by Alyson Goff, Senior Director of Insights and Strategy

When I stepped into this role a year ago, I didn’t come in naïve about higher education — I’ve spent more than two decades in this industry. What I did underestimate was how ready institutions would be to embrace occupancy analytics.

Higher ed is in a moment of real change, and the people doing the hard, often invisible work of understanding their physical campuses are showing up with more urgency, creativity, and openness than I ever expected. That openness has reshaped how I think about space, data, and the role this work can play in defining what comes next. Here are the 10 lessons that stuck with me.

1. Shrinking enrollment or not, everyone is rethinking space.

The old assumption was that only institutions under pressure cared about optimization. Not true. Across the board, leaders are acknowledging they can’t keep doing “what we’ve always done.” They want smarter, more intentional, more strategic use of their space — not because they’re in crisis, but because they know the future won’t reward inertia.

2. The curiosity around occupancy analytics is far bigger than I expected.

I underestimated how ready institutions are to experiment. Even though occupancy analytics as a discipline in higher ed is still emerging, institutions are leaning in, asking bold questions, and exploring use cases I wouldn’t have predicted.

There’s a shared recognition that you can’t define the future without understanding how your campus actually functions today.

Now is the moment to try occupancy analytics — not later.

3. Space conversations are shifting from simple labels to full building ecosystems.

Classrooms and offices still draw attention, and often for good reason. But the real shift is broader.

Institutions want to understand how buildings truly function — not just what they’re designated for.

It’s about:

• How a building is occupied and how that occupancy ebbs and flows throughout the day
  
  
• How users experience and connect to that building
  
  
• How patterns inside one facility influence the surrounding campus ecosystem
  
  

It’s no longer about a static label like “office building.” It’s about understanding the living rhythm of a structure.

4. Customers are more forward-leaning than I imagined.

I expected caution. What I got was courage. Institutions are embracing new metrics, testing fresh ideas, and taking data into conversations they’ve never had before — even without full institutional buy-in yet. Many are building internal coalitions, sharing insights with colleagues, and expanding the reach of occupancy data organically.

Their willingness to explore has become one of my favorite surprises.

5. The partnership model is everything — and the “light-bulb moments” are real.

Coming from a project-based consulting world, this was a shift. The CampusIQ platform isn’t something you “implement” and walk away from. It matures. It deepens. It builds capacity.

One institution came in hyper-focused on office space utilization — that was their big question. But once they were able to answer it, they began to see an entirely different horizon: opportunities to streamline custodial services based on actual usage, and ways to elevate dining services’ understanding of customer dwell times so they could better plan staffing, service windows, and food prep.

Those are the moments that stand out. A customer answers the first question that brought them to us… and suddenly they see ten more. That’s when the partnership really takes root.

6. Unexpected use cases are expanding the boundaries of what’s possible.

A favorite moment: one institution used occupancy analytics to improve restroom cleanliness in heavily trafficked areas — aiming for “Buc-ee’s-level bathrooms.”

At another institution, a summer pilot uncovered six-figure energy savings, revealing opportunities to reallocate those dollars to more pressing needs.

Those two examples alone show the range. This field is wide open, and customers are proving that every day.

7. Adoption accelerates when there’s a true champion — and when IT is involved early.

The institutions that move fastest have two things:

1. A champion who can articulate the value clearly, whether through a single use case or a campus-wide vision. They don’t need to know every detail — just the “why.”
   
   
2. Early engagement from IT, which creates secure, efficient data flow and sets a strong foundation for long-term success.
   
   

When those two ingredients are in place, the pace — and depth — of adoption is completely different.

8. Good insights meet people where they are.

Some customers want detailed tables and deep dives. Others want visuals, maps, or quick-read metrics that frame the story instantly.

There is no single “right way” to see your campus. This year reinforced that the best insights are layered, flexible, and tailored to different decision-making styles.

9. Data doesn’t replace human judgment — it unlocks better conversations.

Occupancy analytics isn’t an easy button. It doesn’t make decisions for you. What it does is remove the emotion and open the door to informed conversations.

Sometimes underutilization is about scheduling. Sometimes it’s configuration. Sometimes it’s an infrastructure issue no one knew about. When customers use data to start those conversations with planners, faculty, or administrators, the clarity is powerful — and often transformative.

10. The institutions leaning in now will define what comes next.

One of my biggest realizations this year: institutions are far more ready and excited for this work than most people realize. And the energy isn’t isolated. It’s coming from IT, facilities, planning, IR, finance, student services — all seeing new possibilities.

And to any new customer beginning the journey, what I want you to know is simple: We’ve got your back. This is a partnership, and as your needs evolve, we evolve with you.

Looking Ahead

This year showed me that occupancy analytics isn’t a niche tool — it’s becoming foundational. The institutions embracing it today aren’t just improving space use; they’re shaping what modern campus stewardship looks like.

And truthfully? It feels like we’re just getting started.