The strategic value of smart work environment applications

After the first, the second, and the third industrial revolution, the fourth industrial revolution is about to happen. In industry 4.0, for the Internet of Things (IoT), machines and other things are all connected to the Internet, which enables them to communicate with each other. Knowledge, service, and information will become more and more important because of this communication, and data is continuously being collected. The availability of data evolves into smart products, smart grids, smart logistics, and smart buildings. Therefore, 'data is the new oil' is a slogan which is increasingly being used in the media (Quora, 2016). It means that data has become a very valuable asset; however, just like oil, it is useless if unrefined. Data must be analyzed before it can provide value (Ana Marketing Maestros, 2006). And more important, it is necessary to identify beforehand which type of data (collection) could provide which strategic value(s) for the office owner and user. The way people work has changed and many corporate real estate (CRE) managers are thinking about whether and how to implement smart-building applications in the work environments of their client. This article describes the opinion of 122 CRE experts on the strategic values that 20 different smart-building applications could possibly deliver. They all participated in a survey developed by the Eindhoven University of Technology which was distributed at the CoreNet Global Summit, Amsterdam 2016. The results provide useful information for everybody interested in smart work environments.