With 34% of companies planning to extend the variety of days within the workplace, there’s elevated stress on office leaders to optimize utilization and enhance the worker expertise. A key operational problem for a lot of of those companies are fragmented office applied sciences that hinder knowledgeable determination making. However some organizations have already taken optimistic steps to extend their use of cross-platform knowledge analytics and AI, in line with new analysis by Eptura.
Eptura’s 2025 Office Index combines third-party analysis with knowledge from 25 million Eptura platform customers. We surveyed 200 VP and C-suite professionals representing IT, operations, HR, finance, and actual property from enterprise companies with over 5,000 staff throughout sectors like skilled companies, authorities, manufacturing, and know-how.
Occupancy charges rise, however midweek mountain stays
Extra individuals are coming to the workplace and so they’re coming extra usually. Within the final three years, the variety of guests per location has practically doubled, and our knowledge from 25 million world customers reveal desk bookings have grown 33% yr over yr. There have been additionally year-over-year will increase in desk bookings larger than three days every week throughout industries. Over the subsequent 12 months, these numbers will proceed to rise as 34% of companies reported plans to convey extra staff again to the workplace.
Though the numbers are rising, the times most individuals come to the workplace stay the identical, with numbers spiking throughout the midweek mountain, Tuesday by Thursday. Office leaders should steadiness staffing ranges, gear availability, and upkeep schedules throughout the workweek. Managing the midweek mountain usually entails coordinating with a number of departments and stakeholders to actively modify the whole lot from janitorial schedules to parking area use, including layers of complexity.
Buildings and facility managers know they should adapt to the altering wants of staff to make sure the office is a productive, comfy setting. We requested worker expertise and office technique leaders their greatest problem relating to office operations, and these had been the highest three responses:
- 22% – Leveling occupancy throughout the workweek
- 18% – Making a frictionless/seamless worker expertise
- 16% – Enhancing worker productiveness
Our analysis reveals the principle roadblocks office leaders face as they work towards these targets, together with time- and labor-intensive processes for leveraging knowledge from current programs and securing price range for and implementing AI.
Challenges connecting knowledge throughout fragmented office applied sciences
Primarily based on our analysis, solely 4% of companies we surveyed reported having a completely built-in software program answer. Half of the companies we surveyed use a median of 17 standalone applied sciences for office operations, whereas 67% use between 6 to 40 completely different options, immediately impacting their skill to ship extra worth.
Organizations reported the largest obstacles to analyzing knowledge are a number of dashboards and gathering significant insights throughout completely different programs. Working throughout a number of programs can result in:
- Poor visibility: With knowledge unfold throughout completely different programs, it turns into troublesome to get a complete view of the corporate’s operations. A facility supervisor should examine a number of programs to get an entire image of operations that features occupancy and utilization charges, upkeep schedules, and power use.
- Cumbersome, error-prone processes: When staff have to enter the identical knowledge into a number of programs, it will increase the danger of errors. Managing and sustaining a number of programs is time-consuming, diverting helpful sources away from core enterprise actions.
- Greater prices: Every system requires a separate license, which may add as much as vital bills. Coaching staff on a number of programs and offering ongoing assist will be costly and useful resource intensive.
A unified platform will help facility and constructing managers deal with all these points. Groups can streamline the work order request course of by connecting it to worker expertise apps, optimize the true property portfolio with complete knowledge analytics primarily based on occupancy and utilization knowledge, and create extra environment friendly preventive upkeep schedules with predictive analytics primarily based on upkeep data.
The alternatives are there, however organizations report workforce and technological obstacles.
AI implementation challenges: Inadequate talent units and integrations
AI implementation is widespread, however many organizations we surveyed are solely utilizing it for floor degree duties. When requested, “The place are you utilizing AI instruments in your operations to assist enhance productiveness?”, solely 11% responded that they didn’t at present use any AI instruments. Organizations that leverage AI, nevertheless, have restricted deployments. 70% are utilizing AI for dashboards and/or chatbots, whereas solely 54% are utilizing it for knowledge evaluation like upkeep, area occupancy, and constructing lifecycle. Lower than 1 / 4 are using AI for extra superior functions reminiscent of digital twins, sensors, and Web of Issues (IoT) functions.
When requested what was holding again AI implementation, the highest reported problem was “inadequate worker AI talent set and information” (58%).
