Enlighted, Inc - Experts & Thought Leaders

Siemens has introduced a set of new features and collaboration tools to its workplace technology solution Comfy, which will play a key role for businesses returning employees to the office, and simplify the shift to hybrid work. The new features are designed to address known employee concerns around hybrid working, such as a lack of social contact, difficulty with building and maintaining a network and a lack of collaboration opportunities. The new collaboration tools are part of Comfy’s ‘Flexible Spaces’ solution, and help create stronger community through a digitalised, app-based employee experience. Hybrid working schedules They maximise opportunities for employee collaboration and connection by providing employees with insights on colleagues’ in-office preferences and planned visits, and enable employees to find coworkers at the office. New features include: The booking feature integrates with calendar applications to allow delegates to make space reservations In-Office Preferences: Employees can set workspace locations so they can better see colleagues in the office by viewing their chosen workspace ‘address’ on a map within the application. They can also set and view in-office preference days to align their hybrid working schedules and maximise their office time. Coworker Future Filter: An in-app filter allows employees to find out when relevant coworkers are coming into the office so they can plan their hybrid work schedules in advance. The filter also eases the onboarding process for new hires, by enabling new team members to find relevant coworkers’ future hybrid schedules, and meet new faces across teams and building locations. Opt-in capabilities ensure that employees have control over schedule sharing. Coworker Delegate Booking: This feature simplifies the process for organising meetings and booking desks or conference rooms, by allowing employees to book spaces for teammates or assign delegates for reserving space. The booking feature integrates with calendar applications to allow delegates to make space reservations. Implementing hybrid working “Our new Flexible Spaces features alleviate the ‘empty office syndrome’ and enable companies to rebuild a sense of community, by improving the convenience of space reservations and creating opportunities for collaboration and connection,” said Stefan Schwab, CEO, Comfy | Enlighted. Businesses must carefully consider how they can elevate the employee experience" “To succeed in implementing hybrid working and returning employees to offices, businesses must carefully consider how they can elevate the employee experience. These new tools build on Comfy’s core promise of making it easier for employees to connect with each other and their physical offices, by allowing them greater visibility into when their colleagues will be in the office for activity-based work.” Workplace-essential solutions A survey published by Siemens in November 2021 found that employees see clear benefits to flexible working, including better work/life balance (73%), ability to work flexibly (59%), and improved productivity (38%). However, many cited lack of social contact (65%), difficulty building and maintaining a network (52%), and a lack of collaboration opportunities (43%) as major drawbacks. Comfy provides a suite of workplace-essential solutions that drive more positive engagement between occupants and their spaces. The new collaboration tools join additional recent enhancements to Comfy’s employee experience and space management capabilities, including Neighbourhoods, a way to group spaces for organisational assignment; In-App Check-In, a way for maximising reservable space; Space Traits, a way to categorise and track employee space preferences, and Insights Access, a data API that provides data insights for space planning and real estate portfolio decisions.

