Silicon Valley data storage company uses Comfy to keep employees—and the building—as efficient as possible.

Ranked as one of the fastest growing companies in North America on Deloitte’s 2015 Technology Fast 500™, this flash storage software company has amassed an impressive list of clients over the past several years (including Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP) and was recently acquired by a multinational Silicon Valley-based tech giant.

Rapid company growth has forced the real estate and facilities teams at the firm to work smarter and harder to create an optimal, productive work environment for the growing number of employees (over 1,300 pre-acquisition) at their multi-building campus headquarters. The newly modernized spaces include lots of natural lighting, open meeting areas, a flexible floor plan, and now, on-demand comfort with Comfy.

The Opportunity

The company is focused on extending their commitment to advancing innovative technology to their own workplace environment. For the real estate team, that means continuously looking for new and emerging technologies that can enable their buildings—and people—to perform better. “We’re looking to be efficient and be green,” Dan H., Director of Global Real Estate, explains. “Those are important parts of our culture and our goals as a company.”

Before Comfy, Dan and the facilities team struggled to address employee’s individual workplace preferences. “One of my biggest challenges is making people happy,” says Vern S., the Operations Site Manager. “Sometimes people want a warmer space, they want a colder space, they want a lighter space, they want a darker space...and it’s really hard to make everybody happy at the same time.” In terms of the office temperature, the company’s employees would either file complaints to facilities or—more often—resort to desk fans and space heaters to keep themselves comfortable. When Dan first learned that Comfy could be the solution to their office temperature woes, he was eager to bring the technology to their headquarters.

The Solution

The company has deployed Comfy throughout their San Jose campus as a way to keep employees comfortable and productive while simultaneously making the building—and operations—more efficient. With Comfy, employees can simply log into the app when they feel uncomfortable, select “Warm My Space” or “Cool My Space,” and instantly receive a stream of cool or warm air at the push of a button. “Instead of a person having to log a ticket, or go to a thermostat and push it up or down, they can do it from their desks, or their phone, or their computer,” Dan explains.

Every time an employee makes a request, data is funneled into Comfy’s machine learning algorithm, making small adjustments to the building system based on employees’ preferences, which are learned overtime. Dan and his team can then use Comfy’s analytics dashboard, Comfy Insights, to realize improved building performance, look at employee feedback, and get a better understanding of how employees are using each of the buildings on campus. “We’re really trying to learn about our buildings and Comfy Insights allows us to to do that. We can view the building in different ways depending on our area of focus. For instance, figure out where the hot and cold spots are, how people are using the building...that’s very helpful,” Dan explains.

The Benefits

The team has realized multiple benefits since implementing Comfy. “It’s saving us energy, saving us hot and cold calls, making the employees happier,” Dan notes. “It’s really been a no-brainer for us, in that it’s been easy to implement, our customers have liked it, and the staff has liked it.” In addition to the reduction in hot/cold complaints, the facilities team has also been able to make mechanical improvements as a result of faults detected by Comfy’s customer support. According to Vern, “Sometimes the Comfy team proactively sees that the AVs aren’t responding like they’re supposed to. And they actually flag me before any employees do, which is awesome.” These operational improvements have given Dan and Vern more time to work on other pressing issues and bigger projects.

But the benefits certainly don’t stop at the facilities team. With comfort control at their fingertips, over 75% of Comfy users at the company report being more productive now than before they had Comfy. “If you're trying to concentrate and you’re cold, it's really hard to try and stay focused,” says Michelle, the company’s Treasury Director. “With Comfy, I find that I forget about the temperature, and I'm able to focus on my problems.”

Looking Ahead

Looking ahead, Dan explains, “I’m looking forward to the future development of Comfy—other ways it can help us fine tune the employee experience and make the building work better. Hot and cold calls are just the beginning.”