In today’s hybrid-first landscape, the experience-led workplace is taking front seat and corporate real estate (CRE) leaders are being asked to do more than ever before. They are asked to deliver adaptable and efficient environments, that are also sustainable and above all, centred around its users; and to design for users, it’s necessary to understand them. Tools such as user profiles and journey mapping highlight their needs, actions and thoughts of diverse occupants, including neurodivergent individuals with unique sensory and environmental preferences. These tools help us as designers to identify their pain points, enhance satisfaction and optimise the overall experience.

In discussions around AI-driven experience, the focus is on the front end and what users see such as the apps, dashboards and interfaces. The sometimes-overlooked enabler is the Building Management Systems (BMS) – the thing that powers those experiences. Here, we look at why BMS can no longer be seen as a utility tool but a fundamental enabler to create intelligent, user-centred experiences within a building.

The rise and rise of BMS

The evolving emergence of generative AI, along with the impacts of climate change, economic and shifting workplace behaviour as well as tenant expectations, has put corporate real estate under pressure. One of JLL’s key trend outlooks for 2025 indicated that organisations will need to be able to quickly adjust and optimise space utilisation in response to the 43% of organisations they surveyed. It concluded that they expect more office days ahead, demanding flexible space optimisation thus ultimately driving portfolio expansion. In global hubs such as London, Knight Frank notes that there is an ever-growing demand for premium and sustainable spaces, while low-grade offices face ongoing vacancies. Although the return to office continues to increase, offices that are providing this high-end experience are sought after. Unlike the BMS of the 1980s, which primarily controlled HVAC, security and lighting, the modern BMS has the capabilities to leverage AI-driven analytics, machine learning, real-time IoT sensor data and seamless integrations with user-facing platforms; in this complex landscape, here is where BMS emerges as essential for CRE leaders.

With these advancements it enables smarter, more responsive environments that optimise spaces, reduce carbon footprints and use data-driven insights to meet evolving tenant needs. Yet, the true potential lies in pairing BMS with user experience strategies.

What are companies getting wrong?

Despite the potential for BMS, many organisations fall short of adopting it properly. Why? Because arguably they see it as a basic utility; it’s essential but not exciting, it’s a system that can turn heating on and off rather than a dynamic experience layer.

For example, adopting an automated experience requires real-time data from sensors and learnings from previous data, this disconnect and faulty inputs can lead to lights and HVAC systems not responding to user needs. For example, lights turning off while users are still working or cooling to turn on when it shouldn’t; feedback we hear so often is that the temperature on the floor is always much colder for woman than it is for men. This can ultimately disrupt workflows and comfort, turning what could be a seamless experience into a source of irritation.

Here is where firms may miss the mark:

• Having disconnected platforms: when systems don’t integrate, they add friction instead of reducing it. Imagine scheduling a meeting in Outlook but needing a separate app to book a room, or manually reporting a temperature issue in a “smart” building. Disjointed tools erode the user experience.
• Designing for, not with, the tenant: Not accounting for the diverse user journeys, industry, tenancy duration or neurological differences will, ultimately leads to a rigid system. A truly intelligent building should aim to flex to meet the needs of most occupants.
• Set and forget mindset: a BMS is not a one-time install, it’s a live ecosystem. It needs to constantly evolve, as the teams and occupants shift and adapt, so must the system to stay relevant and effective. And looking to the next generation, this is going to become expected.
• Data overload: many organisations are great at collecting vast amounts of data but left fragmented, siloed across teams, unstructured and unusable, it’s useless.

By focusing on technology over people, companies risk turning smart buildings into sources of annoyance rather than empowerment. The solution lies in reorienting BMS around the human experience, ensuring systems are intuitive, integrated, and responsive to real-time needs.

Seeing BMS through the user experience lens

This is where the conversation can shift. While BMS was traditionally seen as a tool for facilities managers to monitor things like HVAC and lighting, this perception is shifting. We begin to see BMS as an experience engine, one that creates environments that sense and respond to people, anticipating needs and adapting in real-time. Reframing a smart BMS system could look like:

• Enabling seamless integrations: by providing real-time data from occupancy and environmental sensors, BMS can integrate with user-facing apps to enable intuitive experiences, such as desk reservation systems that sync with mobile apps or booking platforms that reflect real-time availability.
• Streamlining daily interactions: BMS data can support automating processes such as AI-driven platforms to report maintenance issues or space allocation to reduce the need for employees to focus less on logistics and stay focused on their tasks at hand.
• Supporting wellness and productivity: through responsive design, BMS can aid health-centred goals, e.g. providing data on natural light levels or air quality in spaces to help users choose environments that support their wellbeing, with feedback loops to monitor the affects to later provide suggestions on where users work best within the building.
• Neurodiversity: BMS can empower neurodivergent users by adjusting digital workspaces, minimising or dialling up visual clutter for those who need simplification or stimulation. Or dynamically adjusting sensory conditions such as dimming lights, adjusting colour vibrancy based on real-time data and individual preferences. These tailored adjustments enables individuals with sensory sensitivities to thrive in accessible workspaces.

This shift redefines the role of a BMS, moving beyond operational efficiency to creating spaces that align with the firms’ goals whilst fostering intuitive and welcoming environments that aligns with human needs.

Bridging the Gap With Experience Mapping

So, this is all great…but how do we ensure BMS evolve sustainably and adapt to meet future expectations? The answer may lie in understanding the purpose of the system and the people it serves. This is where experience mapping is a powerful tool to align BMS with human needs.

Experience mapping can shed light on the emotional, behavioural, and practical journeys of users as they interact with a building. By putting users at the centre, it can transform BMS from a reactive system into a proactive partner in the workplace experience. By complementing BMS with experience mapping, organisations could achieve important outcomes such as:

• Identify user profiles: it can help identify the different types of users within a building, including neurodiverse individuals, revealing their unique needs and behaviours. For example, provide insights into why one firm values collaborative space, as opposed to another prioritising focused work and quiet zones or, how and what neurodiverse users require in environments pertaining to noise or lighting conditions to thrive.
• Prioritise what to automate and why: not every process needs to be automated, experience mapping could help CRE leaders decide on what to prioritise, so they are creating that valuable experience without overspending – ensuring cost-effective solutions.
• Bridge data with context: BMS generates data, experience mapping identifies and connects metrics to user needs. For example, understanding the frequency of temperature adjustments in a meeting room and its connection to user sentiment around comfortability during meetings, can enabled targeted solutions.
• Identify friction and the pain points: some issues are not apparent, like a user, including those who are neurodivergent, not using certain “smart” functions because they find the interface too clunky. Experience mapping can highlight these bottlenecks, ensuring that the BMS addresses these challenges rather than the assumed ones.

In the end, experience mapping could reveal the real problems that various hybrid workers struggle with daily and provided with the right insights, CRE leaders will be in a better position to make decisions. With UnWork’s extensive knowledge of the workplace experience across many sectors our teams are great at identifying these behaviours and working with our clients to truly create a workplace experience that aligns with their future ambitions.