Dive Brief:

• Envoy has launched a unified workplace analytics solution, providing building occupancy data alongside hybrid workplace tools, according to a press release. 
• Envoy Workplace pulls information from multiple sources, including door access scans, Wi-Fi and employee app sign-ins to give organizations insight into occupancy rates and building usage. 
• The solution combines Envoy’s existing desks, rooms and deliveries scheduling products and is a step toward developing a fully interconnected building management platform.

Dive Insight:

Envoy Workplace is looking to address the continued difficulties of hybrid work environments, including inconsistent office usage, excess real estate costs and the need for employee flex space, by providing insight into occupancy numbers. 

The software also offers core hybrid work tools, giving employees the ability to book meeting rooms and desks, coordinate work schedules and manage deliveries. 

“With the recent increasing shift to more in-office work, the world’s top companies are struggling to confidently report exactly how it’s going,” stated Larry Gadea, Envoy founder and CEO, in the release. 

By gathering data from a range of passive and active sources, such as door access scans and employee app sign-ins, the company said its analytics software can provide a more complete picture of what is happening across an organization or a specific location. 

The corresponding occupancy data also provides visibility into when and how people use a facility, and it can also be used alongside other building data to define system controls and processes that could drive energy efficiencies and reduce costs. 

Connecting these workplace tools to an analytics engine can offer a more granular view of a building's usage, enabling building managers to filter occupancy data on a room-by-room level. For example, this could show which departments’ employees come in the most or which areas have people in them the earliest or latest. This helps facility managers to anticipate workplace needs and make informed decisions about space requirements or climate controls.

“We work in a hybrid environment where there is less consistency in attendance throughout the week. With so much variability, it’s difficult to know how to improve efficiency in order to save critical budget,” said Brooks Gooding, workplace experience program manager at Braze, in the release. 

Envoy has seen rapid growth since its launch in 2013, with the company stating that over 16,000 offices use its software globally as of September 2022. The company lists Slack, Pinterest, Warby Parker and Lionsgate as users. The company has also raised over $170 million from a number of notable investors, being valued at $1.4 billion in its $111 million Series C led by Brookfield Growth early last year. 

Its new offering, however, joins an increasingly crowded market. Commercial tenant experience platform Equiem acquired SpaceOS earlier this month, stating that the purchase could help drive its plans to continue building out a vertical building operations system. Hybrid workplace startup Upflex is another player that provides booking services, in part through a partnership with WeWork, which led Upflex's Series A funding round and also recently launched its own flex space management platform.