SURVEY REPORT

Smart Spaces:
Innovation Hides
in Plain Sight and
Openly Delights

Custom content for Meraki by studioID

 Introduction
Employees are more likely to bring their best selves to work when
the spaces where they work directly support productivity, security,
and comfort.

Unfortunately, many organizations struggle to create excellent work

environments, despite spending considerable resources on energy,
technology, and interior design. It’s common for indoor workspaces
to be congested, poorly organized, or hard to navigate. Some
areas may be too hot, too cold, or humid; others might be dark or
noisy; and some spots could have poor Wi-Fi signals. Poor space
configuration can hinder process automation, inadequate ventilation
can leave occupants feeling sluggish or unfocused, and floor layouts
may be at odds with foot-traffic patterns.

Meanwhile, new health considerations and the shift to hybrid work

have rapidly transformed occupancy levels and patterns. This has
changed what is needed to keep spaces comfortable and functional,
and to safeguard occupants and assets. Familiar solutions often
don’t work well with new challenges.

Common workspace issues persist because building owners and

operators often lack sufficient data and insight to identify, analyze,
and address these problems. This is where IT departments play
a pivotal role, coordinating on technology strategy to serve other
departments, such as facilities, operations, and human resources.

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Cloud-first technology offers new insight
and new opportunities. Advanced cameras
and sensors, robust Internet of Things (IoT)
connectivity, analytics, distributed computing,
and intelligent control can make workspaces
smarter and better. Only recently have these
technologies been combined to create
smart spaces that are not only effective and
flexible, but also affordable. Smart spaces
are a powerful yet unobtrusive way for
many organizations to increase productivity,
efficiency, and sustainability—and cut costs.

In smart spaces, network-connected

sensors and cameras collect data, which
they process in the devices themselves
(edge computing) as well as in the cloud.
Data from those systems can be correlated
with trends identified via precise,
automated observations of space conditions
and usage. Putting all this data together can
yield fresh insights into problems, as well as
new options to address challenges and A recent survey of three key sectors
boost performance. (conducted by CIO Dive on behalf of Cisco
Meraki) revealed considerable applications
and benefits of smart spaces solutions. Most
survey participants knew little about the
term “smart spaces,” even though several
key issues that smart spaces solutions can
address also happen to be top priorities for
all three sectors.

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About the survey
The CIO Dive-Cisco Meraki survey on smart R E S P O N S E BY S E C TO R :
spaces technology was fielded in Spring 2022.
It received 191 responses from top executives
and managers in the manufacturing, retail, and
K-12
K-12 education sectors. All participants work 28%
Manufacturing
42%
for organizations with at least 500 employees
and have at least one U.S. facility. Nearly
30% of participants were C-suite and other Retail
30%
top-level executives.

Most participants (61%) have primary job

responsibilities in IT or technology and 35% have
significant cybersecurity responsibilities. Nearly
one-third have a significant facilities focus.

CIO Dive polled participants about their

organizations’ overall priorities and challenges,
specific issues related to workspace and
performance, and use/awareness of a range
of smart spaces and related technologies.

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Learning to see the
value of smart spaces
“Many sectors have been working very The historic disconnect between IT and
inefficiently for a long time,” said David operational technology (OT) may account
Hoysan, Product Marketing Manager for for much of today’s low general awareness
Meraki. “Take manufacturing, for example. of smart spaces and how they can benefit
Plenty of manufacturers still rely heavily organizations.
on paper reports. Teams get together at
In the three sectors surveyed, OT
standup meetings in the morning. They look
encompasses everything from production
over charts and make guesses about what’s
equipment to business systems and
causing production problems. They know
educational tools. Since all three sectors
there’s a better way to find and fix these
rely heavily on activities that happen inside
problems using data and analytics, however,
their buildings, OT also can include facility
their production facilities often are not set
management technology and systems.
up to collect this information.”
Today, IT departments support a vast range
of technology and connectivity needs.
IT professionals tend to be comfortable
acquiring and supporting computers, servers,
networks, and data systems. However,
supporting the condition of physical spaces,
as well as the comfort, health, and safety
of the people in those spaces, often falls
outside the IT area of expertise.

