Shape shifting offices–In the six feet world

In this interview, Vipul Shah, Managing Director-Parinee Group, explains why technology, cleverly woven in with real-estate, can be an answer to solve presence disparity and help companies to navigate the duality of working environments in a post-pandemic era.

DQ:What made you think of Brillions as a concept, did it happen during the pandemic?

Vipul Shah: The remote working culture although has become the current norm, physical offices still continue to form a dominant part of the corporate culture with most employees being inclined to return back to the office. But needless to say, the post-pandemic workspace is going to look diverse. In such a situation, creating a phygital office that connects the physical and digital world will make end-users feel safe at work while also enhancing their overall experience. To attune to the current scenario, Parinee Brillions Phygital office spaces have been designed to bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds in an interactive and collaborative way.

DQ:How?

Vipul Shah: This one-off Phygital edifice will enhance employee collaborative work experiences by leveraging technology as a powerful tool. Inclined towards striking a work-life balance with its mixed-presence collaboration, Parinee Brillions will promote superior work culture in the current dispersed work environment. We intend to enable technology to emerge as a game-changer by integrating virtual tools like VR, AR, ML, and AI inside the physical office led to the conceptualization of Parinee Brillions.

DQ:How would this model be different from other phygital and hybrid co-working spaces emerging in the industry?

Vipul Shah: Parinee Brillion's phygital office is a premium commercial address, delivering a differentiated and holistic workspace ecosystem with its supreme office spaces and easy-to-access amenities. Through its futuristic digital toolset, the new-age concept aims to emerge as a differentiator in the commercial space by bridging the gap between physical and remote presence. Unifying appropriate virtual tools right from the entry of their vehicles, stepping in the office building, moving to the elevators, and finally their entry to their respective offices. We have also enhanced the common areas of the office building by adding a virtual layer using technology innovatively that should not dissuade employees from collaboration and networking and make them feel safe in our Phygital offices. Our two-way set-up will empower employees to learn, personalize their experience and optimize their workflow and productivity.

The digital participants can feel excluded from the flow of ingenious energy of the real-world office.

DQ:Is it easy to balance safety, security, flexibility, collaboration, and human-centricity in such a workspace? How many roles can technology play here?

Vipul Shah: Our current work set-ups are spaces where most of us are working right now—a typical scenario where-in some employees are in the room while others join distantly. It does compel the remote participants to work a little harder to be seen and be heard—a concept termed as presence disparity.

DQ:Can you explain it further?

Vipul Shah: Mixed presence teams often witness a disparity in the contribution made by those in the physical workspace and those ‘calling in’. The digital participants can feel excluded from the flow of ingenious energy of the real-world office, while those in the physical set-up may feel remote participants are not totally present in the communications. Through entailing a smart mishmash of digital tools like AR and VR, location-based push notifications, live chats, Machine Learning and IoT, these inward-looking hybrid strategies have been premeditated keeping employee experience at the center. By offering a digital infrastructure and a resourceful end-user experience, these two-way spaces will strengthen the organisations social and cultural fabric.

DQ:How much repurposing, retrofitting, and upskilling would such phygital investments take for any enterprise and its employees?

Vipul Shah: Parinee purely believes that Phygital offices will be a bare basic necessity in the coming times and the investment would be minuscule compared to the value it will bring to its owners and their employees. We also understand that technology is changing and newer technology is being introduced even while we talk. We are keen to bring in the best that there is to offer in these Phygital offices and we are talking to some technology partners for the same. We are also researching internationally some best practices relevant for our Phygital offices.

The faster than predictable recovery of the Indian economy has lent an additional edge to the real estate sector.

DQ:Do we have enough ecosystem support for phygital models to work in India? How do you ensure to close the distance between phygital and digital workspace contexts?

Vipul Shah: The future of work will be shaped by a hybrid approach. Technology has been the most significant enabler for leveraging the remote work experience. Innovative digital tools will help augment the organisation's post-pandemic priorities to adapt, evolve and execute a phygital workplace strategy that builds a smarter workforce.

The hybrid working models, enable firms to get on-board new project teams remotely, without the need of offering a new desk per recruit. Switching to technical advancements as a way of conducting meetings can get everyone into the same ‘room’ at the same time. It can promptly break down the division between those in the office and those functioning remotely.

It’s clear that the functioning of the corporate world is fluctuating due to the introduction of hybrid working models, and thankfully this should imply the end of the cookie-cutter approach to office design in India.

DQ:If 56 percent of companies and 75 percent of employees see the future of workspace as hybrid (As per a McKinsey survey), is this a fad spurred by the pandemic or would it be a turning point for corporate real estate?

Vipul Shah: Workforces more than ever before have been functioning remotely, but some still prefer the conventional structure of a physical workspace. This duality preference has been forcing organizations to reboot the workplace by keeping the end-users work experience at the core. This has resulted in the emergence of a hybrid or phygital workplace: one that supports both remote and on-site employees. A concept that existed even prior to the pandemic, but came to execution largely because of the outbreak, it can be rightly said that hybrid workplaces are here to stay. These offices support the flexibility for the smooth flow of both working styles. Allowing remote workers to be as productive as they are in their physical counterparts, these collaborative set-ups are all set to become a permanent reality.

DQ:What major changes have you observed in the Indian real estate space–corporate, commercial, residential, thanks to the pandemic. Your outlook for the next two to three years?

Vipul Shah: The country’s real estate sector has not comprehensively been impacted by the pandemic. Manufacturing and warehousing, along with alternative segments like data centres flourished in the midst of the pandemic era, while housing, commercial and retail sales were marginally impacted. While the outbreak may not have brought about a paradigm shift in the industry, it has fast-tracked certain already prevalent trends while others have been reversed. Market fundamentals continue to remain sturdy with investors being constantly on the hunt for income-generating assets. While these aspects offer a clear indication of demand coming back in the year 2021, the faster than the predictable recovery of the Indian economy has lent an additional edge to the real estate sector. 2021 can rightly be described as a year where-in change has become the ‘new normal’ and adapting to this will demand imagination, innovation, and digital transformation. The arrival of 2021 will not shake off all the challenges of a pandemic-riddled economy but the groundwork for a sector-wide recovery has been laid. The year is poised to establish itself as the one where our country enters a new phase of real estate growth, innovation, and investment.

Vipul ShahisManaging Director, Parinee Group

ByPratima Harigunani

pratimah@cybermedia.co.in