Utilities Management by Steelcase

New Support Structures

Acknowledging that the world of work has changed dramatically, and that people need new support systems, new tools, and new environments in which to perform and produce in new ways, there is another element to be considered the infrastructure that brings this new workplace electrical power and data connections - the management of utilities.

Utilities management is particularly important today for two fundamental reasons - there is more technology that requires utilities support, and there is a higher need for mobility and flexibility. Taken together, these workplace realities challenge the capacities of most utilities management strategies.

Electrical power is an increasingly important component in today's workplace. All the new electronic tools need it, even the portable ones. Battery technology has not kept pace with other electronic advances, so tethered power remains a critical workplace element, even if simply for recharging batteries.

As networked computing becomes even more dominant, access to data connections to networks becomes critical for the workplace. These connections are increasingly required to be more flexible, allowing people to rapidly and easily connect and disconnect from the company network both from their office workspace as well as from remote locations.

Effective utilities management means developing and implementing strategies to create an infrastructure of power and data that meets the needs of today's evolving workplace.

The Impact of All This Change

Utilities management requires the integration of a wide range of knowledge:

Knowledge about the elements themselves - the science of electricity and data transmission
Knowledge about facilities and architecture and the infrastructure systems that are effective in today`s buildings
Knowledge about the ways people are working, particularly their needs for flexibility, connectivity, and stable access

This wide-ranging knowledge is essential and may be best addressed by assembling a team of people who can provide the breadth of expertise necessary to create an effective utilities management plan. This team can make significant contributions to workplace effectiveness through its comprehensive approach to a utilities management strategy.

"Energy consumption due to office equipment and related energy systems is expected to increase by as much as five-fold during the next decade." -- American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, 1996

"The number of portable users connecting back will grow to more than 30 percent from 1996 through the year 2000." -- Dial Up for Dollars, Mobile Office, April 1996

How It's Taking Shape

The growing presence in the workplace of new and more electronic tools and the need for increasing mobility and flexibility has created some specific challenges for utilities management.

The sheer volume of electronic devices in today's workplace requires a new approach to utilities management. Power requirements have increased, and the need for protected power arises more frequently than ever before. The workplace electrical infrastructure must be ready to meet this challenge.

An increase in the number of people who need access to electronic networks - whether the Internet, the World Wide Web, a commercial provider, or an internal company system - requires new approaches to data connection systems. These systems must provide re liable and stable access in order to support productive work.

Because mobility has become such an important attribute of work today, the utilities infrastructure must be capable of supporting higher levels of mobility than ever before. For example, desk-height power and data connections are a significant workplace feature for people who rely on portable technology as a main work tool. Floor-level connections do not effectively support someone who must connect and disconnect from power and data many times during a single work day.

As organizations rely more heavily on team structures and team behaviors, the utilities infrastructure must be capable of meeting a new set of needs. Team and group workspaces have distinct power and data requirements that must be addressed by a utilities management strategy.
In addition to individual mobility, today's workplace frequently includes a high degree of group change - teams are re-cast, departments shift, and space needs change. The utilities infrastructure must be flexible enough to respond quickly when a team grows by three members or when a department is divided into two distinct groups. This may require that the utilities infrastructure be based more in subarchitecture than in the building architecture itself. For example, furniture-based infrastructures may support change better than building-based systems.

These and other demands of an evolving world of work place increasing significance on utilities management for creating effective workplaces.

"Internet connections soared by 115 percent in 1995." -- Computer Intelligence infocorp. consumer technology index study, 1996

"Approximately 22 percent of Fortune 1000 companies now use intranets." --Forrester Research, Cambridge, MA

"Companies are finding that the move to team-based work processes has been accompanied by a three or fourfold increase in the number of meetings, a change in space use most facilities were not prepared to accommodate." -- Does Office Design Hinder Employee Productivity?, Building Operating Management, August 1995

How It's All Connected

Enhancing utilities management and its impact on the furniture configurations and the workplace does not exist in isolation. No company can be successful by focusing only on utilities management and the impact of this factor on the work environment.

As utilities management strategies and resources continue to emerge and change, businesses will also be focusing on issues such as:

Electronic tools: the emerging technologies that support new forms of work, new ways of connecting with people, and new processes that enhance speed and the quality of the output people are capable of generating
Communication linkages - the ways information and knowledge are transmitted, and the processes that support the transfer and creation of new knowledge
Organizational shape - the new structures, management styles, team patterns, and work culture and their collective impact in creating a new set of needs for the workplace
Health and safety - the collection of issues that affect the safety, health, and comfort of the workplace, and the impact of those issues on workplace design

A holistic integration of these and any other relevant workplace factors will ensure that a new approach to designing and furnishing the workplace will create a more effective place for people to work and companies to succeed.