Todays Technological Offices

Office furniture today are modular open office panel systems that are offered by a variety of manufacturers. Office managers and planners are confronted with a bewildering array of designs and price options. Office furniture plays a large role in how an office space looks and feels. As furnishing a large space can be very expensive. One important rule of thumb is to try to maintain the same style of furniture throughout the office. Mismatched tables and chairs tend to make any space look rather cheap and thrown together.

Purchasing decisions have grown more complex with the need to accommodate the massive increase in intelligence being accessed by employees. The term “computer-intensive workspace” describes a totally different environment than that of 30 years ago when a telephone, electric typewriter or shared word processing systems comprised office technology. Rows of desks began to give way to the rise of furniture systems-a combination of varied- height panels, cantilevered work surfaces and integrated storage and work tools that created highly flexible and efficient workstations for the rapidly growing white collar workforce.

Information technology is at the heart of today's successful business operations. Efficient integration of all key functional areas, from research and development through customer service, is critically important.

Employees no longer need to be physically with their clients and co-workers; instead they can communicate effectively at home, at a distant office, across the world, and even in their car or on an airplane, so when based at an office, it must be designed to meet the top technological aspects as well as being a home away from home. Although these new technologies offer a wide variety of services and opportunities, they seem united by a single factor: increased efficiency and productivity. Managing technology in the workspace has become a science of its own. For example, there are standards that govern the design and placement of voice, data and video cabling upon which employees depend for high-speed Internet access, for file sharing on their firms Local Area Networks (LANs) and to communicate with other company locations, customers and suppliers via intranets and extranets. A high-performance workplace integrates technology from the building to the user. The link between the telecommunications closet and the individual workspace may be only a few meters long, but it has a big impact on flexibility, reliability, and performance of a data/voice/imaging network and also on the future costs of furniture and technology changes. To achieve a totally integrated, flexible workplace, planning a network means keeping in mind that the future is guaranteed to change.

These concerns have become more critical with the introduction of the “fluid workspace.” Today’s office floor plans are far from static. Work areas expand, contract and reconfigure to meet the ever-changing needs of a business. Modular office furniture and wall systems – and their cabling infrastructure – must accommodate these Moves, Adds and Changes (MACs) quickly, inexpensively and reliably.

Systems must be designed to conform to proposed OSHA standards related to health problems associated with intensive computer use, and to address work-related disorders such as carpal tunnel syndrome and repetitive strain injuries. These conditions affect millions of workers and cost companies billions of dollars in lost productivity and disability payments.

For the most part, the office furniture industry has largely been unresponsive to these dramatic changes in the workplace. Many manufacturers are constrained by obsolete product designs, marketing and distribution methods dating back to the 1970s and 1980s.