9 Gadgets Every Flexible Workspace Needs In 2018

Published on December 12, 2017 - By Gemma Church

• Get your hands on some serious workspace gadgetry and start the New Year as you mean to go on.
• From an owl-shaped video conferencing device to a matching-making app for coworkers, these 9 gadgets will brighten up your workspace in 2018.
• These tools complement flexible workspaces by enhancing security, collaboration, wellness, and more.

As phenomenon such as the Internet of Things (IoT) gathers pace and brings technology to every aspect of our lives, workspaces are clamouring for the best gadgets to optimise the work environment.

From a video conferencing device that looks like an owl to a matching-making app for coworkers, here are some of the best technical offerings from the last year that should definitely be on your 2018 wish-list:

1. Want 24/7 access? Get Kisi

Backed by cloud-based CRM, KISI offers smart keyless workspace entry.

Kisi is a smart access control system that’s keyless and lets workers access a space with the swipe of a smart phone. The neat thing is you don’t need a massive infrastructure overhaul to install the system – you can just add new access points as and when you need to. Plus, the cloud-based CRM makes it easy to configure your system and manage your workspace.

2. Never get lost again with Jibestream

Jibestream is a veritable Marauder’s Map to track people and equipment as they move around your space.

Jibestream is an indoor mapping tool to help your workers find their way around your space. While Jibestream’s clients are predominantly complex space operators, including large-scale shopping centres and hospitals, there are benefits for smaller workspaces. For example, you can put up geo-fences to protect certain areas, offer an intelligent parking service, or use the tech as a veritable Marauder’s Map to track people and equipment as they move around your space.

3. Meet the Flic smart button

Use Flic’s 64 buttons to manage your meetings, order lunch or simply act as a doorbell.

Flic is the self-proclaimed “world’s smartest button”. You can bypass your phone completely and use up to 64 buttons to control your devices, apps and services through a combination of single, double or long button presses. In the workplace, you could use Flic to call a meeting, order lunch or as a doorbell, for example.

4. Hate videoconferencing? Get an owl

This powerful video conferencing device focuses on voices as they speak and reduces background noise, enabling everyone to be heard.

The Meeting Owl may look like a novelty item, but it’s an incredibly powerful video conferencing device. It automatically focuses on people as they speak and its 360° lens provides a full view of the room without any moving parts or image stitching. It also holds an eight-microphone array, which automatically focuses on the person speaking complete with noise and echo cancellation, so everyone can be heard.

5. Save energy and reduce discomfort with Dynamic Glass

Dynamic Glass automatically lets more daylight in and reduces glare to optimise your office environment. Controlled through a smartphone app, these intelligent windows also connect to your building management system, so you can adjust the heating and cooling as the conditions change.

6. Dodge the office cold

Shared workspaces are often blamed for circulating illnesses. Help is at hand thanks to the Wynd air system, which creates a bubble of clean air at your desk.

Are you sick of your colleagues sneezing on you? Then pop the Wynd air quality system on your desk to create a bubble of clean air. It monitors your environment and cleans it as needed to remove dust, germs and other particulate pollution from your personal space.

7. A Non-Orwellian biometrics solution

Biometric tool, Fingopay, lets users pay for goods or gain access to specific areas of a workspace by finger scans.

Answering many of the concerns around biometric tech is Fingopay, a system which scans and uses the unique pattern of blood vessels in your finger as its digital biomarker. It’s already being trialled at a supermarket in Brunel University London and could remove the need for coworkers to carry cash, cards and smartphones for payments and even gain access to specific areas of a space.

8. Killing the HDMI nightmare

Take at least some of the stress out of presenting with the help of Cisco’s easy-to-use touchscreen board.

Connecting your laptop to the office projector is sometimes the most stressful part of a presentation. Cisco Spark resolves this issue with a touchscreen board where you can showcase your work across devices when in a meeting or video conferencing.

9. The ultimate icebreaker for coworkers

Backed by Seats2Meet, the Serendipity Machine connects coworkers by matching skills, experience or interests.

The Serendipity Machine takes your identity and links it to your device and to your coworkers using an AI-based algorithm. This makes it easy to find people in the vicinity with the skills and experience you need for a particular job or project.

If you’ve come across a particularly fantastic piece of work-based technology in the last year, we’d love to hear about it. Let us know @Allwork_space or facebook.com/workspacenews.