A corporate merger takes its toll on employees, causing stress and uncertainty. For many people, changing their familiar work environment feels like the first day at a new job – a new office, many new colleagues, and different workplace systems – everything is new and confusing. Connecting with colleagues, booking a meeting room, navigating the office, and getting lunch now require focused efforts, leaving less time for productive work. When this happens to thousands of people simultaneously – it’s a significant loss of productivity for any large corporation that can last for weeks.

This is what could have happened to a large global media and entertainment conglomerate formed after a major merger, as they consolidated workspace in cities with multiple offices. However, they used CXAI (former CXApp). The CXAI workplace employee experience platform was quickly deployed at new locations to help smoothen this transition, enable effective workplace services, reduce confusion and anxiety, and boost employee morale.

Background: Workplace Experience for the New Headquarters

A few years before the merger, one of these media companies had already considered ways to enhance the workplace experience for its employees, particularly with the construction of its new headquarters. Recognizing the need for a modern, high-tech environment that matched the state-of-the-art design of the new office space, the company decided to invest in a solution that would streamline employee workplace interactions. After a competitive evaluation, they chose CXAI for its feature-rich workflows and emphasis on user experience.

By the time of the merger, CXAI had already been implemented in several offices, enabling space availability maps, desk and room booking, wayfinding, and other services such as smart lockers to enhance productivity and usage of facilities.

Merger and Space Consolidation

The merger became an inflection point that revealed the true value of CXAI technology. Operating independently for years, the companies managed many offices in the same cities, so after the merger, this resulted in a lot of unnecessary duplication. Office space consolidation and the transition to hybrid work, enabled by desk hoteling, became one of the key initiatives supporting the multi-billion savings expected from this merger. This required not only rethinking and redesigning the space but also ensuring a smooth transition for the teams.

The new company needed to create a unified, streamlined office experience, allowing employees to find their way around and enable the necessary resources so everyone could feel comfortable in their new, combined workplaces.

How CXAI Helped

Time was critical. Thanks to CXAI’s scalability and powerful features, the company’s workplace experience team and CXAI services team achieved impressive velocity, launching a new campus approximately every two weeks.

In addition to new locations, the previous locations also went through major transformations, introducing new layouts and additional services, and changing desk and room assignments to optimize space utilization.

CXAI became the beacon that helped employees navigate the ever-changing office environment. Seamlessly integrated with the company's new and legacy systems, it allowed for adding new features without disrupting the existing workflows, giving the team a sense of stability and trust.

CXAI was rolled out in 50+ locations, with 20+ new locations added in the last year alone. It has enabled the company’s global transition to a hybrid work policy, providing employees with flexibility while allowing the company to significantly reduce real estate costs. The easily configurable platform allowed the experience to be tailored to the needs of each location. For example, more heavily populated offices required stricter booking rules or even a user “check-in” to reservations, while other locations allocated space by department versus open booking throughout the building. Larger campuses integrated more available services, such as food ordering, visitor registration, and tech bars. CXAI continues to be applied at new locations every year.

New Headquarters: State-of-the-Art Services

The new North American headquarters is an 800,000-square-foot space that offers a modern, cutting-edge office environment. CXAI played a pivotal role in consolidating all workplace services into one unified app, providing employees with a seamless experience that aligns with the high-tech, innovative design of the new office. Here, CXAI helps employees book a large variety of spaces, all with different rules: desks, offices, collaboration tables, focus rooms, wellness rooms, and conference rooms. In addition, real-time occupancy data from sensors is shown for drop-in spaces such as phone booths. Indoor “blue dot” navigation helps employees find their way around the new facilities, and lockers can also be checked out for the day. With all these features a click away, employees have everything they need to be productive and focus on their work and collaboration at the flagship headquarters – they can even see when and where colleagues have booked to coordinate a meetup.

Midsized Office in Singapore: Managing the Tight Space with Efficient Booking and Analytics

The company’s Singapore office faces a different set of challenges due to its compact size and high demand for space. With 200+ employees using limited space that fits around 75% of them, efficient management is critical. CXAI helps the Singapore office run smoothly by enabling employees to book desks two weeks in advance, ensuring that teams have time to arrange meetings or plan to work from home ahead of time. The check-in feature ensures that unused spaces are released back into availability, maximizing space utilization. Additionally, CXAI’s analytics provide valuable forecasting, helping the office anticipate space needs and plan for future demands. This ability to predict space requirements ensures that the tight office environment remains functional and optimized for everyone’s needs.

Small Office in Dubai, UAE: Supporting a Small Office with Enhanced Connectivity

In Dubai, the company operates a smaller office with around 25 employees. Space isn't an issue, as the office is sufficient for the team. However, parking is limited. CXAI integrates with the parking management system so employees can see the number of available spaces in real-time. Additionally, the newsfeed feature within the app keeps employees connected with the larger organization, ensuring they stay up to date with important announcements and office news, which is particularly important for a smaller and remote team that might otherwise feel isolated from headquarters.

Looking Ahead

With CXAI on board, the company continues its growth trajectory by maximizing its facilities. In addition, the platform’s adaptability and constant innovation, such as AI assistant and language localization, continue to enhance the employee experience as it expands.

CXAI was crucial in helping the company navigate the challenges of merging and consolidating office spaces and enabling unique personalized experiences at every location. By offering a user-friendly workflow for space booking, communications, office services, seamless integration with existing systems, predictive analytics, and the flexibility to adapt to constant change, CXAI helped create a smarter, more efficient workplace for the company’s employees.