3 Reasons You Should Be Excited About the Microsoft and Steelcase Partnership

If you follow any local news or workplace design publications, you may have heard about the new partnership between Microsoft and Steelcase. So what’s the big deal? What’s the result of these two companies coming together? Read on for three reasons you should be excited about the announcement made yesterday by these industry giants.

1. Creative Spaces

One of the fundamental aspects of the Microsoft and Steelcase partnership is the introduction of Creative Spaces. A study of 515 U.S. and Canadian companies with 100-plus employees, conducted by Microsoft and Steelcase, revealed that organizations depend on creativity for innovation and growth. As such, Creative Spaces were rendered to meet the need of creativity as a critical job skill.

Why you should be excited: The Microsoft and Steelcase partnership formalizes the growing relationship between space and technology. That means that, more and more often, technology will not be thought of as secondary to a work environment’s needs and functions, but will be a part of the design process. And the more integrated technology is into a space, the better that space can continually serve and adapt to employees’ needs, increasing its return on investment.

2. Data

Never before has data been so critical to understanding the world around us, and never have there been more opportunities to gather it. The time for data-driven workplace design has come. As part of their partnership, Microsoft and Steelcase are developing technology-enabled office solutions, based on IoT (Internet of Things) technology that provide data to help organizations measure and improve their workplaces.

Why you should be excited: By virtue of these systems, you can ensure your workspace is being used to its greatest extent. With the ability to measure how often a room is reserved, how often it’s used, how many people are using it, at what times it’s occupied, and more, everyone from operations managers to executive teams can evaluate their real estate for opportunities to make investment dollars go further.

3. Microsoft Surface Hub

Microsoft and Steelcase announced that, as a part of their partnership, select Steelcase dealers are authorized to sell the Surface Hub and can help your organization integrate this modern technology into your workplace. Custer is one of those dealers, giving you access to the Surface Hub as well as access to our expert technology team to install it and provide training.

Why you should be excited: Imagine a large, touch-screen computer mounted to the wall in your meeting room. The device can act as a whiteboard, a web browser, a place to take notes or to show your presentation and, with a camera and microphone, a tool for videoconferencing (just to name a few capabilities). You can also use your own login information to access your personal interface. That’s the Surface Hub in a nutshell. Just imagine the ways your team can use this for collaboration, information sharing, and presenting. Click here to learn more about the Microsoft Surface Hub from our team.

Are you excited? We hope so! Any questions about the partnership can be directed to our PR team here.