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Intelligent Buildings

MOVING FROM ANALYTICS

TO ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: IS

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE READY?

CASEY TALON beyond the voice of the energy manager. Now, more than
Principal Research Analyst ever, the buildings industry is set to adopt smart building
Navigant Research technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) is on deck to
further disrupt the status quo of facilities management
EARLY ADOPTERS ARE WELL on their way to realizing the and real estate strategy.
benefits of digital transformation and the impact of invest-
ing in smart building technologies on their bottom lines. The Business Case for Smart Buildings
They have invested in connectivity and analytics to enable
data-driven decision-making at the enterprise level. The For years energy cost savings was the value proposition
market has been growing for two decades, and now early for smart building investments. Investment in a BEMS
adopters are exploring deeper integration and upgrades or would translate facility operations into business insight
alternatives to their initial investments. framed by energy savings as the financial metric for
performance improve-
At the same time, there ment. As the market
is momentum in the has evolved, technology
market supported by providers have recog-
public awareness of the nized that for many
Internet of Things (IoT). building owners, energy
Consumer adoption of cost savings are just
connected devices— not enough to move
smart thermostats, the industry forward.
speakers, lights, and In recent years, many
security systems—is vendors have gone so
setting expectations far as rebranding and
for technology-enabled promoting their solu-
productivity and conve- tions as broader smart
nience. The familiarity is building analytics as
creating a new upward a way of reframing
pressure on commercial the conversation with
building owners to invest potential customers.
in smart building technol-
ogies. There is also a nuance here: expectations on what Customers can deploy low cost devices to generate,
the technology delivers has changed. There is a notable aggregate, and communicate data about how their
shift from the building energy management system (BEMS) spaces are used in addition to the equipment operational
insights of the early days of the smart buildings market to data of the building management system, or in facilities
a demand for deeper business insight on the non-energy without those traditional systems. The result is a more
benefits of analytics and the IoT. comprehensive digital profile of a commercial building
and higher value outputs from smart building analytics.
Smart building technologies are now driving operational Now executive decision makers can understand their
and experience improvements that speak to the C-suite facility management in a broader set of financial met-
in compelling ways to ensure buy-in and commitment rics—energy costs, space use, comfort, work order man-

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