1.Optimization: Technology companies are optimizing portfolios and trimming costs to support rapid AI growth

2.Office: Technology companies are boosting office utilization and effectiveness, even as most maintain hybrid policies

3.Lab / R & D: Investment in lab and R&D spaces is accelerating to support advances in AI, but spaces lag in utilization tracking and data-led design

4.Data Strategy: To maximize space effectiveness, technology companies need a smart goal-driven data strategy to drive experience-led design and optimized service delivery

5.The Future: The technology workplace of the future with be a learning workspace that is innovation-driven, collaborative (between humans and with machines) and energy-conscious.

The race to lead in artificial intelligence (AI) is driving technology companies to innovate faster and increase investment by driving revenue growth and cutting costs. AI requires a huge investment, and to free up capital for investment in innovation, technology companies are increasing emphasis on portfolio optimization and trimming down costs from their real estate. Investments in space are increasingly data-driven and focused on overall business strategy.

While mandates for five days in the office, a recall of remote workers, and a hardening of hybrid policies is what makes headlines, 57% of technology occupiers in a recent JLL survey maintain a hybrid policy and 27% have no formal in-office policy. While cultivating culture and collaboration are the top motivation to encourage employees’ in-office work, optimizing space utilization has been rising as a key factor. Companies have invested in this space and they want their employees to benefit from its use, otherwise it is a drag on the bottom line. Companies are addressing both the numerator of utilization through trying to increase attendance through strategic office improvements and mandates and the denominator through reducing overall space.

Strategic changes are being made to technology office space to improve utilization, collaboration, and effectiveness. Dedicated spaces are decreasing, while small focus spaces and collaboration spaces are increasing, demonstrating a focus more on specialized rooms for individual or collective productivity vs. less-optimized dedicated spaces for general work.

Research and development spend is accelerating across the technology sector as companies race to make their mark on the development of artificial intelligence. Investing in labs is a high priority, but strategy around lab spaces lags the speed of the business imperatives.

Lab space design has been driven by researchers using the space with limited input from the CRE team. However, as tech companies grow up, cost-effectiveness becomes a higher priority and regulatory risk becomes a greater concern, and many have pushed to increase safety standards and apply more consistent planning.

There is no golden metric for workplace planning. Rather, CRE organizations must align the CRE objectives with the overall business strategy, then determine KPIs, metrics, and underlying data. Without a strategy, collecting too much data can be just as inefficient as too little data

Key questions to consider when determining data strategy:

What are the strategic business objectives?

1.What are the strategic business objectives? Is the CRE team tracking and gathering the data aligned with business leaders making decisions?

2.How will I measure success?

3.What is the purpose of my offices/labs/other real estate in alignment with the workplace policy? (focus, collaboration, connection, training, mentorship, etc.)

4.What are my KPIs?

5.What data do I already collect? Where are the gaps?

6.How much granularity do I need in my data? (Need to know exact desk, percentage of desks, teams, etc.)

7.How much will systems to collect this data cost and how much do I anticipate saving through optimization? 

Quality data is paramount to making impactful decisions. Technology companies’ capabilities for tracking space planning metrics, such as utilization, vacancy and cost per seat, vary widely. Systems and sensors for data collection and dashboards for data analysis can be costly, but streamlining what metrics are collected and presented in light of overall strategy trims costs substantially and lead to more optimized space and experience service delivery.

Expanding metrics from traditional occupancy and financial metrics such as utilization, vacancy, and cost per seat to a broader human-centered KPIs can allow a broader perspective across the CRE and FM functions. 

4.Test and learn: Apply what you’ve learned but realize that adapting your workplace is not a one-time venture. Always be learning and adapting to improve your workplace for both employee experience and return on investment.

5.Be flexible: AI is positioned to have a substantial impact on how work gets done, but the magnitude and timing of the changes are difficult to predict. Building flexibility into space plans and lease terms allow agility for the future.