Flex/25 London introduced office and operations leaders from throughout the UK and Western Europe collectively for a day of greatest practices, collaboration, and actionable insights. Now in its third yr, the 2025 occasion passed off on Might 13 on the Biltmore Mayfair and drew organizations from the enterprise companies, insurance coverage, and authorized segments (47% of attendees), adopted by these in accounting, banking and finance (27%) and know-how, communications or leisure (22%).
Whereas attendees represented a large cross-section of industries, they shared a transparent collective precedence: enhancing worker expertise and operational effectivity within the office.
Worker expertise and the rise of the digital office chief
In his keynote tackle, Eptura CEO Brandon Holden began by widespread targets for facility and office leaders. He highlighted that to ship a great office, organizations should:
- Create frictionless experiences for workers
- Navigate return to workplace
- Acquire visibility throughout actual property portfolios
- Optimize facility efficiency
- Discover efficiencies and drive price financial savings
- Set the muse for future AI
He additionally shared analysis figuring out the present developments that make reaching these targets tougher. In keeping with Eptura’s 2025 Office Index report, 34% of organizations plan to extend the variety of in-office days in 2025, and a rising variety of these returning staff are a part of an necessary demographic shift: Gen Z staff are already 18% of the workforce however are forecast to develop to over 20% within the subsequent 5 years. These developments imply elevated urgency for office and facility leaders to seek out alternatives to enhance area optimization, operational effectivity, and worker engagement.
In the identical report, Holden defined, there are clear indicators the trade is embracing AI-backed information analytics and automation to ship a powerful worker expertise. He famous that worker expertise is now seen as the realm for digital transformation with the very best potential to drive worth. By turning into extra linked, operational leaders can make the most of information analytics throughout a number of enterprise capabilities to get the insights they should make extra knowledgeable choices and discover the optimum stability between worker expertise and area utilization. He additionally pointed to the rising variety of firms with digital office leaders, highlighting a widespread dedication to investing in digital transformation.
Worker expertise begins with measuring the proper metrics, together with some new ones
Madi Hanc, a senior researcher from UnWork, delivered a thought-provoking presentation on the significance of fine utilization information when creating office technique. She burdened the significance of gathering information on how the workplace is getting used earlier than implementing return-to-office insurance policies, citing most of the high-profile circumstances, together with Amazon, the place managers mandated RTO with inadequate information, resulting in a scarcity of desks.
Reaching organizational targets is a multi-step course of, and Hanc outlined the development from capturing information to supporting total productiveness:
- Perceive how staff use the workplace
- Perceive worker wants
- Optimize area prices
- Enhance worker expertise
- Enhance productiveness
After reviewing case research the place UnWork used mixtures of extra conventional information sources to trace utilization, Hanc challenged the viewers to discover a brand new metric, workplace vibrancy. By measuring the power and engagement throughout the workspace, organizations have a extra holistic measure of success, and that in flip helps them create environments that not solely optimize area but in addition foster a way of group and collaboration.
The significance of fine metrics was echoed by Matt Graham, EMEA consulting lead for workplace know-how from EY, in his hearth chat on the position of know-how in enabling smarter workplaces. Graham highlighted the significance of utilization and occupancy as actual property and facility administration metrics, ensuring to differentiate between the 2. Occupancy is the variety of folks via the door, whereas utilization is how successfully persons are utilizing the area.
Like Hanc, Graham additionally inspired the viewers to think about expertise indices just like the demographics of the folks utilizing the area, to realize a extra complete understanding of office dynamics. By discovering new methods to take a look at their areas and the way folks use them, organizations can higher meet the wants of their staff.
The challenges of information seize usually are not at all times technical. The truth is, some issues are extra emotional. When Graham was requested about managing office know-how throughout international areas, he emphasised the significance of privateness and information safety for workers. Whereas information is important for making a extra environment friendly and customized worker expertise, some are reluctant to offer what they really feel is an excessive amount of info.
Phil Davitt, senior vice chairman skilled companies at Eptura, extra typically addressed the problems that include gaining buy-in when unifying office operations throughout an interactive workshop. Davitt facilitated a structured dialogue for attendees to collaborate on the right way to tailor approaches based mostly on capabilities and contemplate advantages, requirements, and significant metrics.
The promise of AI depends upon clear targets, linked information
In keeping with the 2025 Office Index report, many facility and office professionals have plans to implement AI in key constructing and facility operational areas, together with:
- 77% Worker expertise
- 68% Customer administration
- 59% House optimization
In his presentation on the transformation of the office via AI, Andy Targell, international head of actual property know-how advisory at JLL Applied sciences, lined a few of the latest developments within the discipline and the way they instantly associated to actual property and facility administration.
Working from enterprise targets and tangible use circumstances
He categorized AI into three major varieties:
- Generative AI: Instruments like ChatGPT that may create content material and responses
- Predictive AI: Applied sciences that forecast developments and outcomes
- Optimizing AI: Together with agentic AI, which may take actions beforehand requiring human intervention
For company actual property, he divided AI instruments into enterprise-level AI, which incorporates massive language fashions and AI plugins for CRM methods, and CRE-specific AI, instruments that cowl areas like capital tasks, portfolio administration, and constructing operations.
