Workplace technology is evolving so quickly, investing too much in upgrades today can limit you tomorrow if you do not plan for the long term.

The grand return to office phenomenon has resulted in one central area of weakness being identified the world over with wifi, AV, and workplace technology from before the pandemic not fit for purpose after. Every AV company quickly moved to upgrade their camera and audio tech while also trying not to make costs go through the roof. This led to quality issues, supply chain issues, or both. Similarly, companies that ran out to install desk booking tools to manage downsized workplaces. The nature of what was both available and needed to be changed so quickly post-implementation that many real estate tech companies that pivoted to desk booking are now being forced to pivot again. All of this led to a bandwidth crunch which had knock-on effects on wifi and circuits.

Much like building a real estate portfolio strategy, creating a workplace technology strategy is all about thinking five moves ahead. If you upgrade everything today, you create a vicious cycle:

1. Everything will be on the same upgrade cycle requiring bumpy levels of future capital investment.
2. You leave no room for implementing upgrades that are likely to come out over the next two years that make today’s options look basic.
3. You put a ton of stress on the operational team to deliver the upgrade that they cannot focus on the other things they need to focus on.
4. Not pausing to understand secondary benefits that could be included with small changes will lead to missed opportunities.

Going too quickly will result in a substandard delivery that will haunt you and your employees for years. Doing small upgrades now with more upgrades each year may mean that not everyone gets everything they want today, but it does mean that you will end up in a better place in the end.

The key to this, as with so many things in business, is not to rush simply because everyone is yelling at you. There is no magic solution to workplace technology. There are no systems that will make everyone happy or be 100% compatible with every edge case you come across. Similarly, all of your critical vendors are working on aggressive two-year development roadmaps that promise their hardware and software will look nothing like it does today.