CASE STUDY
place to create a productive workplace and
smart office,” said Slaats. “We didn’t have
a crystal ball. We needed a network that
would allow us to add new applications and
hardware as they became available.”
Mature network management, with
innovation roadmap
Deloitte had an existing network solutions
supplier but, while it examined the
incumbent’s technology roadmap, it was
keen on an open tender. “We wanted
to see an investment in R&D, the ability
to integrate with other technologies,
particularly Microsoft, and a mature network
management platform,” said Jeroen Hassing,
Networking Architect, Deloitte.
A period of testing demonstrated Aruba
to be the clear choice. The Aruba solution
comprises 500+ Aruba 330 Series access
points, with an integrated BLE Beacon, along
with AirWave Network Management and
ClearPass Policy Manager. “We also liked
Aruba’s work on location-based services and
earmarked ALE, the Analytics and Location
Engine, for future use.”
The most connected office
On opening, The Edge was judged to be
the most sustainable building in the world.
Three years on, Slaats insists it remains the
most connected.
The Edge Deliotte ‘ s
Amsterdam office
employees would be more mobile, teams
would need to be more ad hoc.
“We knew the office of the future would be
a place where people met, where you would
interact and engage with clients and new
colleagues,” explained Slaats. “Also, our offices
should be more visible and create an impact.”
Closing smaller satellite offices would
make the financials stack up; investing
in sustainable energy, water and waste
management solutions would deliver against
Deloitte’s environmental agenda. “The
challenge was getting the technology in
www.intelligentcio.com
Every Deloitte desk at The Edge is wireless.
Employees are connected as soon as they
enter the building and can then connect and
work from anywhere.
The building is home to 30,000 sensors,
monitoring everything from parking bays
to room occupancy, lighting to the food
consumed in the restaurant. While Deloitte
acknowledges privacy is paramount and
location-based functions are opt-in, The
Edge knows how many people are in the
building, what time they arrived and who
they sat next to.
“The building knows more than we do,” said
Slaats. “There is more data to unlock.”
Already, the building is delivering efficiencies
on energy, water and maintenance costs (it
uses 70% less energy than a standard office
building). Smart lighting detects when rooms
are empty, smart robots spend more time
cleaning busy hallways, more robots conduct
security patrols, a smart gym tracks a user’s
fitness session and smart towel dispensers
understand when a bathroom has been busy
and alerts cleaning teams. Building services
should be directed by demand, not a set
calendar, is the thinking. “But we mustn’t
focus too much on these ‘gadgets’,” said
Slaats. “We want to use technology to help
us in our work.”
Demonstrating the art of
the possible
Alberto Ogura leads the Edge 2.0 project.
His challenge is to make sense of the data
generated by the building and to prioritise the
right kind of innovation. “We started with data
in siloes; the next step has been to bring all
this data together in a new data lake.”
Ogura said The Edge is already hitting its
launch objectives: “We had three aims: to
use The Edge as a lab to test new ideas; to
show clients that we ‘do’ rather than talk;
and to inspire. The Edge is all about the art
of the possible.”
Indeed, two and half years after opening its
doors, The Edge continues to run guided tours
for visitors. “The Edge allows us to demonstrate
how concepts of Internet of Things become
reality,” Ogura explained.
“We have data analysts, app developers and
UI designers all working on live projects.
We can show clients the possibilities of
new technology, of IoT, of smart buildings,
connected devices and a connected workforce.
And we can show them the whole process,
from the user interface to the back-end.”
Continuous innovation to
tweak productivity
Ogura said innovation will be continuous,
but points to four upcoming initiatives as
examples of where workplace productivity
could be tweaked.
Data from the restaurant is being meshed
to create a better understanding of queue
times, popular items (boiled eggs and
avocado are perennial favourites) and
pricing. The idea is that it can reduce food
waste, cut waiting times and ensure the right
food is in stock on the right days.
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