Occupancy sensing provides real-time and historical data on how spaces are used — enabling energy optimization through demand-controlled HVAC and lighting, space planning decisions based on actual utilization patterns, and the workplace experience tools that help employees find available desks and meeting rooms without friction.
Space utilization data consistently reveals that corporate real estate is significantly underutilized — typically 40-60% of desks and meeting rooms are unused on any given day, even when employees report difficulty finding available space. Occupancy sensing transforms assumptions about space utilization into measurements, enabling data-driven real estate decisions that can reduce the most expensive line item in many organizations' operating budgets. RLM advises on occupancy sensing technology selection, privacy design, and the analytics platform that turns utilization data into actionable facility management insights.
A structured advisory process — from use case definition and platform evaluation to deployment architecture and ongoing optimization.
We assess your occupancy sensing requirements — space types (open plan, private offices, meeting rooms, common areas), utilization granularity needed (desk-level vs. zone-level), privacy constraints, and the systems (HVAC, lighting, workplace apps) that will consume occupancy data.
We evaluate occupancy sensing technologies — PIR motion sensors, desk sensors (pressure or capacitive), overhead camera-based counting, thermal array sensors, and WiFi/BLE probe detection — matching technology to your space types, accuracy requirements, and privacy constraints.
We evaluate occupancy analytics platforms — Density, Cisco Spaces, Enlighted, VergeSense, Crestron FlipTop — against your reporting requirements, building system integrations, workplace experience app connectivity, and the visualization capabilities that make utilization data actionable.
We design the integration between occupancy sensing and building automation — HVAC demand-controlled scheduling based on occupancy, lighting automation, and the fault detection that identifies spaces that remain conditioned despite being unused.
The dimensions that determine whether an IoT deployment delivers lasting operational value — and the questions RLM helps you answer before any commitment.
Occupancy sensing that identifies individuals or tracks movement at the person level raises significant employee privacy concerns. Evaluate anonymized sensor technologies that provide utilization data without individual tracking — and ensure employee communication about sensing technology is clear and transparent.
High-accuracy occupancy sensors (camera-based, desk sensors) cost significantly more than lower-accuracy alternatives (PIR, WiFi probe). Evaluate the accuracy required for each use case — energy optimization works with zone-level accuracy; desk booking requires desk-level precision.
Access control badge data provides a proxy for occupancy but misses employees who badge in and move to different areas, remote work patterns, and visitor occupancy. Evaluate whether badge-only occupancy analysis provides sufficient accuracy for your use cases.
Occupancy data has privacy implications when retained at granular levels over long periods. Evaluate the retention policy for granular occupancy records and the aggregation at which historical data is appropriate to retain long-term.
Occupancy data value for space booking depends on real-time integration with workplace apps (Microsoft Places, Condeco, Robin). Evaluate integration latency — desk availability data that updates every 5 minutes is less useful for space booking than data updating every 30 seconds.
"RLM helped us select and deploy an IoT platform across 28 facilities in under six months. Their vendor-neutral approach saved us from a costly mistake with our initial shortlist."
"We needed smart metering and energy management across our campus portfolio. RLM mapped the vendor landscape, ran the evaluation, and we're now hitting our ESG targets ahead of schedule."
Talk to an RLM advisor who specializes in enterprise IoT deployments. Independent guidance from platform selection through operational deployment.