According to 451 Research, 35 percent of companies worldwide are currently gathering or have plans in place to accumulate data on lighting, HVAC, and system controls (among other things) about their office buildings—all in an effort to mitigate maintenance and operational expenses using the Internet of Things (IoT). The report revealed the main priority among building-level IoT is operation optimization (76 percent), including preventative maintenance and reducing downtime. The second priority (61 percent) is reducing risk through compliance or security with security badges, cameras, and field analysis.
Among professional buildings, the top IoT projects involved lighting. Companies shifting to LED lighting often encounter smart lighting options like motion-based systems that activate when someone enters the room. HVAC building management systems and security access control IoT projects are also becoming common in these office environments. Security may include location tracking safety, or offering company network access that could differ based on a person’s login location.
Other projects will be largely reliant on industry factors like the number of locations in a chain (like grocery stores for example that install IoT sensors on refrigerators). Oxford Properties Group installed smart meters in its office management platforms at its 480,000-square foot property in Washington DC, after which they encountered a minor error that ballooned into a more severe issue as time passed. The building had three cooling tower meters that measured quantities in gallons. However, employees were recording the meter readings in cubic feet, which had a profound effect on costs. Upon fixing verification systems implemented on the backend, this led to the company saving around $30,000.
“We’re in the very early stages of smart buildings,” says Gartner Research Vice President Mark Hung. “Companies are still exploring the right technology to employ, but that’s also the right business model.”
From the perspective mentioned by Hung, there are several ways to approach a setup like smart lighting. A company can revamp their lighting infrastructure and recoup energy saving costs over several years, while some vendors offer pay-as-you-go models. In these setups, the vendor pays part of the deployment cost for their smart lighting solution, then gets a portion of savings the company sees.
“People generally are not optimizing their energy expenditures,” says Hung. “There’s probably always ways to save, whether on lighting or heating or cooling. It’s just a matter of how much the reductions would be compared to the initial outlay. That’s the kind of spreadsheet work that organizations need to do to figure out the payoff.”
Initiatives for office IoT solutions fall in two major categories—building and office management.
“When you think about the office context in IoT, some projects are more related to the billing and infrastructure itself, and being more efficient and using those resources more effectively within the building,” says Principle Analyst at Forrester Michele Pelino. “Then there are applications that are locations kinds of services, and productivity-enhancing applications that will help employees be more efficient in their day-to-day jobs.”
For most of these office environment IoT-enabled capabilities, the starting point comes from building structure. The tangibly identifiable benefits are saving an X-amount of energy that accounts for an X-amount of dollars. As time passes, more proactive companies are considering their building environments, and taking a more strategic approach. Many companies with multiple locations are beginning to rely on the IoT to distinguish employee experience from the competition. The Amsterdam location of Deloitte is called an Edge Building for example—an IoT-enabled space where employees can control lighting and temperature (among other settings).
“That has been a differentiator for in this case Deloitte, who say they’re getting more people that want to work there,” says Pelino. “They’re using it as a differentiation for employees existing, but also for recruiting purposes to say this is a different, unique experience if you come here.”