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“Smart spaces sit at the convergence of “Smart spaces
sit at the
IT, OT, and IoT,” said Hoysan. “It’s about
applying traditional digital networking and
intelligence to physical spaces by connecting convergence of
technologies that may not have been IT, OT, and IoT.”
connected in the past.”
David Hoysan, Product
At first glance, smart spaces technology Marketing Manager for Meraki

looks like a traditional IT investment in digital

technology. However, its applications and
benefits extend far beyond the traditional
IT domain. This poses a conundrum
for IT professionals who evaluate and
buy technologies that address critical
organizational challenges and goals. The
way they’ve always envisioned IT may
constrain their ability to recognize the
value of blended IT/OT solutions. Smart Some benefits of smart spaces are evident
spaces can both challenge and expand their right away. For instance, monitoring
concept of what IT is. This growth process environmental conditions and occupancy in a
is valuable, but learning can take time. As IT facility and adjusting HVAC and lighting
professionals navigate this learning curve, for performance and energy uses can
their organizations could fall behind. quickly reduce energy bills. Also, the
lower carbon emissions associated with
energy savings can boost an organization’s
sustainability metrics.

Patience makes smart spaces technology

even more rewarding. Over the long term,
as spaces evolve to address changing
needs and opportunities, analyzing smart
spaces data can yield insights that transform
productivity, workflows, economics,
security, sustainability, and other key
performance indicators.

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 How smart spaces tech
aligns with top priorities
and challenges
In our survey, all three sectors generally shared these top organizational priorities: increasing
employee productivity/performance, reducing costs and inefficiencies, and enhancing the
experiences of employees, customers, and students. Smart spaces can support each of these
by revealing factors that hinder productivity, decrease efficiency, or cause waste.

TO P P R I O R I T I E S :
Overall
60
Manufacturing
45
Retail

K-12
30

15

0
Employee Reduced Enhanced Automated Business
productivity costs and engagement business agility and
and inefficiencies for customers, processes resilience
performance employees, or
students

TO P C H A L L E N G E S :
60

45

30

15

0
Workforce Cybersecurity Supply chain Best use Processes Employee Customer/
issues or labor or inventory of assets, too manual or faculty student
shortages spaces, or complex experience experience
people, and/
or resources

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Despite many differences, these sectors the proliferation of these devices across a
face similar challenges. The most prevalent facility (or hundreds of facilities) does not
issues mentioned by participants also tend appreciably increase the risk of cyberattack.
to be issues that smart spaces can help
“Cisco is the largest network cybersecurity
address. For instance, all sectors reported
company. We built security into both the
being strongly challenged by workforce
hardware and the platform that our smart
issues and labor shortages. Supply chain
spaces technology uses,” said Saralyn Dasig,
problems can also make it harder to get work
Senior Product Marketing Manager for IoT at
done. For K-12 education, top challenges
Cisco Meraki. “The best part is that security
differ somewhat. U.S. school districts are
is on by default. It does not need to be set up,
public sector organizations with many
configured, or tweaked on an ongoing basis.
noncommercial influences.
That makes security really easy to manage.”
Cybersecurity is a pressing concern for
Dasig also noted that since the cloud-
all three sectors. Technology that uses
first Meraki platform updates firmware
large numbers of cloud-managed sensors
automatically over the network, IT
and cameras might seem to expand an
departments need not worry that
organization’s attack surface. However,
connected infrastructure might be out of
when cybersecurity is baked into smart
date, and IT staff doesn’t need to manually
spaces technology at the most basic level,
update smart spaces devices.

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Accelerating smart
spaces adoption
It’s getting simpler for organizations— operations, and productivity, as well as
regardless of size or industry—to adopt how to maximize revenue despite supply
IoT technologies. They’re now easier to chain challenges,” Dasig said. “Making
manage and their data is more effortlessly decisions about how to improve performance
delivered and viewed. It’s simpler to derive requires a deep understanding of where
meaning and value from smart spaces data the organization is today. That includes
and to execute data-informed decisions the physical spaces where people work
about spaces. An intuitive, customizable and where they interact with customers or
dashboard integrates this insight; previously, students. What is really affecting current
data was presented more haphazardly over conditions and performance?”
the network.
Smart spaces can enhance decisions by
“In the past two years, multiple disruptions replacing assumptions or anecdotes about
have led organizations to take a fresh look at usage and conditions with consistent data.
how they might improve health and safety, This transcends temperature and lighting
control. Smart spaces also can track key
indicators of workflows, comparing them to
patterns of how people move through spaces
and complete tasks.

