Introducing The Next Generation of IWMS Software

by Chad Smith on October 21, 2019
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While IWMS software has been the gold standard of workplace management for the past two decades, it hasn’t kept up with the changing needs and expectations of the modern workplace. For one thing, these solutions were primarily designed to manage buildings, not people. And as they evolved into large, complex and costly on-premise systems, they’ve been slow to adapt to an agile workforce.

The market demands a transformation—one that recognizes the importance of employees and places experience at the center.

That transformation is finally here. Meet the next generation of IWMS software: the integrated experience management system.

Watch our webinar to learn more about this transformative workplace technology. 

What Is An Integrated Experience Management System?

The traditional IWMS has always integrated various functions. While that “i” is a critical attribute, it is no longer a differentiator. What is different today is the emphasis on the workplace experience — the “X.” An integrated experience management system (iXMS) is both a strategy and a solution stack that respond to this new paradigm.

As a strategy, it’s about continually simplifying, optimizing and elevating the workplace experience: both the employee experience (EX) and the user experience (UX).

As a solution stack, iXMS properly prioritizes space as the foundation to everything else in workplace management, but it also expands well beyond space and the other four pillars in IWMS. It is built on the principle that the workplace is constantly evolving, and therefore, the iXMS solution stack is designed to be flexible and to adapt easily over time.

For this reason, the basis of an iXMS is 100% cloud-based software that reaches to the edge of cloud computing.

Central to this system is the ability to connect people, places and things — the foundation for driving positive business outcomes. This gives workplace leaders the ability to measure key metrics essential for success, such as space and asset utilization.

This system can easily integrate with other workplace applications, allowing business leaders to simplify their technology stack and streamline workflows.

An iXMS is built to unify workplace leaders and employees, meeting the needs of both and creating a continual feedback loop between them. It includes mobile applications that empower employees to interact with their workplace and access everything they need to be productive.

Finally, an iXMS allows for ongoing optimization with continual data collection using IoT sensors and other solutions.

Here’s a closer look at the five main objectives achieved through an iXMS.

Connect

A modern, digital workplace relies on easy connectivity. To truly understand and reduce the TCO of the workplace, leaders first need full visibility into the relationship between their real estate, spaces, assets, maintenance, projects, sustainability and employees.

As a native cloud-based software, iXMS makes it easier, quicker and cheaper to connect all of these workplace elements into one solution.

Simplify

iXMS prioritizes experiential simplicity over technological complexity. The user interface for both a workplace manager and for a typical employee alike must be simple, elegant, mobile, easy-to-use and require minimal training, if any at all.

Integrate

iXMS maintains that internal integration is critical: space managers, real estate managers, move managers, service and maintenance managers must all collaborate and work within one, simple solution, whenever possible. But iXMS places equal importance on standard integrations to other systems like finance, ERP, CAD/BIM, IoT devices and sensors, BMS and even other legacy IWMS systems. iXMS is about productized integrations that can be easily purchased and rapidly deployed.

Analyze

Workplace leaders need more than just static, tabular reports. They need rigorous and flexible analytics that push alerts to them automatically so that minor problems don’t become major catastrophes. They need smart technologies that can identify trends in their corporate real estate assets and workplace data that the human eye cannot detect in simple lists and bar charts. They need to know if the spaces they are building are attracting, retaining and engaging talent and, therefore, positively impacting business performance. Therefore, powerful analytics that leverage big data to predict future trends and actions are a must with iXMS—not just a nice-to-have.

Optimize

With the advent of artificial intelligence, virtual personal assistants and machine learning, the workplace will continue to evolve over the coming years with regards to how we build, manage, utilize and experience it. The iXMS is designed to leverage these nascent technologies that will help workplace managers optimize how we design and reconfigure our facilities. The next generation of IWMS will leverage these technologies to better optimize buildings and spaces.

iXMS: An Infinite Universe

The next generation of IWMS is not one standard software system, but a flexible framework with infinite potential.

It’s a way to unify many digital applications into one platform. It’s a 100% SaaS, multi-tenant platform, allowing for continuous integration and delivery. Updates are released continually by the provider, rather than every six months to a year. This creates scalability while eliminating the need for expensive upgrades.

It’s built to fit the needs of your workplace and expand as your organization grows.

It can solve one specific challenge, or completely transform the way your company operates.

As one of the first full cloud-based workplace management software systems, iOFFICE was built with the future in mind. This foundation hasn’t changed. We still have the most robust space management software on the market—a software that received the highest ranking among 23 solutions, according to independent consulting firm Verdantix.

That software is still the foundation for other essential functions like move management, asset management and facility maintenance.

We’ve just continued to expand upon it to meet the changing needs of the workplace. That’s what led us to develop iOFFICE Hummingbird, a workplace app that allows employees to find people and places, reserve space, request service, receive mail and visitors and more. It’s the reason we’ve continued to expand upon our open platform, enabling integrations with IoT sensors, energy management systems and other solutions.

And it’s the vision that will lead us into the future with you. While none of us can say for certain what the future holds, we’re confident we’ll be prepared for it. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chad Smith

As the VP of Product Strategy, Chad David Smith wears many hats that leverage his 20+ years of experience in the industry. Chad collaborates directly with clients and partners as well as with the iOFFICE client experience, client success, sales, marketing and development teams to create the most innovative and valued solutions for our clients.

Capterra Ratings: ★★★★★ 4.5/5