Office analytics: five questions, one privacy test
Office analytics has a credibility problem, and it is not a technical one. JLL's Global Occupancy Planning Benchmark Report 2026, covering 84 organisations and 716 million square feet, found that only 7 percent rate their data capabilities as excellent, while 90 percent already apply utilisation data to space planning decisions. Most organisations are deciding on data they do not fully trust.
12 August 2026
The five questions worth building for
Useful office analytics answers a short list. Everything else is a dashboard nobody opens.
How full is the building, really. Measured occupancy, not badge swipes and not bookings. JLL puts global utilisation at 56 percent against a 74 percent target.
Which days actually fill. A Tuesday peak and a Friday ghost floor are two different problems with two different answers.
Which teams co-locate. Attendance without overlap does not produce collaboration.
Where crowding and idle space sit together. Nearly every portfolio has both on the same floor.
What the space costs against what it delivers. Cost is indexed to floor area. Use is not.
Why privacy is the real barrier
In the same JLL study, 70 percent of organisations named data privacy and security as the leading barrier to adopting new workplace technology, ahead of implementation cost at 46 percent and system integration at 45 percent. Regulators back that caution up. The Dutch Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens requires works council consent for personnel monitoring systems and a DPIA for large scale systematic monitoring. Germany's Datenschutzkonferenz states that employee consent is generally not a valid legal basis because of the power imbalance, and that a works agreement is the proper route.
So the analytics question and the privacy question are the same question.
How iotspot answers both
iotspot Insights turns booking and sensor data into occupancy by desk, zone, floor and hour, on the floor plans already configured in your account. iotspot ESG Reporting pushes the same measured record into Microsoft Sustainability Manager, SAP or your own business intelligence stack through open APIs, so a sustainability figure carries its measurement rather than an annual estimate.
iotspot Infrastructure and Security is what gets it through review. No personal data is stored. Occupancy insight is anonymised and aggregated by design. The platform is ISO 27001 certified, 100 percent GDPR compliant, runs on European cloud infrastructure with European hardware, and offers single sign-on against your existing identity provider with full data sovereignty by design.
On reliability
The JLL figures come from one disclosed sample of 84 organisations, so the barrier percentages carry the same weight as the utilisation percentages. The regulator guidance is not a vendor interpretation, it is the regulator. Send those links to your privacy officer before you send them ours.
Frequently asked questions about office analytics
What data sources does office analytics need?
Booking data for intent, sensor data for measured presence, and floor plan data to give both a location. iotspot combines all three in one platform, so no integration project is required to compare them.
Is occupancy analytics allowed under GDPR?
Anonymised and aggregated occupancy data that cannot be traced to an individual falls outside personal data processing. iotspot stores no personal data at all, which is the cleanest position to take into a works council conversation.
Where is iotspot data hosted?
Entirely in Europe, on European cloud infrastructure, with European hardware in the buildings. Data sovereignty is a design property of the platform rather than a configuration option.
How accurate are occupancy sensors compared with badge data?
Badge data records building entry once per day. Sensors record presence continuously per space. AWA's sensor measured study found 34 percent attendance against 55 percent desk utilisation, a distinction badge data cannot make.
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