1000+ Sensors for Hot Desks and Phone Booths in Big 4 HK HQ

Case Study: Optimus Core Delivers Real-Time Visibility and Data-Driven Planning for a Big 4 HQ in Hong Kong

Client - A leading Big 4 professional services firm – Hong Kong Headquarters

Project Scope

• 1,000+ hot desks across multiple floors

• 100+ meeting rooms and phone booths

• Full-building sensor deployment with 5-second data refresh

The Challenge

Like most large organisations in Hong Kong, the firm had embraced hybrid working. Employees could book desks in advance, but once they arrived they had no way of knowing which desks, rooms or phone booths were actually available right now.

The result was familiar to anyone who has worked in a large flexible office:

• Teams wasting 10–15 minutes per person searching floors

• Some floors chronically overcrowded while others sat half-empty

• Facilities and workplace experience teams flying blind when planning expansions, refurbishments or return-to-office policies

They needed more than just a booking system — they needed live truth and actionable intelligence.

The Solution: Optimus Core

We deployed Optimus Core, our enterprise-grade occupancy intelligence platform, across the entire headquarters.

Over 1,000 wireless sensors were installed in desks, meeting rooms and phone booths. Optimus Core connects to every sensor and streams occupancy data every 5 seconds — delivering the highest-resolution view possible in a commercial building.

What the system delivers

1. Live Status for Every User

A simple, mobile-first dashboard shows:

• Green/red availability of every hot desk in real time

• Instant visibility of free meeting rooms and phone booths

• Floor-by-floor heatmaps so employees can choose the quietest or most vibrant level before they even leave the lift

2. Real-Time & Historical AnalyticsWorkplace leaders now see:

• Which floors are running 30 % above or below normal occupancy

• Peak usage hours by floor and by day of week

• Long-term trends for space planning and hybrid policy decisions

All data is anonymised, GDPR-compliant, and presented in clean, exportable dashboards.

Implementation Highlights

• Zero-downtime rollout across multiple floors

• Sensors installed in under three weeks with minimal disruption

• Seamless integration with the firm’s existing Microsoft Teams and internal portal

• Full training and change-management support for 2,000+ employees

Measurable Results

Since go-live, the Hong Kong HQ has experienced:

• Dramatic reduction in time wasted searching for workspaces (employees now locate a desk in under 60 seconds with mobile application)

• Significantly more even utilisation across floors — previously “dead” areas are now actively used

• Data-backed confidence for the workplace team: they can prove which zones need more collaboration spaces and which can be right-sized

• Positive employee feedback — the system is described as “the single biggest improvement to hybrid working we’ve had”

Conclusion

Optimus Core proved that even the largest, most complex office environments can become responsive, efficient and employee-friendly when real-time sensor data meets powerful analytics.

For this Big 4 leader, the Hong Kong headquarters is no longer just a building — it’s a smart, living workspace that adapts every day to how their people actually work.

Ready to give your people the same visibility and your leadership the same intelligence? Contact us to book a live demo of Optimus Core for your organisation.