The future of work, with integrated remote, hybrid and physical options, promises great potential.
However, evolving workplace policies, spaces, tools, and culture is essential for success. Microsoft research highlights the tension between flexibility and connection, with 48% of employees likely to request more flexible work arrangements, yet 43% feeling disconnected.
Microsoft Places, in partnership with SCC, aims to address this by re-imagining hybrid and in-person work, offering solutions that coordinate work locations,modernise offices with intelligent tech, and optimise workplaces for changing needs.
Coordinate where work happens to achieve the right outcomes
Microsoft Places hybrid scheduling uses data from Outlook and Teams to show when your co-workers plan to be in the office, helping you adjust your schedule for in-person connections. It offers intelligent booking to find spaces with the right technology for your meeting needs and provides commute recommendations, including when to leave based on traffic and meeting times.
Modernise the office with intelligent technology
Technology can greatly enhance the in office experience, especially in spaces not designed for hybrid work. Wayfinding helps you navigate to the right room using a mobile map, while hot desk booking lets you choose a desk near colleagues.
Microsoft Teams Rooms enables inclusive participation, no matter the location. Microsoft Places also encourages spontaneous meet-ups, helping rebuild and strengthen bonds. With Places, offices become more responsive to everyone’s needs.
Optimise space and costs for changing needs
To optimise physical space, leaders need insights like utilisation data, energy-saving opportunities, and occupancy trends. These insights guide dynamic adjustments, such as converting huddle rooms to collaboration spaces or closing floors on lighter days to save energy. Leaders can also track trends across their portfolio to create more flexible, dynamic, and sustainable workspaces that support new ways of working.
How does Places protect my location data?
- Users opt in to sharing location data.
- Places inherits your existing M365 security and compliance policies.
- Places does not track real-time location, nor does it provide additional location granularity outside of the office.
- There are user and admin controls in place to manage visibility of location data.
Key Benefits
Coordinate
Step up your location plan, get recommendations to set up your plan and access Places from your Outlook calendar.
Plan your week ahead and share where you’ll be working with your selected collaborators. Easily communicate your intention to work together with an in-person meeting invite. Copilot will soon be able to let you know which days to go in and provide why those days are the best.
Using Places finder, make desk or room booking decisions with additional data: images of the space, floorplans, information about technology available. Suggestions help arrange your day by providing reminders for booking a desk or conference room for days you’ve indicated you’ll be in the office. Get recommendations on the right rooms, desk pools or work areas for your meeting or day – and easily book them with one click.
Modernise
With Places Explorer, get a singular view of the people, spaces and experiences at each workplace location. Build connections by understanding who’s around. Turn chats into face-to-face conversations or schedule a long overdue lunch.
Workplace amenities – Extensible partner platform to enable workplace experiences & partner applications.
Optimise
- Assess the spaces you have by size, sensors, and capabilities.
- Determine if there is enough signal to understand actual vs intent occupancy.
- Identify if there are ways to improve or increase capabilities or types of spaces.
- Evaluate occupancy trends with intent vs. actual reporting.
- Better manage available space with auto-release policies. Rooms that are reserved and not used can be released for others to use
Next Steps
SCC architects, with their expertise in both meeting rooms and in Microsoft Teams, are best placed to ensure your organisation effectively delivers the workplace of the future.
Unlock the value of a Smart Workplace
With Teams Premium and Places, you can benefit from the converged value of an end-to-end integrated workplace.
Teams Premium brings the latest technologies to make meetings more intelligent, personalised, and protected whether it’s one-on-one, large meetings, virtual appointments, or webinars.
And with Places, you can better enable the right in-person connections and modernise what it means to arrive at work while also better aligning office space to new ways of working.