Many companies are offering their employees the opportunity to work remotely, and this practice could be one of the more appreciated cultural shifts from an otherwise catastrophic pandemic. However, relationships, culture, and collaboration work best IRL (in real life), and some workers are itching to get back to the office – but it will not be business as usual.
When your employees are ready to share office space again, the tools are in place to add documented and measurable safety and continuity. Return-to-office readiness, new working models, and employer responsibility are the hot topics of the day in this panel conversation that includes Chief Executive Officer for Siemens Smart Infrastructure Regional Solutions and Services, Dave Hopping. Hopping is responsible for smart buildings and smart grids to create an intuitive, resource-mindful environment. He’s joined by some Salesforce guests, as well as CEO for Comfy, Erica Eaton. Comfy was acquired by Siemens in 2018. Its platform and mobile app support businesses to more safely return employees to offices and develop hybrid home-and-office working models. Siemens and Salesforce will be the first to deploy the return-to-work solutions in their own offices, including Siemens Smart Infrastructure headquarters in Zug, Switzerland, and Salesforce Tower in San Francisco.
If you’ve watched Dave Hopping in this episode of Leading Through Change, or even if you haven’t, here are some facts on him, Siemens, and how they use Salesforce for success.
Facts about Dave Hopping
- His Siemens career began in 1989.
- Hopping holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University.
- Want more Dave Hopping? Hear him at Bloomberg’s virtual event, The Future of Smart Cities: Smart Real Estate — Accelerating IoT.
Facts about Siemens Smart Infrastructure
- Siemens Smart Infrastructure (SI) has its global headquarters in Zug, Switzerland, and has around 72,000 employees worldwide.
- In fiscal 2020, which ended on September 30, 2020, the Siemens Group generated revenue of €57.1 billion and a net income of €4.2 billion.
About the Salesforce/Siemens technology
- Products: Work.com, Comfy, Enlighted
- Work.com from Salesforce is a suite of applications and advisory resources to help organizations reopen safely. Work.com includes Workplace Command Center for employee wellness checks, desk and room reservations, and shift schedules; opt-in contact tracing can track employee interactions in shared spaces; and emergency response management tools can help prepare for vaccines or emergency resource dispersal. Traceable, visual data helps leaders make decisions and build risk management plans. Work.com also has immediate communication tools to reach out to stakeholders in the event of an emergency.
- Comfy is a provider of workplace intelligence technology acquired by Siemens in 2018. Through Comfy’s mobile app, employees can view and reserve desks and meeting rooms which adhere to distancing guidelines in real time, search for and navigate to health and safety amenities, and request services such as sanitization and maintenance. In addition, Comfy’s Insights platform offers businesses an analytics dashboard to better understand how office spaces are being used.
- Enlighted is an Internet of Things (IoT) solutions company that was also acquired by Siemens in 2018. This tool integrates with Work.com to manage building data and occupancy. Data is collected through a building-wide network of sensory systems multiple times per second by Enlighted’s cloud-connected smart sensors. This data gives companies real-time insight and analytics on how the building is used, and provides occupancy and location services for people and assets.
Hear from Siemens’ Deputy CEO
Roland Busch shares how Siemens managed the pandemic, and the potential for automation to bring people back to work.
