IBM offers new AI capabilities for smart real estate & facility management

IBM recently introduced artificial intelligence (AI) into its TRIRIGA solution, allowing facility management and real-estate professionals make the best use of their office space to develop a more engaging workplace experience. IBM’s TRIRIGA is currently one of the most recommended and appreciated Integrated Workplace Management Systems, globally. It features TRIRIGA Building Insights, occupancy data from sources such as newly embedded AI, IoT sensors, Wifi sensors, and a few others.

According to a report from commercial real estate services firm JLL, 30 to 40% of commercial space1 is under-used based on organizations surveyed. With TRIRIGA, customers can have an enterprise-wide view of their valuable workspaces. Embedded AI can help identify occupant trends and patterns, down to a single floor, to better anticipate and manage employee occupancy needs, adjust office layouts, and address relocation requests.

Building occupants will have access to the new TRIRIGA Assistant, a smart, conversational AI tool which uses natural language processing to help users quickly and easily engage with the spaces around them. TRIRIGA Assistant can help remove the hassle of coordinating with colleagues to schedule and reserve conference rooms, submit service requests such as lighting and catering, or locate a colleague’s assigned workspace.

“Employees and real estate are key elements to organizational growth and development, driving companies to create cost-effective and engaging workplaces that help attract and retain top talent,” said Kareem Yusuf, Ph.D., general manager, AI Applications, IBM. “The implementation of TRIRIGA with embedded AI provides corporations and facility managers with insights into how they can more effectively utilize space across their enterprise. This technology can help companies address the growing expectations of today’s modern workforce and achieve better business results.”

A better workplace experience
The IBM Global Real Estate (GRE) team is tasked with overseeing about 1,300 office locations that cover 78 million square feet, across 110 countries. With such a large, global footprint, the GRE team is beginning to integrate new AI capabilities from TRIRIGA to help overcome the challenge of creating a portfolio that addresses the needs of employees while helping to control costs and deliver the best value to the business.

Previously, each office location used its own applications to manage space that often resulted in manual and time-consuming workflow. TRIRIGA enables the GRE team to create a single source for data that provides an instant view into its diverse portfolio that includes space for offices, labs, data and educational centers, and warehouses.

Consolidating space and lease information provides the GRE team with a holistic view of IBM’s real estate portfolio data and prepares the way for AI-generated insights. Applying AI to understand how employees are actually using office space will help GRE improve overall utilization by offering the right mix of space and amenities.

“TRIRIGA’s embedded AI will allow us to collect and analyze information quickly at a global level,” said Marianne Flores, director, Global Real Estate Integrated Solutions, IBM. “With this information, we will be able to address one of our biggest challenges – balancing our portfolio while creating an environment that is attractive to our employees, helps boost their productivity and improves our bottom line.”