How to optimize the workplace experience? Spica case story

The workplace has gone through a huge change over the last 2 years as companies figure out how their offices operate and what kind of working models suit them best. Workplace software company Spica helps with these exact issues with their GemEx Engine® workplace experience platform and Luna workplace experience mobile app that helps connect people, places, and data.

As an integration agnostic provider Spica is continually looking to work with the best IoT sensors to complement their solution, a few key requirements rose above all else: ease of installation, great support & maintenance services, and global operation.

“We offer installation service as part of the new customer onboarding, hence the ease of installation of IoT sensors is really important for a smooth and efficient customer onboarding”, says Tim Streather, Managing Director of Spica. In addition to these requirements, the accuracy of the IoT devices was, of course, high on the list. “We wanted our solution to show real-time information on meeting room and desk occupancy. For the best user experience, the data must be accurate” Tim Streather continues.

Haltian provides Spica with the Thingsee IoT solution, which includes wireless sensor devices such as Thingsee PRESENCE sensor for occupancy monitoring and visitor counting. Haltian Thingsee is truly end-to-end, offering everything from IoT devices to cellular connectivity and integration. Combined with global cellular coverage and the best in-building mesh network between devices, the solution provides reliable and accurate data. In addition to occupancy data, Spica uses Thingsee AIR air quality monitoring device to measure temperature, and CO2 and TVOC levels.

The solution is fully integrated into the Spica Workplace solution, GemEx Engine platform, and app where they can contextualize the data within a digital building twin to their clients for better employee experience as well as well-informed data-based decisions. With the provided data, people can find and book free desks and meeting rooms, catering, bike, and parking spaces using IPS indoor navigation to find relevant resources. In addition, facility management gets valuable data on space usage such as peak hours, popular spots, and unused spaces. The Spica Workplace app helps increase the usage of bookable spaces through real-time availability information and space release.

Employees can collaborate by viewing which of their colleagues or guests are in the workplace on any given day and be able to easily communicate, book workspaces, and work together. Occupancy analytics and automation are also used to power the Smart Cleaning perspective within GemEx, for demand-based cleaning. Haltian Thingsee IoT solution is designed to scale easily, and now the installation process is optimized to enable anyone to install the IoT sensor devices in seconds without any on-site configuration or special knowledge! In addition, Thingsee is designed to scale easily from hundreds to tens of thousands of sensors enabling global data delivery to Spica’s solution.

”Haltian has integrated cellular connectivity as a key element in their solution which helps us to focus on our own solution and most importantly on our customers, while the Haltian team is there to help with the IoT data. The accuracy of their sensor data, fast cellular deployments, and wireless range of sensors for occupancy and air are all contributing factors in choosing Haltian as a partner. Their support and delivery capacity are excellent. Even during challenging times recently with the shortage of electronic components globally, we didn’t miss any customer launches”. Streather says.

The first customer installation was a true test of Haltian’s Thingsee solution, as it was done while all the pandemic restrictions regarding travel were in place. Haltian trained a third-party installation team remotely and supervised the process remotely as well. As a result, Spica was able to install +1200 sensors in two days with a team of three people.

This was mostly because all Haltian devices were delivered pre-configured with no local configuration needed. Spica has been able to save a tremendous amount of time and money in installation travel and costs. And for the end customer, the installation has had very little disruption during their office hours.

In addition to the optimized IoT installation process, Haltian has been able to deliver IoT devices with excellent mesh network quality quickly and even with short lead times during the unusual times of component shortages and delayed delivery times in many technology companies. Despite the challenges in the market, Spica has been able to run the business without major delays or interruptions.

Pasi Leipälä from Haltian comments on the partnership: “Spica has shown to be a great partner for Haltian in delivering IoT solutions for our common customers. We are glad Spica values the design principles of our products: reliable data, scalability, and extremely easy installation”.