The perceived talent gaps may embrace:
- Technical expertise: Staff could lack the technical information wanted to implement and keep AI programs.
- Adaptability and steady studying: The sector of AI is quickly evolving, and staff have to be adaptable and dedicated to steady studying to remain present with new applied sciences and greatest practices.
- Change administration: Integrating AI can result in modifications in workflows, roles, and obligations. Staff have to be ready to handle and adapt to those modifications, which can require further coaching and assist.
Organizations can deal with these points with a mixture of coaching packages, workshops, and ongoing training to make sure staff are geared up to work successfully with new applied sciences.
The second most reported problem was Inadequate cross-platform integration/knowledge consolidation” (52%). These points can considerably affect a facility supervisor’s skill to implement AI by silos, inconsistency, complexity, and restricted scalability. The info they should feed the AI is locked inside completely different silos, usually in incompatible codecs, and the time-intensive processes for compiling the whole lot don’t simply scale.
A pattern towards linked, knowledgeable, clever options
Our analysis exhibits many facility and office leaders have already taken steps so as to add AI to their workflows, with extra initiatives deliberate over the subsequent 12 months.
Hiring digital office leaders
Digital office leaders are answerable for overseeing the strategic implementation and administration of digital instruments and applied sciences inside a company. They play necessary roles in hybrid and distant work environments, the place know-how is pivotal in sustaining productiveness, collaboration, and worker satisfaction.
Digital office leaders can oversee:
- Strategic planning
- Know-how integration
- Worker expertise
- Knowledge analytics
- Change administration
- Safety and compliance
In skilled and monetary companies, 75% of surveyed organizations had both employed or are hiring a digital office chief. 31% had been in place between six and 18 months, whereas 25% had been of their place for over 18 months.
By streamlining processes and integrating environment friendly digital instruments, digital office leaders can increase worker satisfaction and productiveness, lower prices, and ship helpful insights by knowledge analytics, enabling strategic planning and simpler useful resource allocation.
Implementing AI throughout workflows
When requested, “What areas of your buildings and services operations do you propose to implement AI within the subsequent 12 months?”, organizations reported a wide range of areas, together with:
- 77% – Worker expertise
- 68% – Customer administration
- 59% – House optimization
- 36% – Lease administration
With the present and projected will increase in workplace occupancy, each from staff and guests, it’s simple to grasp why organizations are specializing in worker expertise and customer administration. Half of all organizations we surveyed additionally reported plans so as to add AI to services automation, occupancy prediction, and asset administration.
Including AI to worker expertise programs improves office satisfaction and productiveness. AI can personalize the worker expertise by offering tailor-made suggestions for workspace preferences, streamlining administrative duties, and providing real-time assist by chatbots. It additionally helps in gathering and analyzing worker suggestions to establish and deal with ache factors, resulting in a extra engaged and motivated workforce.
AI-backed customer administration programs additionally supply quite a few benefits, together with enhanced safety by automated check-ins, improved effectivity from decreased wait instances, and higher knowledge analytics to trace customer patterns and optimize useful resource allocation.
Driving worth by a unified answer
The 2025 Office Index report highlights how including extra level options doesn’t assist organizations optimize worth.
“Regardless of the abundance of office know-how, many organizations are struggling to harness its full potential as a consequence of disconnected programs,” mentioned Eptura Chief Govt Officer Brandon Holden. “As an alternative of driving effectivity, fragmented tech stacks create decision-making bottlenecks, making it more durable to streamline workflows, analyze knowledge successfully, and adapt to evolving enterprise wants.”
By turning into extra linked, knowledgeable, and clever by implementing a unified answer, organizations can remodel their worker expertise, optimize their actual property for vital price financial savings, and prolong the lifetime of their property to attain most efficiencies.
Obtain the complete 2025 Office Index report to be taught extra about these traits and the way they immediately have an effect on your group.
By Jonathan Davis
Jonathan writes about asset administration, upkeep software program, and SaaS options in his position as a digital content material creator at Eptura. He covers traits throughout industries, together with fleet, manufacturing, healthcare, and hospitality, with a concentrate on delivering thought management with actionable insights. Earlier in his profession, he wrote textbooks, edited NPC dialogue for video video games, and taught English as a international language. He holds a grasp’s diploma in journalism.
