Relying on Third-Party Data for Occupancy Measurement is Risky Business

Written by Occuspace | 9/23/24

09/23/24

In today’s fast-paced business environment, the demand for effective occupancy measurement solutions has led to a proliferation of options, each touting its own benefits and ROI.

However, not all approaches are created equal, and it’s crucial for organizations to carefully evaluate the methodologies behind each of these solutions, and develop a deep understanding of critical factors that decision-makers should consider when choosing an occupancy measurement solution.

When exploring measurement options, you might encounter enticing claims like:

"Leverage your existing investment in wireless access points and security cameras. Just place a software layer on top of them and unlock rich insights into how your physical spaces are used by people. No physical installation steps involving sensors. Drive massive efficiencies in your business, easily and friction-free!"

Sounds great, right?

It’s a seductive claim that looks good on paper, but simply does not deliver as promised. There are common misconceptions and serious challenges associated with this approach from customers who have tried it, unsuccessfully. Unfortunately, factors which we’ll discover below often result in ‘the easy way’ often abandoned, at great cost and wasted effort.

Here are a few issues that have become painfully apparent with non-first-party approaches:

Data Quality

Perhaps the most important issue with this approach is that the occupancy data itself suffers from several limitations:

Repurposed 3rd Party Data - Data provided from cameras and wireless access points are third-party data sets that are not collected by the occupancy measurement company itself. The data is captured by hardware vendors who designed their products for purposes other than occupancy measurement (for example, providing WiFi or monitoring cameras for security purposes) and now provide this capability as an afterthought. The data sets are subject to technical constraints, bugs, varying vendor/equipment capabilities, performance issues, and other problems that often occur within the hardware.

“The occupancy measurement companies using this approach cannot vouch for its integrity because the collected data did not originate from their systems.”

The occupancy measurement companies using this approach cannot vouch for its integrity because the collected data did not originate from their systems. They must assume the data sets they receive are valid and accurate, but cannot actually confirm that this is true.
Gaps in Space Coverage - As we know from our real-world experience, WiFi coverage is not universal across all spaces, and the dead spots that occur will also result in dead spots for occupancy measurement. Security cameras, typically installed around specific areas, provide only line-of-sight views, also limiting their coverage.

Infrastructure that was designed and installed for one intent has proven inadequate to fulfill the very different needs of occupancy measurement, resulting in spaces with incomplete or no data at all.
Lower Business Impact & Actionability - Similar to the poor coverage above, infrastructure initially installed for one purpose lacks the intentional design of components necessary to collect and report occupancy information in actionable data breakouts useful for achieving desired business results. At best, secondhand data granularity is achievable at the floor level, and understanding behavior according to neighborhoods, team spaces, and other types of assets (conference rooms, cafes, bathrooms, etc.) is extremely limited.

Privacy & Personal Information Liability

“Approaches that leverage third-party data sets are also rife with privacy liabilities.”

Approaches that leverage third-party data sets are also rife with privacy liabilities. The occupancy measurement provider cannot vouch for the safe collection of data from this hardware because they are not collecting it themselves.

Data coming from WiFi access points can—and often does—contain personally identifiable information, particularly from logged-in users. Additionally, security cameras record actual images of individuals that are sent out to an external party for computer vision analysis, exposing the organization to privacy and compliance concerns, both internally and publicly.

Significant Integration Friction

Remember that promise of a minimal installation that eliminates first-party sensors and only requires simple software to utilize your existing WiFi infrastructure? As attractive as this proposition sounds, let’s take a more comprehensive look at all that is actually required. This approach still necessitates deep integration with your corporate IT infrastructure, often deeper than requirements for first-party sensors. And, surprisingly to many first-time adopters, almost always requires the deployment of additional hardware, as well:

Complex IT Integration - Leveraging data sets from WiFi access points and security cameras requires deeper integration into the customer’s infrastructure and networks than dedicated IoT occupancy sensors, which can be simply placed into an isolated network that is easily locked down and protected.

Instead, occupancy measurement firms leveraging access points and cameras need to connect to sensitive and important customer devices that provide other vital functions to your business (WiFi or security), and this equipment resides on highly sensitive core networks. The level of concern and scrutiny from IT leaders is much higher for such installations and requires extensive coordination and time investment with their teams.
Gateways & Servers to Deploy - There may not be any sensors to install, but the hardware deployment needs have shifted, now requiring gateways and servers to relay the third-party data sets to the occupancy measurement providers’ platforms. This type of hardware is significantly more expensive than IoT sensors and frequently needs to be racked in properly equipped server space.

Don’t Be Fooled, First-Party Sensor Data is Innately Different

Occuspace offers a new and simple approach that circumvents all of these concerns associated with bolt-on third-party data systems–while maintaining frictionless deployment. We’ve engineered a small-format, instantly-deployable sensor that collects and delivers high-quality first-party, privacy-first data—without the need for any other hardware or deep IT integrations.

The Occuspace platform directly authenticates data integrity in real-time, from collection all the way to the actionable output within our data portal, or output via API to any 3rd party platform. Occuspace sensors passively observe designated space–with no integration with other local devices required. Importantly, Occuspace never records personally identifiable information (PII) of any kind.

Simple and easy to deploy (even self-installable by our customers), Occuspace sensors require no custom electrical or infrastructure work—and no expensive gateways or servers. Simply plug Occuspace into any standard 120V AC wall receptacle (or power via PoE).

Your comments, thoughts and ideas are welcome.

--- Nick Rau | Chief Technology Officer, Occuspace

Occuspace provides an affordable, easy-to-deploy occupancy monitoring system that can accurately measure real-world space utilization patterns while preserving occupant privacy. To learn more, visit us or set up a free consultation at https://web.occuspace.io/

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