Today's hybrid workforce means your office can be nearly empty one day and buzzing the next. But most teams juggle three systems - sensors, bookings, and badge logs. None of them give the whole picture. Gallup says 55% of remote-capable U.S. employees now work hybrid schedules. Office utilization recently hit 54.2% in early 2025.

A single workplace technology stack pulls everything together. You get a clear, reliable view everyone can trust - real estate, facilities, IT, finance. Our privacy-first sensors set up in minutes. You'll see real-time, anonymous data that's accurate. It works with calendars, badges, IWMS, and BMS seamlessly.

Why Unifying Your Workplace Tech Stack Matters

When your data’s split up, you never get the full answer. Maybe sensors say a conference room is empty at 2 PM. The calendar says it's booked. Badge data confirms someone’s inside. Which one’s right?

Scattered tools create a mess. Facilities has one number, IT another. Finance isn't sure who to believe. Leadership gets stuck with conflicting reports.

An integrated platform fixes this. It merges sensors, bookings, and access logs. You see what's booked vs. what actually happened. You spot empty “ghost meetings.” You make decisions with evidence, not guesses.

That’s the payoff: less wasted space, lower energy bills, happier teams. Decisions come faster because your data always matches up.

Key Definitions for Your Stack

Before you bring everything together, you need clear terms. Here’s what matters:

• Occupancy: How many people are in a space right now.
• Utilization: How often a space is used over time. If a room’s in use 60% of the time, that’s 60% utilization.
• Average daily peak: The highest headcount each day. If you hit 200 most mornings, that’s your peak.
• Time-in-target: The hours you’re in your “sweet spot” (like 40-70% full). Too low? That’s wasted space. Too high? Comfort drops.
• Booked-vs-actual: Compare calendar bookings to real sensor counts. Ten booked, three showed up? You’ve got a gap.
• Ghost meeting rate: The percent of bookings with no-shows. A high rate means you’re holding space that nobody uses.
• Visitors, visits, dwell, draw rate: Visitors are unique people or devices. Visits count entries. Dwell shows time spent. Draw rate tells how many people passing by actually come in.

Agree on these definitions, and everyone’s dashboard tells the same story.

Core Data Sources - From Sensors to Badge Data

Your unified stack needs to pull in sensors, bookings, badge swipes, and Wi-Fi insights - then cross-check each source.

• Occupancy sensors: mmWave radar, PIR, and thermal sensors detect people without cameras. mmWave spots tiny movements, PIR tracks motion, and thermal picks up heat. Together, they give you accurate, private real-time counts.
• Doorway counters: Time-of-flight and 3D sensors track people coming and going. Use them at main doors or floor entries to set total headcount.
• Bookings & calendars: Insight on planned demand - how many, how long, how often. But they can't tell you if people actually show up.
• Badge & access: Swipe logs prove who enters and support security.
• Wi-Fi presence analytics: Wi-Fi points spot device traffic, dwell times, and return visits. Great for open areas like lobbies. But device-based methods miss some people - think private MACs or folks without phones.

No single data source is perfect. But together, you fill the gaps and check accuracy.

The Data Model: One Source of Truth

To merge your streams, start with a clear structure:

• Site → Building → Floor → Zone → Room.

Map every data point to a spot in this tree. A room on the third floor of Building A rolls up to the site total. Drill in or zoom out without losing context.

Use the same fields for everything:

• Time: Timestamp with time zone
• Space_id: Unique location ID
• Source: Sensor, booking, badge, Wi-Fi
• Metric: Occupancy, visits, dwell, bookings
• Value: The number (like, 12 people)
• Confidence: High, medium, low
• Anonymized: Yes or no

Keep your time intervals clear. If one sensor updates every minute and another every 15, sync them. Comparisons get easy.

Tag everything so your platform merges streams - without tracking individuals. You want group insight, not personal data.

Signals That Tackle Tough Questions

Once your data’s in one place, you finally get answers you can trust.

• Right-size rooms: See booked vs. actual headcount. If 8-person rooms average 3, convert a few to smaller spaces. Free up space for hot desks or lounges.
• Set desk ratios: Track your daily peak. If desk occupancy peaks at 65%, a 1.5:1 desk-to-employee ratio works. At 45%, you can go leaner and save even more.
• Pick open hours: Use visit and dwell info to spot slow periods. If Friday afternoons stay empty, close early and pocket energy savings.
• Boost comfort: Match occupancy with CO₂ and temperature data. High CO₂ during peak hours? Tweak ventilation before anyone complains.
• Cut energy: Pair lighting and HVAC with actual load. Our clients save about $0.50 per square foot each year by syncing HVAC to verified occupancy. They also see 20-30% savings on cleaning and a 2:1 ROI in food services.

Privacy by Design

Privacy’s not a nice-to-have. It's built in from the start.

Camera-free occupancy detection avoids the biggest privacy problems. mmWave, PIR, and thermal only count people - no faces, no identities, no images.

