Page 16 - RC14-EDGE-Spring Issue-1Z
P. 16
Smart Building Initiatives
Who’s Leading the Charge
in Today’s Progressive
Organizations?
W e’ve seen increased deployment of smart
building technology in the last 12-18
months, but no clear trends have emerged
as to who within the organization typically
owns these projects. It’s been IT in some cases, Facilities in
others, and sometimes the Energy or Sustainability depart-
ments. What factors determine these
decisions?
RealcommEDGE staff posed this and other
Mike Smith questions to this year’s IBcon conference
co-chairmen, Darrell Smith, Director of
Vice President Facilities & Energy for multinational soft-
Building Technology Services ware giant, Microsoft, and Mike Smith,
Forest City Enterprises
Vice President, Building Technology
Services for Forest City Enterprises,
an owner, developer and manager of a
Darrell Smith diverse $9 billion portfolio of premier
real estate assets located throughout the
Director of Facilities & Energy United States.
Microsoft
Realcomm: What department owns and drives smart
building initiatives in your organization? Why do you
think this is?
Mike: Prior to June 2013, Forest City had two groups driving the smart building initiatives—Energy
& Sustainability and Building Technology Services. Then we formed a new group to bring these
teams, and a newly formed Design Group, together under one umbrella to ensure that as a com-
pany we are all headed towards one common goal. The Integrative Design Services (IDS) group is a
one-stop resource for all developers and asset managers across our product types and geography,
representing a holistic approach to the systems, processes and technology at our properties. They
serve Forest City’s development and asset management teams by identifying mechanical systems,
technology infrastructure and finish materials for both new development and retrofit projects.
Other groups, such as Procurement Services and Construction, work directly with IDS to source
common supplies and materials as needed.
Darrell: For Microsoft it’s the real estate team. We’re organized so the group who oversee the actual
business is accountable for it. The real estate group manages and pays the utilities, so we’re
expected to optimize the services we deliver. Our perspective is really anchored in a return on the
investment. We don’t make investments that are not financially sound, and that included the Smart
Building deployment as well. In other companies where utilities sit in one department and tech-
nology in another, there may be a disconnect. But we have strong IT liaisons embedded within the
real estate and facilities group. We build requirements, find solutions and explore different pilots.
Our IT team helps us get them through a very rigorous testing process to make sure they meet all
the Microsoft standards and strict software security parameters.
14 Realcomm
