Increasingly, companies and corporations attach greater importance to proper usage of their space to reduce waste and enhance the employee experience. Fortunately, today’s security technologies such as video and access control can provide invaluable data in this regard. This article discusses how security can help companies with space optimization.
Benefits of corporate space optimization
More and more, space optimization is prioritized by companies and corporations. Indeed, proper use of space in a corporate environment can bring several benefits. One of them is cost reduction. It should be noted that real estate represents a huge cost for companies and corporations. Optimizing space can help users avoid paying for capacities that they rarely use.
“The workplace has changed, and a lot of organizations are still carrying space built for a five-day-a-week office that no longer really exists. The way we think about space optimization is straightforward: help companies match their real estate to how people actually work, so they aren't paying to run space that sits empty, and the space they keep genuinely supports collaboration, focus, and a good day at work,” said Kumar Sokka, CEO of Acre Security. “When an organization can see how its offices are actually used, better decisions follow. Think of energy, cleaning, meeting-room availability, and what they'll need from their real estate down the road.”
“Space is one of the biggest costs on the books, and for the first time we can actually see how it performs,” said Callum Wilson, Co-Founder and CEO of Eluviant. “The organizations getting this right are making very practical changes off the back of that visibility: consolidating quiet floors on low-attendance days and powering them down, rebalancing meeting rooms when the data shows large rooms being used by two people, and moving catering, cleaning, and front-of-house staffing to match actual peaks rather than a fixed schedule. None of it is glamorous, but it shows up directly in real estate cost, energy use, and how the building feels to the people in it.”
For corporations that own multiple buildings, forming corporate campuses, proper use of space is even more important. Corporate campuses often contain millions of dollars of real-estate assets. Optimization helps companies understand which spaces are heavily used, underused, or no longer aligned with how employees work. This way, instead of immediately constructing another building, the corporation may be able to make better use of what it already owns.
Finally, space optimization helps bring a better working and collaborative experience for corporate employees. “Space optimization isn't simply about reducing square footage. It's about understanding how people use buildings so organizations can create workplaces that are more efficient, comfortable, and adaptable,” said Greg Colaluca, CEO of Intellicene. “When space is used effectively, companies can improve the employee experience, reduce operating costs, make better planning decisions, support future growth, and create workplaces that better align with how employees work today.”
How security can help
Given the importance of space optimization in a corporate environment, facility managers are looking for solutions and tools to help them better understand how space is used and how it can be optimized. Luckily, they need to look no further than their security systems, which provide ample data in this regard.
“Security systems already capture a significant amount of operational information … The value comes from connecting information that's already being collected rather than deploying entirely new systems. The goal isn't to monitor employees. It's to understand how facilities function so organizations can improve both security and day-to-day operations,” Colaluca said.
Below we look at some of the security technologies that can play a key role in helping corporations optimize space.
Video and access control
Video surveillance and access control are long known as security solutions that help companies protect employees and assets. But they also provide tons of operational data that are valuable, including how space is used.
“Access control shows when people enter a building or a secured area; video analytics and occupancy sensors fill in the broader picture. Where traffic builds, where it bottlenecks, and how shared spaces get used. Read responsibly and in aggregate, that shows a facilities team what demand actually looks like, without monitoring any individual,” Sokka said. “A common example: a company finds one floor sits half-empty while the meeting rooms two floors up are booked solid. Now they can do something about it, turn the quiet floor into a collaborative space, or change how rooms are booked.”
“Access control tells you how many people came in. Video intelligence, running across the cameras you already own, tells you what happened in the building: how people move, where they gather, which spaces work hard and which never get used. One is a headcount. The other is the story of the day. And here’s the thing: the value is almost never a single dramatic event. It’s the patterns,” Wilson said. “The lobby that clogs every morning at nine, the collaboration area that is fully booked and permanently empty … Issues like these normally take months of complaints to surface; the cameras see them within weeks, and facilities teams can adjust layouts, cleaning schedules, staffing, and building services on evidence rather than assumption.”
Heatmaps
Heatmaps, which show overcrowded or underused areas by color, can also be useful for space optimization. “Heatmapping tools and other video analytics like trajectory analysis highlight where people congregate, which conference rooms or common areas see the heaviest use, and which corners of a floor go largely untouched. Facilities and real estate teams can use these to inform layout changes, adjust furniture and desk placement, and decide where new amenities would deliver the most value,” said Oscar Popravka, AI, APIs, and Integrations Lead at Verkada.
License plate recognition
For corporate campuses with a lot of vehicle traffic, LPR zones bring visibility to the parking lot. “By marking an entrance and exit on cameras, facilities teams gain a real-time read on how full a lot is and how long cars are typically staying. Beyond security, this information can be valuable for planning things like visitor parking and company events,” Popravka said.