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“When you
have the data,
you can adjust
processes “The things that people end up correlating
with smart spaces data can be really
and measure surprising,” said Dasig. “Manufacturers may
improvement” look at pallet availability or packaging and
kitting. For a coffee shop, cups can be a
Saralyn Dasig, Senior Product
Marketing Manager for IoT at useful indicator of how well their spaces
Cisco Meraki and operations are performing.”

By tracking cups using computer vision from

smart spaces technology and inventory
system data, a company operating coffee
shops can clarify the entire journey from
drink order to pickup, Dasig said. “Following
cups can reveal process bottlenecks, which
can result in orders being left sitting too
long,” she added.

“When you have the data, you can adjust

processes and measure improvement,” said
Dasig. “Sometimes, focusing on one little
innocuous item can trigger a whole new
level of understanding.”

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Future-proofing
spaces and operations
Smart spaces solutions yield their greatest value when organizations view the business holistically.
Such insight comes from integrating camera and sensor data into business systems via application
programming interfaces (APIs). This ensures that no space—and no system—is left behind as
facilities and organizations evolve. In large measure, this is due to the ease of integration.

Integrating smart spaces with existing core systems (such as enterprise resource planning,
workforce management, energy management, or production management) does not require heavy
IT labor. Data streams pass between systems via APIs, offering considerable flexibility to change
how systems interact with each other and enable custom analyses to answer emerging questions.

Flexibility is especially valuable as organizations plan how to change their spaces. Our survey
asked participants for the reasons behind changes to their organizations’ spaces that are planned
for the next 12 to 24 months. For manufacturing and retail, the top two reasons for upcoming
space changes were cutting costs/waste and supporting growth. However, several other reasons
were nearly as important: talent acquisition/retention, changes in demand for their products/
services, security, creating healthier environments, sustainability, and more. For K-12, comfort/
attractiveness was the most popular reason for planned space changes, but only by a slim margin.

Overall Retail
R E A S O N S F O R P L A N N E D S PA C E C H A N G E S :
Manufacturing K-12

60

45

30

15

0
Cutting Talent Changes Healthier Comfort or
costs/ acquisition/ in demand environments attractiveness
waste retention or markets

Supporting Automation Security Sustainability Optimizing/

growth to improve protecting
efficiency existing
investments

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 When so many factors drive changes in workspaces, discovering
how to maximize the long-term value of spaces becomes essential—
and more complex. “The value that a space or facility can provide
will keep changing over time as the organization and external
conditions change,” Dasig said.

For instance, just a few years ago, only a handful of organizations

could have foreseen the radical shift in workspace configuration and
use, one that required more physical distance between people and
fewer people in workspaces. Similarly, who would have predicted
what a sudden shift to high levels of hybrid work would mean to
office environments? Intelligent, evidence-based insight into what
really supports the many types of value that spaces can offer will
help companies make smarter choices when they need to adapt to
changing circumstances or pursue new opportunities.

“The future of smart spaces is here, today,” said Dasig. “People have
been talking about this technology for years, but until very recently
it wasn’t practical. It would have required far more infrastructure,
complex configurations, and specialized skill sets. With today’s
cloud networking and computing options, a lot of those constraints
have been eliminated.”

Today, smart space technologies offer new opportunities to address

current challenges, such as cybersecurity, supply chain, inventory
control, and determining the best use of spaces. Companies
that pursue these opportunities will position themselves to stay
productive, competitive, and resilient in years to come.

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Cisco Meraki is a cloud-managed IT company
headquartered in San Francisco, California.
Their products include wireless, switching,
security, enterprise mobility management,
and security cameras, all centrally managed
from the web.

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