IoT in action: Smart office with Milesight LoRa sensors

The word “smart” is used a lot these days. You can find a “smart” version of everything. One of the areas that seem to be neglected is the office. Yet, there’s already a lot of ways to smarten up your office and improve the daily life of your employees. 

Wait, but aren’t people working remotely now? Well, not quite. While many people have indeed moved to remote work because of the pandemic, there are still a lot of jobs that require people being in an office. And a lot more will return eventually, even if many would opt to stay remote. So, the office as a concept isn’t going anywhere.

In fact, it will change and improve. Now is a great time to evolve and upgrade your office and make it ready for the new realities. How can you do that? With the power of the Internet of Things (IoT). There are already a lot of devices and sensors you can add to your office to automate and control various systems and processes. 

What can you do with IoT in a smart office

The possibilities are almost limitless. You can mix-and-match sensors and systems to get the exact solution you want. Some of the most obvious use cases for IoT in a smart office are:

Managing meeting rooms

One of the most popular first steps in the smart office field for many companies is this. You can use IoT devices to improve and automate the availability, booking and management of meeting rooms. One possible way is to mix and match IoT sensors to activate different lights and notifications depending on whether a meeting room is free, booked within the hour or according any other condition you want.

Using IoT you can also optimize resource usage for meeting rooms. For example, activating heating or cooling a few minutes before the meeting, instead of having it run all day. It’s also easier for predictive maintenance.

Access control

Whether it is as simple as a smart lock for accessing the office or building more complex systems for restricted areas within, IoT can help for this, too. You can integrate smart video cameras, biometrics and other devices to create a robust security system.

Or you can simplify access to the parking lot for employees. There are a lot of possibilities which you can create and adapt for IoT sensors alike.

Better working conditions

All of this already will improve the working conditions for your employees. But you can go even further by using IoT devices to improve the overall office conditions. For example, smart thermostats to control the temperature or lighting sensors which adapt the intensity of the lights in accordance with the available natural light.

Open the door for sustainability

All of this will help you optimize your energy consumption and will lower your bills. It is also possible to use IoT to analyze and improve the usage of water, heating and so on. As a result, you can make your office more eco-friendly which is important for the quality of life for your workers, for the planet as a whole, too. And it has an added bonus of improving your company’s reputation.

Making a smart office isn’t difficult

IoT systems seem complex and difficult to build at first, especially if you don’t have much experience with these devices. In reality it is much easier than you might think. Especially with modern IoT devices which often are very easy to install.

One company which specializes in IoT devices for the smart office is Milesight. It has a wide range of IoT sensors which support several technologies for easy installation and usage. They support the LoRaWAN standard which opens the door for low-cost and low-power devices. With a LoRaWAN hotspot you can also join the Helium network and further scale your IoT projects.

One sensor you can check out for your smart office is the Milesight Ambience Monitoring Sensor AM100 series. With this deice you can actually enjoy the benefit of multiple sensors in one. You can use it to monitor and display temperature and humidity in real-time, along with light levels, the barometric pressure and move. The device also can monitor the presence of people in the room and activate predetermined settings. And it also has the ability to monitor ambient air level and help you improve the quality of air. The sensor has NFC for easy configuring and you can power it via USB or simple AA batteries. It has and e-ink display for low energy consumption and clear data visualization.

If you need even more than that, you can opt for the AM300 series of the Ambience Monitoring Sensor by Milesight. It includes 9 sensors in one and also monitors PM2.5 and PM10 particles, CO2 and other data. The sensor also features a larger, 4.2-inch e-ink display with multiple design styles and a dark theme option. Of course, both are LoRaWAN certified and feature easy configuration and setup.

The third sensor you should consider for your smart office is the AI Workplace Sensor by Milesight VS121. This one is quite impressive. It will help you check and monitor if you are making the most out of your office space. The sensor can count in real-time the occupancy in the room and you can also add custom region detection. It only counts people anonymously, so it’s fully GDPR compliant. You can easily configure and control it via LoRaWAN, WiFi or USB-C. 

With these and more IoT devices, you can make your office smart and fully in tune with the 2020s tech. Thus you and your employees will enjoy a better workday, which will lead to better work results and happier customers.