Press Releases

IBM transforms workplace experiences with new AI capability

January 29, 2020

Posted by: Anasia D'mello

Kareem Yusuf of IBM

IBM introduced artificial intelligence (AI) into its TRIRIGA solution to help real estate and facility management professionals better utilise office space and deliver a more engaging workplace experience. TRIRIGA, one of the Integrated Workplace Management Systems in the world, includes TRIRIGA Building Insights, and combines occupancy data from sources, such as Wi-Fi and/or IoT sensors, with newly embedded AI.

This provides customers operating large real estate portfolios with insights to help them make smarter data-driven decisions about the way they manage their workspace. Greater visibility into space management can help organisations improve facility utilisation to reduce space wastage, which can potentially result in savings on real estate operating costs.

Real estate today represents an increasing expense for organisations, yet older, siloed systems can make it difficult for facility operators to understand space usage throughout their properties. According to a report from commercial real estate services firm JLL30 – 40% of commercial space is underutilised based on organisations surveyed. With TRIRIGA, customers can have an enterprise-wide view of their valuable workspaces. Embedded AI can help identify occupant trends and patterns, down to a single floor, to better anticipate and manage employee occupancy needs, adjust office layouts and address relocation requests.

Marianne Flores

Building occupants will have access to the new TRIRIGA Assistant, a smart, conversational AI tool which uses natural language processing to help users quickly and easily engage with the spaces around them. TRIRIGA Assistant can help remove the hassle of coordinating with colleagues to schedule and reserve conference rooms, submit service requests such as lighting and catering, or locate a colleague’s assigned workspace.

“Employees and real estate are key elements to organisational growth and development, driving companies to create cost-effective and engaging workplaces that help attract and retain top talent,” said Kareem Yusuf, Ph.D., general manager, AI Applications, IBM.

“The implementation of TRIRIGA with embedded AI provides corporations and facility managers with insights into how they can more effectively utilise space across their enterprise. This technology can help companies address the growing expectations of today’s modern workforce and achieve better business results.”

IBM Global Real Estate uses AI to help deliver a better workplace experience

The IBM Global Real Estate (GRE) team is tasked with overseeing approximately 1,300 office locations that cover 78 million square feet, across 110 countries. With such a large, global footprint, the GRE team is beginning to integrate new AI capabilities from TRIRIGA to help overcome the challenge of creating a portfolio that addresses the needs of employees while helping to control costs and deliver the best value to the business.In the past, each office location used its own applications to manage space that often resulted in manual and time-consuming workflow.

TRIRIGA enables the GRE team to create a single source for data that provides an instant view into its diverse portfolio that includes space for offices, labs, data and educational centres, and warehouses. Consolidating space and lease information provides the GRE team with a holistic view of IBM’s real estate portfolio data and prepares the way for AI-generated insights. Applying AI to understand how employees are actually using office space will help GRE improve overall utilisation by offering the right mix of space and amenities.

“TRIRIGA’s embedded AI will allow us to collect and analyse information quickly at a global level,” said Marianne Flores, director, global real estate integrated solutions, IBM. “With this information, we will be able to address one of our biggest challenges – balancing our portfolio while creating an environment that is attractive to our employees, helps boost their productivity and improves our bottom line.”

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