Redefining ‘Office’ Space

The right office design can help you reduce stress, improve productivity and enhance the profits of your business. Put together some erogonomic furniture and some state-of-the-art tech toys and voila! you have a Smart Office

A Smart Office will transform any mundane office to a welcoming working environment. The first look creates a lasting impression in any office and may colour the actions and attitudes of all who work there. An office setting should neither be too reserved, nor should it be too bold.

Many companies use their architecture as a way to distinguish themselves from their competition so they can stand out for their staff and clientele.

Companies also want employees to feel comfortable. It has been found that when employers give employees an environment they feel comfortable and good in, they become more productive and satisfied in the workplace.

Staying connected is also critical in a company’s ability to respond to a customer’s changing needs, with the latest technology to work around. The Smart Office equipments now come in portable sizes too, so that the user may even cart it along to another part of the continent — and never have to miss out on an important meeting.

Technology is often the best route to becoming a smart e-office. It is a gradual process to upgrade to an e-based smart office. It results in higher productivity, transparency, and flexibility — and is not location-based. But office culture too plays an important role. Three things are important for any Smart Office: people, process and technology.

Conference calling, web conferencing, unified messaging, voice mail, replay line, fax-on-demand, virtual office, software solutions are some areas where cutting-edge technology is required to make an office look smart.

Nowadays, office interiors are being renovated to accommodate the demands of such communication, keeping aesthetics and space management as top priority. Overhead projectors, plasma screens, surround sound systems, sleek microphones, video cameras and other gizmos find discreet space in a smart office. Utilities such as mobile phones, computers or laptops, telephone network, printers, scanners, fax machines and photocopiers use or share computer based data and software applications for higher productivity, saving on time.

Creative and insightful planning and refurnishing of work environments are essential to remaining in the race. Design is no longer an expense; it is an investment. This means investing heavily at the front end to ensure productivity and higher staff retention.

Innovative design trends are becoming prevalent and attention is being paid creative and strategic thinking and interactive idea exchanges. Some of the facets of new work environments include: attractive and inviting private and group work spaces; tree-lined interiors and an emphasis on views; creative thinking areas with drawable walls and surfaces; and even whimsical props such as stuffed animals for inspiration.

Traditionally conservative firms are moving away from the old-fashioned look and designing in terms of flexibility, technology and service to create smart office environments for their employees.

Cardinal zones in different colours, diffuse, luminous lighting, and an atmosphere that feels more like home as well as systems that include retractable drawable surfaces, spatial dividers of wire mesh, luminescent plastic panels for privacy, and trees.

Green and healthy
Creating a non- or low-toxic workplace would be a plus point for a smart office. For example: Use low-VOC paints along with 100 per cent virgin wool carpets made without chemicals or dyes (wool carpet lasts much longer than does synthetic carpet, so the carpeting will not need to be replaced as quickly).

Natural carpet padding (made of jute
fibers encased in recycled paper) when tacked to the floor help avoid the chemical offgassing that would have occurred
had they been glued.

Several practical steps can help you to create a healthier workplace. The key to a healthier office is prevention – in other words, use healthy and efficient building, lighting, and HVAC design, and use non-toxic building materials, furnishings, and office supplies.
The best way to create a green and healthy environment is to begin by carrying out an environmental audit to study the duct system, building and lighting design, and office furnishings and to survey employees. The company can create corporate policies that encourage healthier purchasing decisions and production methods and support employee health.

Smart automation
Office automation refers to the varied computer machinery and software used to digitally create, collect, store, manipulate, and relay office information needed for accomplishing basic tasks and goals.

Office automation helps in optimising or automating existing office procedures. The backbone of office automation is a Local Area Network (LAN), which allows users to transmit data, mail and even voice across the network. All office functions, including dictation, typing, filing, copying, fax, Telex, microfilm and records management, telephone and telephone switchboard operations, fall into this category. Office automation was a popular term in the 1970s and 1980s as the desktop computer exploded onto
the scene.

In a typical office, a computer and its peripherals far outweigh all other office equipment. Computers, printers, photo-copiers, fax machines and scanners are essential equipment in the office.

A universal truth is dawning on the multinational brand names the world over that brands are incidental and the solution is the driver.

Decision makers today treat information technology (IT) as their basic need for any business. Recovery cost depends on the customer. The earlier the customer decides to put implement IT solutions, the faster the returns.
Spiralling costs can be handled in many ways. And one of them is to optimise on the functions of the gadgets like printers, fax machines, printers, notebooks and laptops, scanners etc.

Smart furniture
Worldwide, the need for ergonomic furniture is considered a sensitive issue. A functional SmartOffice has employees who are well-trained and healthy. A UK-based research shows that work related sickness costs are running into billions of dollars every year. Of this, the most is attributed to back injury. Spending long hours sitting at desks in offices, and at home in non-ergonomic furniture, is the most important factor contributing to back pain of the user.

A major investment for any company is its employee. Keeping such an employee healthy, especially the ones who are tied to their desks and computers for better part of the day, becomes a priority for the company to reduce overheads. Countries in the GCC — and especially Oman — have found a new orientation towards ergonomic office furniture that offers perfect support to an employee who is breaking his back towards meeting a deadline. Investment aimed at safeguarding the interests of the employees is worth every baiza spent.

Ergonomically-designed furniture not only encourages free movement, but also follows and supports the body naturally in every posture, without user intervention.
There are many companies in Oman who offer all the facilities needed to set-up a smart workplace under one roof. Be it air conditioning, lighting, civil works, data and power lines, or the furniture and fittings.

