10 innovations to take your office into the future!

This week is QWL week. This is not the cousin of E.T., the alien, but an acronym for "Quality of Life at Work". This is good news because, in these extraordinary times, the well-being of your employees depends first and foremost on their safety. According to our recent survey, 79% of French people are afraid to go back to work because of covid-19. So how can you combine friendliness and safety in the office? We've compiled a short list of innovations already available to Deskeo customers that will make tomorrow's offices! Ready for take-off, 3, 2, 1...

1. The cyber coffee machine

Serving yourself a coffee without pressing the button on the machine. Does this sound like a moon shot to you? And yet it exists. The cafeteria of the future will be connected. You don't have to touch it, you can order your coffee from your phone. "On my smartphone I will be able to find all the drinks I usually drink every day. And then I trigger my coffee from the application", explains Yann Simon, co-founder of Brâam, a French SME that distributes these connected machines.

Thanks to this machine, we can rediscover the pleasure and conviviality of a coffee break, without the risk of contamination. Good news for espresso, latte and cappuccino lovers: tomorrow's coffee will be made from beans. More connected, more tasty, but also more ecological, it has everything to please!

2. Evaluate the occupancy of the rocket

How do you know if your offices are being used? Between teleworking, flex office and other changes in work organisation, it can be difficult to assess your space occupancy. These results will help you make decisions about your real estate needs! So, 200 m2 divided by 25 on Monday and 36 on Tuesday... Don't worry! There are tools that can tell you in real time the occupancy rate of your premises.

Operators such as Myseat or Jooxter provide you with reliable and sustainable sources of data on the occupancy of your workspaces (offices and meeting rooms). Ideal for starting up a flex-office and reorganising your offices!

3. Turn on a futuristic lamp

The easiest way: lights that switch on with infrared presence sensors. This saves energy.

Imagine space invader-style lighting. Small coloured squares that can be arranged in any shape you like, in any colour you like. With the Nanoleaf light panels, you can address your lamp directly to turn it on, off or dim it. If you prefer not to talk to an object, control it via your smartphone.

Welcome to an intergalactic world where the switch is replaced by connected light. Do you prefer sober lighting? Philips has launched Hue, a range of voice-assisted connected lights. Let there be light!

4. Warmer, cooler, cleaner... the air in the office is also undergoing a revolution

An air conditioner that can be programmed from an application, that eliminates odours and purifies the atmosphere... This is the challenge of the latest air conditioners. Nothing paranormal here, just high tech. From a distance, without having to climb on your colleague's desk to reach it, set the air conditioning as you wish with Daikin. An app allows you to set the temperature you want. It also works for heating with connected thermostats that will help you save energy.

To breathe healthy air, you can invest in an LG Ioniser air conditioner. According to the manufacturer, it can sterilise more than 99.9% of Escherichia coli in 30 minutes and 99.6% of staphylococcus aureus in 60 minutes.

5. Drink in "touchless" mode

Another UFO? No, just a touchless water cooler. You've probably heard of pedal water coolers. They are a classic and still very useful. But there are also innovations in this sector.

Just as with the cafeteria, the lamps and the air conditioner, you can now find connected water coolers. To operate it, all you have to do is use your smartphone app. Set the temperature of the water, indicate whether you want it carbonated or not, and order your glass of water via your app! The best part is that the water is directly connected to the water supply, so you don't have to change the bottle. It's magical!

6. Lunch in the connected canteen

7. Piano on a futuristic screen

A. You pass your computer to your colleagues

B. Ask them to come closer to look at your screen

C. You share your window on a large screen

If you answered A or B, your office is not very "covid compatible". Answer C seems to be the most suitable for the desktops of the future, but you'll need to be patient to get your computer connected. "I don't have an HDMI output", "Don't you have an adapter?", "No signal"... No more hassles and minutes wasted in meetings with the Airtame connected box. Plugged into any monitor, it allows you to share your screen in two seconds via Wi-Fi, and even to control a screen remotely!

And because progress never stops, the future has a few surprises in store for us, such as the virtual screen, which will allow you to type in the air as if on a keyboard...

8. Disinfect your crew

Tomorrow, we humanoids will probably use UMANO to disinfect our hands. UMANO is not a robot, but a hydroalcoholic gel dispenser that has the particularity of having an infrared sensor to detect the presence of your hands. Without any contact, your hands are disinfected.

And, to encourage you to perform this sanitary gesture, BRAAM, the company behind this French innovation, has made it its mission to donate 100% of the profits on the hydroalcoholic gel to the Astrée Association, which supports isolated vulnerable people. At the reception or in the cafeteria, the gel dispenser is gradually becoming part of our world...

9. Open Sesame: the contactless key ring

So we are entering the intergalactic era of contactless. Soon we may be able to travel in a flying saucer or travel through time on a spaceship. But in the meantime, there are still areas where contactless technology has not penetrated. You might think of it when you open a door, turn down the toilet seat, turn the tap or press the lift button... Well, rest assured, others have thought of it!

The real gadget of the future is a key ring. It's called Yanook, Jindo, or Higienico. It's the multifunctional hygienic personal hook. Hygienic? Because it is made of an antibacterial material that destroys all traces of virus...

10. Keep your distance

Are you a bit out of it and sometimes forget to follow sanitary measures? Better than a mind reader, Ubudu has launched a "social distancing assistant". It's very simple, every time you cross the minimum safety distance between you and your colleague, a "Ding Ding Ding!

Hung around your neck, in your pocket, or fixed like a watch around your wrist, Ubudu allows you to watch over your safety and that of others. Even more useful, this gadget is capable of auditing the chain of contamination if a case of covid-19 is reported in your company. By tracing the path of a person who tests positive in your company, you can test their colleagues and prevent the spread of the virus.

As you can see, the offices of the future will be connected. The world is changing fast, and all these innovations will probably be part of your daily life in the future. But don't stay in orbit after reading this article, keep your feet on the ground!