Occupancy sensing is moving beyond measuring how workplaces are used. Jane Watson, general manager EMEA at XY Sense, explains how real-time data can transform building operations, improve employee experiences and create new opportunities for AV integrators.
From meeting room availability and digital signage to lighting, ventilation and even catering, occupancy data is increasingly being used to influence how workplaces operate in real time.
Ahead of her appearance at WORKTECH26 London, Watson speaks to Anna Mitchell about the convergence of smart buildings and smart workplaces, the importance of accurate data and why AV integrators have a role to play in connecting these systems.
Anna Mitchell: What can occupancy technology tell organisations today beyond simply whether a room is occupied?
Jane Watson: I think we’re seeing a real convergence of what I would call the smart workplace and the smart building, and occupancy sensors are largely the glue that sits between them.
Occupancy sensors provide insights into how many people are in a space, where they are and how they’re moving through it. I’d also include indoor air quality sensors as part of that picture.
Those insights feed into workplace technologies such as booking systems, meeting rooms and digital displays. These are the systems that employees interact with and that help the workplace function.
But there are also enormous applications for how the building itself operates.
For example, how much airflow is required in a particular space based on the number of people occupying it? If occupancy suddenly increases, that’s a leading indicator that indoor air quality may deteriorate. Occupancy sensors can trigger the fix before the problem even arises.
Similarly, are lighting, heating and cooling responding to where people are and how they’re moving through a building, rather than simply operating according to a schedule?
There’s an economic and environmental consideration too. What’s the most efficient way to operate the entire space, not just the desks and workplace equipment, but the whole building?
That’s where we’re seeing occupancy technology evolve. To create these automated smart building and workplace systems, you first need to understand where people are and how they’re using the space.
AM: Occupancy data has traditionally been used to inform future decisions. How are organisations starting to use live data operationally?
JW: Some of the really interesting applications are around cleaning and even catering.
One of our customers triggers an alert based on how many people have entered the building by 11am. That information goes to the catering team so they can anticipate lunchtime demand.
They can prepare the right amount of food and arrange appropriate staffing rather than overpreparing when occupancy is low.
It’s a fantastic, tangible example.
Cleaning is another area. Based on the number of people entering and leaving a bathroom, you can determine when it needs cleaning rather than simply following a fixed schedule.
The same applies to kitchens and tea points. If you know how many people have used those areas, you can anticipate when supplies such as tea and milk might need replenishing.
Organisations can also use occupancy patterns to rethink maintenance schedules. If they know occupancy is consistently low on Fridays, for example, they might bring certain cleaning activities forward from Saturday. That can reduce costs while making better use of the space.
We’re also seeing applications involving environmental controls and security.
One of our customers used live occupancy monitoring during a fire drill to understand where people were encountering bottlenecks.
We’re not providing a fire safety or evacuation management system, but the data can help identify congestion points that might become problematic in a real emergency.
It’s about using information on how people actually move through buildings to make operational improvements before problems arise.
AM: Where does occupancy data intersect most directly with AV systems?
JW: Common applications include digital displays, wayfinding and communicating desk and meeting room availability.
I’m seeing more organisations moving away from requiring people to manually book desks or check into meeting rooms.
The question is how occupancy sensing and AV can come together to automate those processes and create a more frictionless workplace experience.
There’s also an interesting opportunity around what information you communicate to employees.
For example, how busy is the workplace? Is it particularly quiet or crowded? Different people have different preferences about the environments in which they work.
Somebody might want a quiet area where they can concentrate, while someone else wants to be surrounded by colleagues.
Occupancy data can help communicate that information through workplace systems and displays.
You could even provide information about likely waiting times at the café or how busy the lunch queue might be.
It’s about empowering employees, who are effectively the customers of the space, with the information they need to make decisions that suit them.
AM: Many AV systems, including video bars and room booking platforms, already offer occupancy insights. Is there a risk of different technologies duplicating the same functions?
JW: For me, the important thing is understanding what level of accuracy and granularity the customer needs.
AV equipment can give you a good proxy for occupancy, but it won’t necessarily cover every scenario.
How many times do people have a meeting without turning on the video camera? Perhaps the lens is covered, or they’re simply using their own laptops rather than the installed AV equipment.
Imagine an HR meeting where the camera isn’t being used. Is that meeting actually being detected? What if there was an auto release and interruption in the midst of a sensitive conversation? That's disruptive!
You also have to think about how people behave within a room. Somebody might stand against a wall because they want to stretch their legs rather than sitting at the table.
If you’re comfortable with a reasonable estimate and don’t need absolute accuracy, the information from AV equipment might be perfectly adequate.
But there are situations where you need much greater certainty and your space decisions require confidence in the data they are being made on
That’s where the reliability and immediacy of the occupancy information become critical.
There’s also a difference between what people intend to do and what they actually do. Somebody might book a meeting room, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they use it.
AM: How accurate does occupancy data need to be before organisations can confidently automate decisions based on it?
JW: It depends on the level of granularity the organisation requires and what decisions it’s making.
If you want instantaneous, real-time certainty, you’re looking for accuracy of 99% or more.
Think about law firms, where time is billed by the minute. Every minute wasted has a significant financial impact.
But the requirements might be very different for a smaller business that’s primarily interested in understanding the general atmosphere of its workplace or has less demanding security requirements.
You have to look at what the organisation is trying to achieve.
