Occupancy data helps organizations understand how their office space is being utilized. Collected at regular intervals or based on specific events, such as the moment someone scans their badge at an access control point, this data establishes usage patterns and enables leaders to make informed business decisions that ensure their space is being used in the ways that best support their goals and initiatives.
But occupancy analytics isn’t only useful for exploring aggregate occupancy data over time. By analyzing occupancy data in real-time, organizations can address emerging workplace problems before they impact operations. However, most companies aren’t equipped to perform real-time analysis, and those that are equipped are still learning how best to utilize it.
In a recent occupancy tracking study we conducted, we asked real estate leaders at major enterprises to share whether their occupancy data is processed in real time. Just 36% reported that it was. More than half of the respondents (56%) said they had the ability to obtain occupancy data if the need arises, but cannot process it in real time. Another 4% said they could obtain data, but hadn’t done so, and the remaining 4% said they could not obtain occupancy data.
We also asked respondents about the barriers to adopting more sophisticated occupancy tracking technology and why they weren’t investing in greater coverage of their portfolios. So let’s unpack what the 36% of firms gain with real-time occupancy analytics, and explore the reasons why this isn’t yet the norm. But first, let’s break down what exactly we mean by real-time occupancy analytics.
What is real-time occupancy analytics?
Real-time occupancy analytics is the process of examining moment-to-moment data relating to the presence of occupants within a space. This goes beyond collecting occupancy data at a given point in time—performing a manual walkthrough doesn’t enable real-time occupancy analytics, for example, because you aren’t continuously collecting this data and only receive it at intervals.
Data sources
Organizations don’t necessarily need the most advanced occupancy tracking technology to analyze real-time data. In fact, three quarters of the respondents who said they process occupancy data in real-time didn’t have occupancy sensors. But all of them used badge scan systems and an office reservation system. With the right vendor, these two data sources are all that’s required to enable some real-time capabilities.
It’s worth noting, however, that the accuracy and specificity of this data improves when you incorporate sensors or another more advanced solution. Badge data, for example, typically only shows the number of times a given building has been accessed. Depending on the implementation and how employees actually use it, the system may not even reliably track the number of people entering or exiting. Space utilization sensors and network-based occupancy monitoring systems address these shortcomings and typically provide the best balance of precision and coverage, giving the most accurate picture of how many occupants are in a space from moment to moment.
However, regardless of technologies, the key to real-time occupancy analytics is the ability to quickly act on occupancy data. In Tango Space, our data-agnostic space management and occupancy analytics solution, we support this capability through live dashboards and even live floor plans, which visually organize and display your live occupancy data from all available sources.
In 2021, when the COVID-19 pandemic caused the widespread adoption of hybrid work models, we argued that real-time occupancy management would become a vital component of organizations that successfully implemented hybrid work. A few years later, this capability is giving a little over one third of enterprises some major benefits their competitors lack.
The advantage of real-time occupancy data
Real-time occupancy analytics doesn’t mean monitoring your data 24/7. It means you have the ability to solve space management and workplace optimization-related problems in real time, rather than waiting for those problems to emerge in patterns of data over time.
Practically, this means analyzing your occupancy data at key moments, such as after rolling out a new hybrid work initiative or RTO mandate, or during special events like product launches, hackathons, company lunches, conferences, seminars, training sessions, community tours, or all-hands meetings.
Find or allocate additional space to fit emerging needs
Any time you expect your workplace to be used in a way that falls outside of normal utilization patterns, it’s important to see what’s happening in the moment, so you can adapt while there’s still time to prevent pain points from disrupting operations.
Depending on the situation, you may need more temporary meeting rooms, workstations, or other accommodations than anticipated. Or you may simply find that the way people are using your space doesn’t align with what you’d planned. In some cases you may opt to rapidly reconfigure space, and in others, you may simply need to redirect people to available space that meets their needs, or times when the given space is more likely to be underutilized.
Prevent overcrowding and address traffic problems
Connect your occupancy tracking technology to the right occupancy analytics solution, and you can also use real-time occupancy analytics to identify overcrowding—when a space’s peak occupancy is too high or an area is so congested that it’s interfering with traffic flow or people’s ability to use the space. This generally requires sensors or a network-based occupancy tracking system, and an advanced space-management solution like Tango Space.
With Tango Space’s crowd detection capabilities, you may, for example, discover that an event has caused a significant number of people to linger in walkways or turn access points and other key areas into impromptu meeting spaces. Real-time data lets you set occupancy-related alerts to see these problems before people are frustrated enough to complain, and you can help point people toward better spaces to chat or meet.
Help colleagues collaborate with automated recommendations
Real-time occupancy analytics also opens the door to automated capabilities, like personalized reservation recommendations for your employees. Tango Reserve, our office reservation software, can use employees’ reservation preferences (including colleagues they typically collaborate with) and current space availability to recommend the best days, times, and spaces to reserve time in the office. When their go-to workstations or neighborhoods aren’t available, Tango helps them find spaces with similar accommodations or near the people they usually work alongside.
Real-time occupancy analytics enables organizations to be more responsive to emerging workplace needs, and empowers employees to quickly find the space and resources they need to be effective.
Why most companies don’t use real-time occupancy data
Despite the benefits of real-time data, our occupancy tracking study found that most enterprises (64%) didn’t have the ability to process occupancy data in real-time.
Not every use case calls for real-time data—if a workplace doesn’t have a large employee population or occupancy is consistently below capacity, it may be excessive. But when we asked real estate leaders which occupancy tracking use cases were most aligned with their business goals, tracking occupancy for flexible or hybrid work initiatives was the top answer. It’s also the primary use case for real-time occupancy analytics.
We also asked about the biggest barriers to adopting occupancy tracking technology, and almost half of respondents (48%) said it was the initial technology investment of the hardware and installation. Since most respondents (76%) at least had badge scanning systems, it’s reasonable to infer that they’re thinking about the investment in complex sensor systems—which typically involve a significant upfront cost.
But if you recall, three quarters of respondents who said they could process occupancy data in real time didn’t have sensors. They just had badge scanning systems and office booking software. Many organizations may be unaware that real-time capabilities don’t require costly hardware investments—just a centralized, data-agnostic software solution like Tango Space to get more from the data they already have.
Learn more about the state of occupancy tracking
In The 2025 Enterprise Occupancy Tracking Report, we partnered with Verdantix to survey North American and European enterprises from five different industries about their experience with occupancy tracking. Each of our respondents had significant influence over the organization’s adoption of occupancy tracking technologies, and shared insights including their greatest barriers to investing in occupancy tracking, their organizational priorities, and how their priorities align with use cases for occupancy tracking.
You can access the entire report for free—we won’t even ask for your email.