• Aggregate to zones where you can. For example, report “50 on this floor” instead of detailed tracking.
• Suppress headcounts below three to prevent small-space re-identification.
• Report every 15 minutes, not every minute. That’s detailed enough and feels less invasive.
• Show retention and access rules up front. Role-based permissions keep sensitive reports safe.

These steps line up with GDPR, PIPEDA, and other privacy laws. Anonymous aggregate data keeps you compliant and builds trust with your team.

Cut Errors. Build Trust.

Great data’s trustworthy because you check it.

• Reconcile door counts: People in should match people out each day. If not, check your sensor placement.
• Booked-vs-actual: If 20% of meetings are no-shows, dig into why. Maybe people forget to cancel, or the space is hard to find.
• Tune Wi-Fi detection: Adjust for dwell and signal strength to reduce false spikes. Remember, some devices can’t be tracked.
• Monitor uptime: Sensors can go offline. Set alerts, so you fix issues before they muddy your reports.

Audit regularly. When your team trusts the data, they act on it.

Connect to Building Systems

Occupancy data’s powerful when it drives automation.

Link your workplace management software to smart building controls. Lights dim as areas empty. Ventilation ramps up before CO₂ does.

• Track energy per occupied hour. It’s a clear sign of efficiency.
• Monitor CO₂ exceedance minutes - paired with occupancy - for proof your HVAC’s keeping up.
• Always protect privacy. Controls work at the group level, never individual movements.

Dashboards Leaders Will Actually Use

A unified platform must be easy to use - especially for leaders.

• Overview page: Show space, demand, comfort, and cost. Leaders want the headline, fast.
• Weekly demand: Summarize visitors, visits, dwell times, and changes week over week.
• Room fit: Compare your rooms to meeting sizes. Highlight ghost meeting wins. If you auto-release 50 hours a week, share that impact.
• Energy and comfort: Plot energy per used hour next to occupancy. Add in CO₂ for proof of comfort.

Keep charts simple. Label axes. Pin helpful definitions to each view so nobody’s guessing.

Scalability: Grow with Your Portfolio

Your tech stack should scale easily.

• Use site-building-floor rollups. A regional VP sees their territory, while a facility manager zooms into one floor.
• Send weekly email reports with key metrics and trend alerts.
• Export to Power BI, Tableau, or your favorite BI platform. Blend occupancy with lease costs, forecasts, and budgets.
• Pin definitions on each chart. When you’ve got 50 buildings, clear labels matter.

FAQs

How do I compare sensor technologies for accuracy and cost?

mmWave radar spots tiny movements in any lighting but costs more upfront. PIR is less expensive and common but misses still people. Thermal adds another layer by detecting heat. Time-of-flight door counters are top-notch for tracking entries and exits. Wi-Fi analytics tap into existing infrastructure for low cost but struggle with private MACs and people carrying multiple devices. Pick by use case - mmWave in high-priority areas, PIR for general spaces, door counters for totals, Wi-Fi for public areas.

How can I cut energy waste?

Tie your lights and HVAC to actual occupancy, not fixed schedules. Sensors confirm when a space empties, so lighting and airflow automatically scale. Watch energy per used hour, so you see true efficiency. Many of our clients save about $0.50 per square foot each year by making this switch. Pair occupancy with CO₂ and temperature to keep comfort high as energy use drops.

How do I validate space requests with real-time data?

Check average daily peak, time-in-target, and booked-vs-actual counts. If a team wants more desks but only fills 50% now, they already have capacity. If they ask for another conference room, compare booked hours to sensor counts. A high ghost rate? Encourage better booking habits before adding more rooms. Spaces below 30% occupancy are great candidates for rethinking or combining.

How fast can I deploy Occuspace?

You can roll out Occuspace sensors in 15 minutes per location. Full deployment takes days - not weeks. Early data shows up within minutes. No batteries, no cables, no new ceiling poles. Deploy across multiple buildings quickly and start using real-time data right away.

Action Steps: Your Unified Workplace Starts Here

Use a single workplace tech stack to turn scattered signals into one clear story. Cut wasted space, trim costs, and boost employee experience. Make better decisions, faster - your data always lines up.

• Map your current sources: sensors, bookings, badges, Wi-Fi.
• Pick a platform that merges it all, with a clear hierarchy and standard fields.
• Prioritize privacy. Choose camera-free sensors and anonymize all data.

Occuspace gets you there in days. Plug in the sensors. See real-time data on dashboards and APIs. Connect to automation and get exactly the level of detail you need - room, zone, floor, or site. Privacy comes built in.

Hybrid work is here to stay. Demand swings daily. With a unified stack, you'll finally have the insights you need to keep up.

Ready to get started? See live occupancy, merge bookings and badge systems, and make evidence-based decisions. Your spaces, your budget, and your teams are ready for it.