Whereas he introduced many tangible use circumstances, together with location technique, portfolio optimization, and worker expertise, he additionally burdened the significance of aligning know-how with enterprise targets like income development, price management, security, sustainability, effectivity, and employee productiveness. Setting clear enterprise targets and exploring concrete use circumstances is important to realizing the true worth of AI and avoiding the pitfalls of generic, advanced options.
“Know-how follows your targets, not the opposite means round,” he defined.
Setting a basis with linked information
The challenges of information silos and the facility of linked information had been a recurring subject on the occasion.
John Hilderbrands Eptura VP, channel and alliance options, opened his presentation with revealing stats from the Office Index report. When requested, “What are the largest challenges you face when analyzing your organizational information?” 58% responded “A number of information dashboards” and 55% stated it was “Size of time to build up significant information throughout completely different software program options.”
Susan Clarke, senior supervisor, constructing operations trade technique at Autodesk, emphasised that whereas we’re firmly within the period of Massive Knowledge, the subsequent step is AI. Nonetheless, the worth of AI relies upon not simply on the quantity of information, however on how effectively that information is structured and linked.
The problem is that so many firms at present function with disconnected methods. There ought to be a “digital thread” connecting methods and groups throughout planning, design, development, and operations, she stated, however as an alternative firms have a “digital unfold,” she defined.
Clarke positioned Autodesk’s partnership with Eptura as a strategic effort to bridge these gaps and allow a unified digital asset lifecycle — from design via to operations. She argued that to actually profit from AI, organizations should begin with the outcomes they wish to obtain. Which means defining the data wanted from the outset and guaranteeing it’s structured in a means that helps automation and perception.
She shared a compelling instance from a buyer who discovered over ten completely different naming conventions for a similar asset throughout 300 tasks — highlighting the necessity for standardization. With out consistency, AI dangers studying from unhealthy habits quite than delivering significant insights.
Clarke suggested organizations to seek out solutions to foundational questions, together with:
- What choices are we attempting to help?
- What information do we want?
- The place is it saved?
- Is it standardized?
With the proper information technique in place, she believes the trade can unlock smarter, extra sustainable outcomes.
In his presentation on constructing info modeling for facility administration (BIM for FM), David March, senior vice chairman options engineering at Eptura, spoke in regards to the challenges and rewards of connecting information from throughout the constructing lifecycle. With the proper information, insurance policies and procedures, organizations can implement, for instance, elements killing, asset hierarchies, device monitoring, and stronger work order administration. He additionally highlighted a key asset upkeep productiveness achieve from AI analytics and automation: Preventive upkeep work orders take roughly half as a lot time as reactive work.
Linked information success story
In a hearth chat, James Cameron, interviewed by Phil Davitt, shared worthwhile insights on what it takes for MDL to keep up undersea belongings. MDL has grown from one individual fixing fishing winches into £45M enterprise with 50 folks offshore managing important belongings that allow set up and restoration of subsea tools. The corporate’s mantra “can’t enable downtime” highlights the significance of reliability of their enterprise. Cameron defined that implementing Eptura Asset has been instrumental in serving to them cut back administration and knowledge delays by shifting upkeep administration away from Phrase paperwork, understanding downtime earlier than points come up, and shortly discerning enterprise circumstances for capital funding. A proactive strategy to asset administration and upkeep has allowed them to remain forward of potential points, guaranteeing steady operation and minimizing disruptions.
For these beginning with a brand new upkeep administration system, Cameron really useful fixing information earlier than it’s imported by defining what the information fields and classes ought to b. His staff wrote a CMMS handbook of fields and definitions, beginning with the data that was most necessary to the enterprise and rising from there.
The imaginative and prescient for a unified office
Kev Jones, vice chairman of product administration at Eptura, shared Eptura’s imaginative and prescient for clever worktech to join worker expertise, customer administration, area and asset administration, portfolio optimization, and information analytics. With the usage of AI-powered options like clever reserving for people and groups to foster in-office attendance, organizations can elevate productiveness and collaboration and create workplaces the place staff can do their greatest work.
His message echoed the important thing perception from the Office Index report: The answer isn’t extra tech. Firms say they have already got too many methods, creating information silos they’ll solely partially join via inefficient spending on time and expertise. The truth is, 37% of organizations want 11 or extra full-time staff to collate, analyze, and report on their worktech information. Organizations want a unified system that unlocks information analytics and helps embedded AI.
By Erin Sevitz
Erin has 15 years of expertise, together with 10 years in thought management on office administration and the constructed surroundings. In her present position she oversees groups chargeable for worktech insights and interesting Eptura’s 16,000 clients worldwide. Beforehand she led communications for the Worldwide Facility Administration Affiliation, a world trade nonprofit devoted to skilled improvement for office strategists, constructing managers, and company actual property.
