Summer Apres Planet - Flipbook - Page 14
CONNECTED WORLD
You & IoT
The Internet of Things has been
with us for quite some time.
While the concept has been thrown
around from as early as 1982, it
started gaining traction towards the
late 90s and finally borne fruit –
officially at least – between 2008
and 2009.
B
ut what exactly is the Internet of
Things, or IoT as the cool kids
call it?
According to Peter Lewis, “The
Internet of Things, or IoT, is the
integration of people, processes, and
technology with connectable devices
and sensors to enable remote
monitoring, status, manipulation and
evaluation of trends of such devices.”
It is estimated that there are currently
more than 10 billion - yup, more than
people on the planet - connected
devices, or bits of gadgets that can
be considered as part of the IoT.
Practically, IoT devices pose big
bene昀椀ts to us mere mortals – like
your fridge monitoring its contents
and either letting you know the milk’s
running low or simply ordering it all
on its technological lonesome. These
bene昀椀ts have now, luckily, started to
syphon through to of昀椀ce furniture.
The rise of smart of昀椀ce furniture
poses massive health bene昀椀ts to
workers and productivity boosts for
employers.
For years already we’ve advocated for
the incorporation of sit-stand desks
and warned against the ill effects
of prolonged sitting [with effects
ranging from increased susceptibility
to obesity to increased risk of heart
disease]. With the advent of smart
furniture in the of昀椀ce environment,
we are likely to see an increased
[we say increased because a few
manufacturers are already toying
with this tech!] occurrence where,
for instance, our seating solutions
measure the time we spend sitting
and prompt us at preset times to
get up and move. Similarly, chairs
will be able to monitor our postures
and encourage us to tweak them to
minimise possible strain injuries.
This all sounds very good for
workers, and it is, but the health
bene昀椀ts directly translate into
productivity increases for employers.
The links between employee health
and well-being and the resultant
output have been well documented.
A Forbes article recently said that
“Teams that are drained tend to
struggle with productivity. They
spend more time on internal minutia
HEALTH BENEFITS
DIRECTLY TRANSLATE INTO
PRODUCTIVITY INCREASES.
YESTERDAY’S NEWS TOMORROW
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