Occupancy analytics helps employers understand how their workplaces are being used, so they can reduce real-estate costs and operating expenses, increase productivity, and improve the occupant experience. But despite the clear benefits of occupancy analytics, many organizations avoid investing in occupancy monitoring technology due to the upfront and ongoing costs of installing and maintaining the hardware.
In our occupancy tracking study, we asked real-estate leaders from major enterprises to rank their organization’s real-estate priorities, and more than one third (36%) said cost savings was their #1 priority. Additionally, 56% indicated that cost savings was their #2 priority.
At the same time, costs were also clearly the biggest barrier to adopting the occupancy tracking technologies that could help them realize those cost savings. Nearly half of respondents (48%) said the initial technology investment including installation was the most significant barrier to adoption, and 12% said maintenance and upgrade costs were the most significant barrier.
For years, space utilization sensors have been touted as the gold standard of occupancy analytics, but adoption has been significantly lower than less advanced but more affordable solutions like badge scanning systems and desk booking software. In our study, just 28% of respondents indicated that their organization uses occupancy sensors, compared to 76% that use badge data and 68% that use desk booking.
When companies think about improving their occupancy tracking capabilities, they’re thinking about the cost of installing, maintaining, and upgrading tens, hundreds, or thousands of sensors. And clearly, if the upfront and ongoing costs of occupancy tracking technology were lower, more office-based organizations would invest in the precise occupancy data they need to maximize real-estate savings.
Which is why more companies should know about the occupancy analytics hack 4% of firms were using to get most of the same data at a fraction of the cost.
A little-known alternative to occupancy tracking sensors
The value of occupancy sensors is that they can monitor non-reservable space. Depending on the type of sensors used, they can monitor large spaces like floors or rooms, or even individual workstations, giving employers a more holistic view of their occupancy than they can get from badge scanning systems (which often only track building access) or office reservation software (which generally only tracks reservable space).
These sensors then feed data to an occupancy analytics solution like Tango Space, where employers can examine patterns in utilization and demand for space, and identify specific underutilized spaces, which can be repurposed or create opportunities for downsizing.
But there’s another occupancy tracking solution that does this: network-based occupancy monitoring. Just 4% of respondents in our enterprise occupancy tracking report had implemented this technology, which uses workplace network connections to monitor occupancy.
Advanced occupancy analytics without hardware
Network-based occupancy monitoring technology like Tango Occupancy leverages your existing network infrastructure—there’s no new hardware to install, upgrade, or maintain, and no technician has to come set up the system on site. Every time someone signs into your network, Tango Occupancy tracks the connection, either using the location of the specific ethernet port someone accessed or triangulating the connection’s general location using signal strength.
At any given time, you can see the number of occupants who are connected to your network and the area they’re connected from. And while occupants may connect with multiple devices, such as a phone, laptop, and desktop, they use the same credentials, so a single occupant appears as a single occupant, regardless of how many connections they have to the network.
And while sensor technology like blurred vision cameras and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDaR) strips can keep occupant data anonymous to comply with regulations like GDPR and general privacy concerns, sensorless occupancy monitoring solutions like Tango Occupancy can do this as well—without the looming presence of hardware, which can make people feel like they have less privacy, even when their data is anonymous. (This has been an issue since the earliest uses of occupancy monitoring sensors, and remains so today.) People already expect employers to monitor activity on the company’s network, and it’s not much of a leap to accept that the location of the connection is monitored.
A wealth of occupancy data, at a fraction of the cost
Using network triangulation to estimate occupant positions in the building can show you how many people are in a given space throughout the work day, and how that compares to the number of available workstations. You may not see exactly which workstations are occupied, or how much time occupants are actually at a workstation versus another part of the space, but it collects this data 24/7, allowing you to analyze patterns and track space utilization metrics.
For occupancy analytics purposes, this is sufficient underlying data to explore more effective ways to use your space and avoid real-estate decisions that would inhibit the occupant experience and disrupt workplace operations. All without incurring the high upfront and ongoing costs of installing and maintaining sensors.
You get to pursue the real-estate and maintenance savings provided by advanced occupancy analytics, without the cost barrier that has prevented most enterprises from investing in sensors.
Learn more about the state of occupancy tracking
In The 2025 Enterprise Occupancy Report, we surveyed 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.