Connectivity is a huge emphasis for modern companies. Run a Google search on “modern office” and chances are you’ll find plenty of recommendations for open collaborative layouts, Unified Communications tools, and telecommuting capabilities such as video conferencing and hoteling. Workforces are increasingly mobile but also increasingly expected to be constantly communicating and collaborating with their teams.
So how can a modern office building (as in the physical structure surrounding various tenant business office floors and suites) support connected and collaborative environments? How can building managers structure and optimize their buildings to attract modern-minded tenant companies?
Below are some of the features that make for a modern, constantly connected office building:
1. Building-Wide Wi-Fi
These days, constant connection to fast Internet access is pretty much a given necessity for business – whether you’re in your office suite or on the elevator. Make sure that the building’s common areas (lobby, gym, rooftop access area, and/or courtyards) have Wi-Fi available to building tenants, so they can check their incoming email on their lunch break in the courtyard or forward a document from the treadmill during a workout.
2. Consistent Cell Coverage via DAS
Just as important as WiFi connectivity is mobile service connectivity. 80% of cell phone traffic originates indoors and enterprise businesses are spending a lot of money on tablets, phones, and carrier plans for their mobile employees. Nothing’s more annoying to today’s modern workforce than walking into an office building only to have a business call drop because cell reception cut out. This problem only grows as buildings go green, because the energy-efficient “Low-E” coatings on windows in LEED certified buildings can block cell signals from reaching the building’s interior. Distributed Antennae Systems (DAS) solve this problem by providing a network of small antennae repeaters throughout the building to improve the quality of cell signals from wireless carriers to everyone in the building.
3. Cloud-Friendly Carrier Diversity
With so much of business in the cloud these days, companies can’t afford for their Internet or Voice-over-IP phone systems to ever go down. By making sure your building is lit by multiple various Internet Service Providers, tenants will have immediate access to diverse, redundant service for backup and failover connectivity. Also, competition breeds better prices for everyone in the building.
“On the go” productivity is a fact of today’s business world. As employees of your tenant businesses move through spaces in the building –from the lobby to the elevator to their office suite – they want to enjoy the same WiFi and cellular connectivity throughout. Additionally, as more and more business is conducted in the cloud, offering diverse carrier options for failover is key to constant Internet and VoIP connectivity in office suites.
Are you a building manager interested in DAS? Talk to Allied’s knowledgeable team to learn more about your options.