Smart gizmos
Raw data storage, electronic transfer, and the management of electronic business information comprise the basic activities of an office automation system. Wireless LAN support in mobile computers has not only enabled greater within-office network accessibility, but also opened the doors to smart home networking and individual connectivity for video conferencing and LAN interactivity.

The end user is likely to be provided, in future, a wider array of connectivity choices, with data security as the main focus area. Online meeting reduces travel and facility costs, eliminates the need for extra equipment as everyone uses own computer, allows to respond to business leads quicker and instant care of customers, resulting in a productivity boost. This allows organisations to reach customers globally expanding the market, and this trend is fast catching up now in Oman too.

Product aesthetics and performance go hand-in-hand today. Products that deliver the desired results have to also blend in with the ambience of the location of the
installation.

Computers go out of date quickly even if they are provisioned for upgradation. You can always get bigger and bigger hard disk spaces but the basic cost effectiveness comes in when you do not overbuy machines. It’s better to lease or outsource hardware. Settle for a standard system that will be more than enough for managing office software and Internet applications.

Laptops and associated gadgets that are web-enabled are doing all the talk today. Every brand name in the computer market is updating the product line up, to make it web-friendly and ensuring faster connectivity.

An organisation achieves desired results based on its objectives. These objectives require certain solutions, which result in higher productivity. But new technology costs hard currency. Brands and solution providers say they give competitive prices to integrated services offered to the customer.

The most energy-efficient computer/monitor combination is a laptop unit. Laptops use a maximum of 15 watts (compared with 80 to 160 watts for desktop PCs) and automatically power down (go into sleep mode) after several minutes of inactivity.

However, their lower energy consumption does not necessarily mean that laptops will save you money in the long term. Laptops are usually more expensive to purchase than comparable desktop units. The cost and inconvenience of recharging and eventually replacing batteries must be considered. In addition, laptops generally have inferior displays and do not offer the full range of features available in desktop units.

Still, laptops can be ideal for certain applications, inside and outside the office. When purchasing a laptop, compare the integrated or advanced power management features of different models. Although they are likely quite similar, some models may have additional energy-saving features.

Women-friendly
Office furniture retailers are just warming up to the idea of meeting the demands of female entrepreneurs and employees by including office chairs and desks scaled to women’s smaller frames, as well as storage space to hold purses and other personal items which are a priority for women.

According to experts, women have different tastes and look at the office furniture as an extension of themselves. Creating decor aimed at female entrepreneurs is not a bad idea after all and may well become one of the growth engines of the future furniture retailers and manufacturers.

As far as women are concerned, a bulkier office chair doesn’t necessarily mean better quality. What they look for is a sleeker chair style with seat height adjustments that fits women.

Cubicles
The cubicle has been called many things but it still claims the largest share of office furniture sales -- $3 billion or so a year -- and has outlived every office of the future. Robert Propst who invented the cubicle called it as a “monolithic insanity”.

The cubicle was born in the 60s and after years of prototyping and studying how people work, and vowing to improve on the open-bullpen office that dominated much of the 20th century, Propst designed a system he thought would increase productivity.

It was designed in such a way that it included lots of work surfaces and display shelves with partitions intended to provide privacy and places to pin up works.

Even though the cubicle wasn’t conceived to cram a lot of people into a little space, real estate costs and a growing force of white collar workers forced the corporates to reduce the budget burden, thus encouraging the cubicle in its present form. Propst’s workstations were designed to be flexible, but in practice they were seldom altered or moved at all. Academics and writers even dubbed the cubicles with bizarre names as they thought that the cubicles were a cheap way to pack workers in.

Even as the cubicles (work stations) became popular despite a few companies trying to do away with them, designers have since mostly limited themselves to trying to offset the cubicle’s most glaring defects. Presently, hundreds of cubicle-variant office systems have come to market over the past three decades all over the world.

Functional furniture
The smart office landscape in the country is changing rapidly as more companies demand furniture to inspire their employees and generate more versatility and productivity. From functional and aesthetic storage units, stylish desks, and ergonomic seats to adjustable desks office, the office furniture scene is witnessing a surge in furniture products that address fundamental challenges when it comes to work place culture.

Modern offices are more than just workstations. Nowadays employees feel the need for a space where they can meet and brainstorm. Although conference rooms match up to this need in a certain way, still many companies want to have furniture that allows optimum utilisation of space and enhance productivity. Further, as health and safety of employees becomes paramount for companies, most corporate offices are switching to ergonomic and functional furniture. These areas are designed to break the monotony of workplaces and create a healthy working atmosphere where employees feel relaxed.

The trend is to create a friendly ambience for both management and employees like a community, where everyone is familiar with another, a place where all needs are met, physical as well as psychological.

Therefore a smart office will strive to create an environment that has a smart, attractive, friendly design and can form an office ambience which is flexible, effective and welcoming for employees, which makes them feel like coming to work, and motivates them to increase productivity.

Design awareness is also growing rapidly in the Middle East and it can be seen in the greate demand for internationally reputed design brands. In the furnishing sector, where numerous franchises and furniture and accessories brand names are being rolled out across the Gulf, office furniture is getting serious attention. There is a growing importance of good space planning and of ergonomics, which puts the accent clearly on well-designed office spaces with an emphasis on designer furniture that respects both form and function.