How IoT will impact the practice of Facility Management in 2020

From efficient construction to habitation to better management, Internet of Thing (IoT) has today brought transformative and innovative effect in the construction industry. According to a latest FICCI-Colliers Report on Emerging Trends in Real Estate – Technology and New Asset Classes, the real estate sector has evolved over the last decade with constant change in the business environment bringing new disruptions. These changes have altered the way we work, shop and live, and it is technology that is enabling this change. Over the next decade, we expect to see technology mould the decisions of the major stakeholders, the report said. The report highlighted the three major changes impacting the real estate sector and how developers, occupiers and investors can enhance their decision. These changes are AnyTech (driven by internet, automation, cloud computing and artificial intelligence), Amentisation (aimed at elevating tenant experience) and Flexible workspace.

Internet of Things (IoT) generates a colossal amount of data. This data can be used in a variety of ways to boost performance of business, increase efficiency of team, reduce operation costs and create more streamlined working practices. Data that produces intelligence, can go a long way to drive the industry forward. Also, facility management (FM) industry is also not exceptional in that case.

Many industry experts believe that if IoT and data intelligence is applied to manage the building, it will be a replacement for a facility management team. Rather it will help team to devise smart maintenance strategy. Since IoT creates a network of sensors and appliances and other devices that are capable of sending and receiving data, it will give the entire team a greater understanding of how managers and engineers are using buildings and stimulating the development of innovative services.

Building IoT falls into many categories such as energy consumption monitoring, maintaining environmental quality by measuring particulate matters like CO2, equipment life increase, building occupancy measurements, space utilisation, operational cost reduction. Since all these areas are connected to IoT, it will unlock new opportunities to facility managers to analyse data and create efficient and productive solutions to everyday challenges.

Mr. Dharmendra Rathore, CEO of IOTomation Echotech Pvt. Ltd. says, ‘Since IoT gives you access to huge amount of data at your fingertips, facility team will increasingly have the tools they need to implement changes that improve operational productivity. IOTomation has created BIoT platform that is a full stack comprehensive dashboard to manage the building smartly. Our platform comes with all functionality inbuilt like HVAC, Plumbing, electrical etc.’

He further added, ‘It also integrates other systems like fire, security, parking management, visitor management etc. in a single screen and finally its intelligent modules deliver complete building efficiency and seamless data insight. It is the first company to introduce a PaYu (Pay-As-You-Use) model that offers a monthly subscription billing plan to the customers for building automation and optimization which helps them in minimizing their total budget.’

So, it indicates that building IoT is going to be something that FM industry is likely to get a whole host of new tools to work with. Though IoT implementation takes some investment, but it will not break the bank. FM companies should consider the cost implementation downtime, software and hardware, retrofitting, platform fees and training to map out the break-even point more accurately. By taking this additional step, FM companies are more likely to ensure success and secure buy-in from key stakeholders in the business.