Salesforce and Siemens announced a strategic partnership to develop a new workplace technology suite that will support businesses globally to safely reopen and deliver the future experience for physical workplaces. The partnership will combine Salesforce’s Work.com, powered by Customer 360, and Siemens’ Smart Infrastructure solutions, including Comfy and Enlighted, to orchestrate the processes, people and things that are essential to creating safe, connected workplaces for the future. Key solutions include a ‘touchless office’ with mobile employee boarding passes for building and elevator entry, and a safe occupancy management system, which allows employees to reserve conference rooms and desks through Comfy’s app that sends real-time alerts as thresholds are reached. Accurate emergency response Additionally, by leveraging occupancy and location data provided by Enlighted and aggregated within Comfy, including employee check-in and desk and room reservations, businesses will be able to augment their manual contact tracing in Work.com. This will allow for a faster and more accurate emergency response. Contact tracing will be an opt-in solution to respect users’ privacy. Siemens and Salesforce will be the first to deploy the new solutions in their own offices Combining best-in-class IoT technology from Siemens with Salesforce’s Work.com solutions will enable customers to make data-driven decisions based on real-time data and create a flexible framework for the future workplace experience. Siemens and Salesforce will be the first to deploy the new solutions in their own offices, including Siemens Smart Infrastructure headquarters in Zug, Switzerland, and Salesforce Tower in San Francisco. Smart infrastructure solutions “The safe return of people to the workplace is a global challenge, and it’s vital that companies protect their employees to build trust and confidence,” said Roland Busch, Deputy CEO and member of the managing board of Siemens AG. “Together with Salesforce we can swiftly support businesses around the world to implement technology which supports employees as they return to the office, while laying the foundations of long-term digital transformation in workplaces.” “Organisations worldwide are beginning to reimagine the future workplace experience, putting their employees’ health and safety at the centre of their digital transformations,” said Alex Dayon, President and Chief Strategy Officer, Salesforce. “By combining Siemens’ Smart Infrastructure solutions with Salesforce’s Work.com, we are giving companies the tools to make smart, data-driven decisions quickly and the confidence to reopen safely.” Cloud-connected smart sensors Siemens plans to contribute technology from its Smart Infrastructure portfolio, including IoT solutions company Enlighted and workplace experience solution Comfy. Data is collected multiple times per second by cloud-connected smart sensors from Enlighted. Enlighted’s Building IoT platform creates ‘sensory systems’ throughout the building, giving real-time insight and analytics into how the building is used, and providing occupancy and location services for people and assets. Employees are able to view and reserve desks and meeting rooms that adhere to distancing guidelines in real time Comfy’s Safe Workplace Solution features an employee-facing app which enables businesses to keep people informed and productive, while providing a workspace that is safe and compliant with local regulations. Employees are able to view and reserve desks and meeting rooms that adhere to distancing guidelines in real time, search for and navigate to health and safety amenities and request services such as sanitisation. Risk management plans In addition, Comfy Insights offers businesses an analytics dashboard to better understand how offices are being used, informing a smarter, data-driven strategy for future workplaces. Salesforce’s Work.com, powered by Customer 360, is an all-new suite of applications and advisory resources to help business and community leaders around the world reopen safely. Work.com’s essentials solutions – including Workplace Command Center, Contact Tracing, Emergency Response Management and Rapid Crisis Response – empower customers to make data-driven decisions, build business continuity and risk management plans, and communicate effectively with stakeholders at scale.

Siemens Building Technologies Division is acquiring Enlighted Inc., a provider of smart IoT (Internet of Things) systems in buildings, headquartered in the Silicon Valley. The company is a successful player in the smart building industry, bringing an advanced digital sensory system to market. Both parties have agreed not to disclose financial details. Closing is expected in the third quarter of 2018. Enlighted will be managed as an independent legal entity and wholly-owned subsidiary of Siemens Industry Inc. “Enlighted has a strong footprint in revolutionising building intelligence by developing a multi-sensor-based IoT platform, using the power of data,” said Matthias Rebellius, CEO of Siemens Building Technologies. “With this move we are demonstrating our commitment to drive digitalisation in the smart building industry.” Enlighted’s technological leadership Enlighted achieved its technological leadership with a world-class IoT platform for commercial real estate. The platform consists of multi-function sensors, distributed computing, its own network, and software applications. The beating heart of Enlighted’s platform are smart sensors, securely streaming data to the cloud. In addition, the platform enables reduced energy use, improved space utilisation, better environmental management and greater asset utilisation. Enlighted platform lowers costs “With Siemens as a global partner, we will both accelerate innovation and market adoption of our smart building technologies on an international scale,” said Joe Costello, Chairman and CEO of Enlighted Inc. In combination with Siemens solutions, the Enlighted platform can optimise the energy efficiency of HVAC systems Enlighted analyses and visualises the collected sensor data to drive down operating costs and improve the inner life of a building. These sensors can be installed in every light fixture with the ability to collect data 65 times per second to detect environmental and occupancy changes and react to lighting and HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) needs in real-time. Based on an advanced smart lighting control application, today, the Enlighted platform can lower lighting costs of a building up to 85 percent when combined with advanced LED fixtures. In addition, the platform is able to locate people and assets within a building and analyse the occupancy of floors and rooms. Finally, in combination with Siemens solutions, the Enlighted platform can optimise the energy efficiency of HVAC systems. Revolutionising building intelligence The interaction between buildings and humans is crucial to increase productivity, energy efficiency and comfort in a building. From its inception, Enlighted has been focused on understanding how buildings can be made more efficient and the people who work in them more productive. Enlighted’s smart IoT platform with a digital sensory system applicable in any light fixture is a core element of revolutionising building intelligence by enhancing the dialogue between humans and buildings.