morning, agencies are required to establish a plan for reducing costs associated with travel and IT devices.
The order does acknowledge that travel may be necessary for an effective functioning government, but agencies are now expected to formulate plans to incorporate video conferencing and teleconferencing where they can to reduce costs.
In another measure to reduce federal agencies’ costs, the order also calls for the analysis of the actual usage of employee IT devices. This measure is to ensure that devices aren’t going under-utilized or unused.
With the order calling for actual utilization analysis and for more IT devices to be added for video conferencing federal agencies would be wise to look into solutions to monitor and manage the usage of all of their equipment.
When it comes to video conferencing, organizations generally have their video conferencing equipment in a conference room. It’s important that this conference room only be scheduled by employees who need the video conferencing equipment that is located there. Scheduling software allows an organization to ensure that the video conferencing equipment wouldn’t be tied up in a meeting that doesn’t require video conferencing.
Taking it a step further, business intelligence software like Workplace BI, will monitor and analyze the usage of employees’ IT devices and the rooms and resources they schedule- like a video conferencing conference room. This allows federal agencies and any other organization to use real data to make decisions to reduce costs, as was addressed in the executive order.
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Analyzing Usage With Business Intelligence Software
Read The Executive Order
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle… Your Office Space
July 14th, 2011
Yesterday a colleague brought an article to my attention from a couple of months ago. The article takes the phrase we’ve heard so many times about disposing of our plastic bottles and old newspapers and applies it to office space.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle your office space. Organizations can reduce office space, reuse underutilized space, and even recycle that space by turning it into something else and putting it to use in different ways. This space could be currently filled by desks and cubes that are left unused by the mobile workforce. Organizations can then take this space and turn it into hot desks that can be reserved or even collaborative meeting space.
Before organizations Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle, they should first understand the actual utilization of that space they are looking to change. With out real data, an organization would simply be going on a hunch. With corporate real estate or office space being the second largest expense for an organization, I’m sure most executives would agree with me that altering your office space is something that shouldn’t be done on a hunch.
Understand Actual Space Utilization
Solutions are available that will allow your organization to understand the actual space utilization of your office space or real estate. Through occupancy detection and real estate business intelligence your organization can see how your space is being used in real time. These solutions also show trending data that will allow you to see how and when your space is used the most. By analyzing and understanding this real estate business intelligence your data your organization can effectively and efficiently make decisions to reduce, reuse, and recycle your office space.
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Tracking Actual Space Utilization
Real Estate Business Intelligence
PeopleCube’s CEO Featured In Buildings Magazine Article on Space Utilization
July 12th, 2011
In this Month’s “Buildings” Magazine our CEO John Anderson was heavily featured in Kylie Wroblaski’s cover story, “Go With The Workflow: Structuring workspace around how work is done allows for optimal utilization“. The article stresses the importance of understanding the actual utilization of an organization’s space.
In the article, our CEO, John Anderson is quoted as saying, “There’s a lot of wasted real estate usage. If you walk into a building, typically 40 to 50% of the real estate is not being used on a given day. I’m talking about conference rooms, cubicles, offices, etc. If I’ve got 40 to 50% of my building not being used, I’m spending a lot of money on energy that I don’t need.”
You can access the full article here.
Learn more about Tracking Actual Space Utilization