There has been a lot of buzz about the industry over the last few years about intelligent buildings, smart apps, and the internet of things amongst many others. It has to be said, there are some fantastic concepts out there and even as a consumer it is now possible to network and make you own home smart.
The challenge within our sector is an integrated approach, pulling together a great concept with real application to deliver value to our clients, whether that is real cost savings through energy consumption reduction or operational efficiency or enhancements to the built environment to improve building user experience. If you believe the marketing then anything is possible, the only problem, is it really?
Somebody described the IOT and smart technology sector as the modern day wild west with so many tech companies scrabbling for market share and recognition as innovators. It is possible to implement technologies which control, systems which analyse and learn as well as provide automation of various activities.
We have been treading cautiously into this sector, making sure we are not duped into technologies with limited dynamic application which could mean wasted investment and reduced long term benefit. We have trialed various technologies to provide assistance in delivering enhanced experience and improved efficiencies and energy reduction, some of which have proved to be useful but not going all of the way to a truly leading edge technology.
It is fair to say that BMS systems provide significant opportunity for connectivity and interoperability with other cloud enabled systems, with some of the technologies available, even remote or dumb assets can also be activated through the use of smart tech. The trick for us is the platform we use to link and consolidate application across all activities and to use the data to prioritise critical intervention and downscale non value adding costly resource attendance.
That leads us to our road map. We are in the process of working with a number of trusted partners to bring together a vision which encompasses all of the aspects. Our vision is to have a developed third-party platform which links all value assets, monitors environment and attendance/ usage of space to provide an intelligence led output or activity with automated instruction and integration through our CAFM system. This is an exciting and bold step and one which we believe will place us in a unique spot with a broad range application not just focused on limited specific activities.
Our clients are at the centre of our objectives with a focus on user experience, efficiency of both labour and energy as well as lifecyle improvements. In this strange time where the use of buildings going forward will no doubt change and adapt, we need a platform which can not just assist in the efficient running of these buildings but also play a part in enabling the changing work patterns. This is not just innovation for the sake of it, it is for absolute necessity in an evolving world. We are aiming to bring this concept to life during 2021 and we will update you more as we go.
By Bruce McDonnell, Managing Director.
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