Transforma Insights white paper identifies how to unlock the potential of smart buildings

A new White Paper, sponsored by MultiTech, examines the enormous smart buildings market, considering the benefits of using smart building applications, the potential winners and some of the key challenges of deployment.

Transforma Insights has today unveiled a report ‘Unlocking the potential in smart buildings’ which examines the ways in which smart buildings applications such as HVAC, security, lighting, resource monitoring and environmental monitoring can bring benefits to various stakeholders.

The report identifies four main categories of benefit from using smart buildings solutions:

• Reduce operating costs – This generally stems from reducing energy usage through connected lighting and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Other examples include pre-emptive maintenance and more efficient resource management.
• Sustainability – Buildings account for 55% of global electricity demand and smart building solutions could cut this by 10%, as well as reducing site visits and optimising the efficiency of deployed assets.
• Risk management – Smart building solutions can be used to reduce the frequency and impact of events such as water leaks.
• Associated benefits – There are numerous other benefits such as protecting the health and well-being of the occupants and increasing the efficiency of utilisation of building resources.

The White Paper goes on to examine who can benefit from the use of smart building applications. This includes owners and landlords, who can benefit from happier tenants and lower maintenance costs, facilities managers being better informed of building use and condition, and more innovative insurers looking to reposition themselves as partners to aid risk avoidance.

Finally, it considers some of the challenges of deployment, including considerations of new-build versus refurbishment or retrofit. The study concludes that it’s simpler to deploy smart building applications in a greenfield environment or during a comprehensive refit, although it’s near impossible to future-proof any such deployment to cater for all potential future smart building requirements. The good news is, however, that retrofitting is becoming significantly easier, courtesy of technologies such as LoRaWAN and Bluetooth.

Commenting on the findings, author Jim Morrish said “Smart buildings includes a wide range of different use cases, delivering numerous benefits, from reducing operational costs to driving sustainability, for a range of different stakeholders. New connectivity technologies allow for much simpler deployments allowing a lot more owners, occupiers, insurers and others to benefit.”

About the report

The White Paper provides analysis of what is meant by smart buildings, including identification of the key use cases, what the benefits are of those smart building applications, who stands to benefit, and what are some of the key challenges associated with deployment. It also includes two case studies illustrating real-world deployments and statistics on how building automation systems and other smart building solutions can be used for reducing electricity consumption.

This White Paper has been compiled by IoT industry analyst firm Transforma Insights, in collaboration with MultiTech.

If you have questions concerning the report, don’t hesitate to contact our analysts via enquiries@transformainsights.com.

About Transforma Insights

Transforma Insights is a leading research firm focused on the world of Digital Transformation (DX). Led by seasoned technology industry analysts we provide advice, recommendations and decision support tools for organisations seeking to understand how new technologies will change the markets in which they operate.

For more information about Transforma Insights, please see our website transformainsights.com or contact us at enquiries@transformainsights.com. Follow us on Twitter: @transformatweet.