IoT and Smart Buildings: Turning Connected Devices into Better Decisions

Buildings are becoming smarter, more interactive and more data-driven as sensors, meters, access controls and HVAC systems come online. In principle this lets owners and occupants analyze what is happening, raise comfort, plan maintenance and cut energy use. In practice, most of that data sits in systems designed for skilled engineers and facility managers, which puts an efficiency barrier between the building and the people in it.

The integration problem

A typical commercial building runs separate systems for climate, lighting, physical security, elevators, parking and the front desk, often from different vendors and different decades. Each has its own protocol and its own dashboard. Nobody sees the whole building, and no decision can use all the data at once.

Buildings as a service

We approach building technology as a service to be designed and developed, not a set of devices to be installed. The supporting IT system sits above the individual vendors, integrates them and exposes the result in ways that suit each kind of user:

• IoT integration across protocols and vendors, with a unified data model.
• Integration with physical security, so access events, cameras and alarms are part of the same picture.
• Big data analysis to find patterns in energy use, occupancy and equipment behaviour.
• Workflow automation that turns a sensor reading into a maintenance ticket, or a booking into a room that is ready.
• Real-time monitoring for operations teams, with alerts that mean something.
• Front desk services for tenants and visitors, from access to amenities.

Design lessons that carry across industries

The same principles apply to connected vehicles, shipping fleets and hospitality venues, all of which we have worked in:

1. Own the data model. Vendor devices come and go. The building's data should outlive any one of them.
2. Design for the least technical user first. If a tenant can understand the interface, the facility manager certainly can.
3. Treat security as physical. A compromised building system opens doors, literally. Network segmentation and least privilege are mandatory.
4. Make automation reversible. Every automated action should be visible and overridable by a person.
5. Plan for business continuity. The building must keep working when the cloud connection does not.

The outcome

Higher efficiency for occupants, lower operating costs for owners, and a system that makes the building's data useful to the people who live and work in it, while guaranteeing security, continuity and performance for the client's own customers.