Network fabric and safe return to work

Working towards wellbeing

The social view of how we look after employees has also become more prevalent of late. As people return to the office, or work remotely on new digital platforms, there’s an opportunity to look at how they’re collaborating, based on data analytics, and measure employee sentiment across the network. Nudge technology can be used to encourage employees to take care of their work-life balance – for example, suggesting when to take a break. 'Tracking and demonstrating a measurable adherence to wellbeing and sustainability standards will contribute to building a culture that’s based on a clear sense of purpose.' 2020 Intelligent Workplace Report


Employees returning to the office will also want to know that the physical environment is safe for them to do so. The systems and apps that manage access to buildings, health checks, occupancy/social distancing, room bookings and facilities monitoring (such as lighting and air quality) will all be connected through the network fabric – as will the data they generate.

Data from the enterprise network, building network and IoT network are converging to be used to build predictive models and digital twins that can inform strategies for improving various outcomes – EX, health, and wellbeing, building management and sustainability targets, to name a few.

In light of evolving work styles, remote working and safe return-to-office initiatives, EX and employee wellbeing are critical boardroom discussions. The ability to connect people, applications and devices will be key to workplace transformation and achieving business outcomes. Organizations will therefore need to focus on designing an intelligent, secure network fabric - and evolve operational models to include automation and AIOps techniques - that underpins and enables smart workplace initiatives now and into the future. .