Summary
Collaboration & Adjacency Insights measures which teams spend time together in the same spaces. Research shows that sharing space is one of the strongest predictors of collaboration, so this gives you a reliable view of how teams work together in person. InnerSpace uses this data to build collaboration reporting around your questions, such as which teams should sit near each other, where teams meet, and whether return-to-office programs are bringing teams together.
Overview
Workplace leaders often ask which teams should sit near each other and whether people are actually collaborating in person. InnerSpace answers this by measuring co-location: how often and how much two teams are in the same room at the same time. Research consistently shows that teams who share space are far more likely to work together, which makes co-location a reliable, measurable indicator of in-person collaboration.
What the data covers
For each pair of teams in a building, InnerSpace calculates:
A collaboration score from 0 to 1, with a High, Medium or Low rating
How often the two teams shared a space on days when both were in the building
How much time they spent together when they did
Where they met, by floor and zone
Scores are calculated daily, so the data can be viewed at a point in time or as a trend.
Reporting this enables
Seating and adjacency planning: identify the teams that work together most, as candidates to sit near each other.
Restacking: compare how teams collaborate today with a proposed floor or neighborhood layout.
Return-to-office impact: compare collaboration before and after a policy change, or between sites with different policies.
Collaboration trends: track whether cross-team collaboration is increasing or declining over time.
Collaboration breadth: see how many different teams each team connects with, and which teams act as connectors.
Where collaboration happens: find the floors, zones and types of space teams use to meet, to inform space programming.
Isolated teams: spot teams that rarely share space with others and may need closer placement or shared amenities.
Collaboration insights are delivered in the InnerSpace portal, as a custom dashboard, or as data for your own tools.
How it works
InnerSpace algorithms look at how often teams share space and how much time they spend together when they do. These two measures, frequency and intensity, are combined to generate a collaboration score and rating for each pair of teams. Scores update daily, so collaboration can be tracked over time.
Things to know
Built on established research. Decades of research show that sharing space is one of the strongest predictors of collaboration. A randomized study at Harvard Medical School found that researchers placed in the same room were 75% more likely to collaborate afterward. A University of Michigan study found that overlap in the spaces people use predicted new collaborations better than distance alone. Collaboration & Adjacency Insights applies the same principle, using measured overlap in time and space across your teams.
Pairs with too little data are not rated. If two teams were rarely in the building on the same days, or overlapped only briefly, they don't get a rating. This keeps you from acting on chance overlaps.
Team data is required. Your organization's team groups need to be set up in InnerSpace. Contact your Customer Success Manager if you're not sure.
Privacy
As with all InnerSpace insights, Collaboration & Adjacency Insights uses anonymized and aggregated data, scrubbed of all personally identifying information, in compliance with GDPR and ISO 27001 standards. Results are reported for teams, never for individuals.