Are you making decisions about property leases? Are you looking at employee productivity? Or are you automating meeting room availability and building systems?
Each has different requirements in terms of how accurate and timely the information needs to be.
It’s difficult to make significant property decisions based on data that’s only 80% accurate. A 20% variation in how much space you think you need could represent a substantial amount of money.
Ultimately, you need to understand the trade-off between the quality of the data and the decisions you’re expecting it to support.
AM: What kinds of actions can realistically be automated using occupancy data?
JW: Some of the simplest and most common examples are automatic check-in and release of desks and meeting rooms.
Then there are digital displays that can show how busy different areas are, helping people decide where they want to work.
You can automate alerts for cleaning and security teams, and then there are the building systems themselves.
Airflow can be adjusted by zone. Heating and cooling can respond to actual occupancy, and lighting is another major opportunity.
At the moment, I think the biggest limitation to automation is how the different networks and technologies integrate with one another.
But I can see a future, and I don’t think it’s particularly far away, where far more of the workplace responds automatically to people.
Imagine walking into a meeting room and having the video system start up and the blinds come down without needing to do anything.
People increasingly expect that frictionless experience. They want the space to work around them rather than having to adapt the way they work to the space.
AM: Large corporate projects often involve different teams specifying technology independently. Are you seeing organisations install duplicate sensors or create separate systems that don’t communicate?
JW: Yes, and a common example is lighting control, where you might have sensors installed for the building and separate sensors for workplace applications.
But I actually see that as a diminishing problem.
Particularly in the London market, large corporate fit-outs increasingly involve smart building consultants who oversee the technology and can help customers make better decisions about what they need.
I’m less concerned about the duplication of technology itself because that’s relatively easy to resolve.
The bigger issue is where the data goes and how it’s shared between different functions.
That’s a cultural challenge as much as a technology challenge, and potentially a much more valuable one to solve.
How do you combine multiple data sources to develop a more nuanced understanding of what’s happening?
We’re looking at developments such as Model Context Protocol (MCP) integrations, which could allow customers to bring occupancy information together with HR data and energy consumption data through their own large language models.
They wouldn’t necessarily want to share those individual data sets with different vendors. But if they can bring them together internally and ask questions across them, that becomes incredibly powerful.
It also means IT, HR, operations and facilities management all need to work much more closely together.
AM: Who should take responsibility for managing that integration across an organisation?
JW: I’m not sure any organisation has completely cracked that yet.
I do think IT is becoming a really important stakeholder, particularly people who understand both the technology and the wider business operations.
It can’t just be about saying that a particular piece of technology does something interesting. You need to understand the business need that it’s addressing.
IT is potentially well placed to bring together the different systems, but it also needs to involve facilities, finance, HR, operations and workplace teams.
Another challenge is procurement.
Sometimes organisations are tied into longstanding contracts that restrict their ability to introduce better solutions. You might have people who are very forward-thinking about workplace technology but can’t implement what they want because of existing procurement arrangements.
It’s interesting when you talk to workplace leaders because their reporting structures vary so much.
Some report into finance, some into HR, some into IT and others into operations. Those different structures can fundamentally change the business case they’re trying to put forward.
So I don’t think there’s one definitive answer, but whoever takes responsibility needs to understand both the technology and the commercial and employee outcomes.
AM: Do AV integrators increasingly need to understand occupancy sensing, and could it become another service they offer to customers?
JW: Yes. I think we’re seeing a lot of use cases coming together, and the way I look at it is that one plus one equals three.
When you connect different technologies, you’re creating more value for the end customer than either system could deliver on its own.
We provide occupancy sensors, but we don’t provide all the digital displays that might communicate that information.
We need those partnerships. Equally, the companies providing the displays need accurate information coming into their systems to make sure what they’re showing is correct.
I actually think there’s already quite strong awareness among some of the key AV players.
Appspace, for example, is one of our strongest partners.
At ISE in Barcelona this year, we had one of our sensors on their stand, and there was a huge amount of interest because people could immediately see what it might enable them to do.
We’re now doing a lot of co-design work around particular projects and customer requirements.
I think that’s where there’s a real opportunity for AV integrators.
They don’t necessarily need to become occupancy sensing specialists themselves, but they should understand what the technology can enable and how it connects with the systems they’re already delivering.
An important consideration is making sure the sensing technology has an open API.
That allows customers to work with different vendors and combine multiple technologies in the way that best suits them.
Where you get less value is when an API is restricted to a particular system and the customer becomes locked into that relationship.
That doesn’t encourage the diversity of design and applications that can make these technologies more valuable over time.
Watson will explore the move from occupancy analytics to responsive workplaces at WORKTECH26 London, where she will participate in a panel discussion titled We Measured the Building. Now What?, alongside Chris Bates and Will Mellor, technical consultant at Burges Salmon.
The discussion will challenge the industry’s focus on measuring and reporting workplace utilisation, asking what happens when organisations move beyond dashboards and begin using live occupancy information to influence how their workplaces actually function.
From meeting room booking and digital signage to cleaning, HVAC, lighting and automation, the panel will examine how accurate data and connected systems can improve employee experiences and building performance.
WORKTECH26 London takes place on 17 November 2026 at Together, 88 Wood Street, London. Inavate readers can get a 15% discount on tickets. using discount code: WT26-LON-INAVATE
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