NEC Launches Suite Of Workplace Management Solutions, Including Signage, Tied To Its Cloud Services

April 21, 2022 by Dave Haynes

NEC Corporation of America (NEC), the non-display side of NEC not part of the 2020 Sharp-NEC Displays joint venture, sees an opportunity to make workplaces smarter through what it calls a “comprehensive suite of Workplace Management solutions” that include digital signage and wayfinding.

The solutions are designed to complement the company’s Univerge Blue Cloud Services, which provide telephony, collaboration, conferencing, webinars, file sharing/backup, security and other tools for workplaces, notably environments like call centers.

“NEC Smart Workspace brings together advanced applications and real-time data to provide automated, frictionless services that enable a secure, seamless, safe-working, and welcoming customer experience,” says Ram Menghani, President of Product Development for NEC Enterprise Communications Technologies. “It also provides a smooth interaction across office locations, campuses, hotels, and events centers. Leveraging technology innovation in the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Biometrics, and Cloud Communications improves the way we work and interact in a stimulating environment that maximizes productivity, well-being, safety, convenience and organizational resilience.”  

The new solutions include:

• Office space optimization and workplace efficiency;
• Automated reservation and touchless check-in;
• Access and space control, and occupancy restrictions;
• Monitoring, sanitization and physical distance compliance;
• Digital signage and wayfinding;
• Location analytics and asset tracking.

NEC says the solutions have modular components:

• SMART ACCESS: An easy-to-use, automated, touchless customizable self-service solution that guides employees, visitors or guests through the check-in / check-out process normally provided at a reception desk and provides a safe, efficient, and secure welcome;
• SPACE MANAGEMENT: Dynamic office space management that combines the benefits of flexible work location options with in-office simulations by leveraging the power of data and AI to embed health and safety, flexibility, security, and privacy into every work experience across physical and virtual work locations;
• MONITOR: Safeguards the workplace through a cloud-based Hosted Video Security solution provided as a service – with setup, support, maintenance and monitoring managed through a secure website or application hosted in your own data center, or as a hybrid setup;
• SMART CHECK-IN: Easy-to-use and completely automated self-service solution for the hospitality industry that enhances the Guest Experience by allowing guests to effortlessly self-manage checking in and out. The intuitive interface supports proprietary branding and is fully customizable.

NEC suggests the solutions are aimed at a variety of industry sectors such as hotels, universities, event centers, retail, finance, and utilities.

This seems in tune with the times. How offices “work” has changed a lot in the past 25 months. While there may never be as many people going into the office everyday as there were pre-COVID, things like hot-desking, wayfinding and check-ins make display technology more useful than ever. Those functions can run independently, but it makes a world of sense in enterprise-level companies to tie that into the broader suite of communication and management technologies used in modern workplaces.