During our recent webinar, we asked our attendees a series of poll questions that cover three themes: 1. What makes a Building Smart, 2. The value a Digital Twin provides over a Smart Building and 3. Why having Insights on your Building is so important.
Our attendees consisted of Corporate Real Estate leaders; Corporate Facilities / Operations leaders; Technology / Innovation leaders and Tenants / Occupiers. Below are some isights that our attendees highlighted on the value of Smart Building Technology.
Theme 1 - What makes a Building Smart?
Have you engaged with a consulting firm to assist you in your digital enablement journey?
- Yes (59%)
- No (41%)
What technology investments are you prioritizing as a result of the pandemic?
- Digital Twin (34%)
- Environmental Health and Safety Platforms (52%)
- Intelligent Cleaning (24%)
- Occupancy/Density Sensors (55%)
- Contactless User Experience (48%)
How closely are you working with MSI on your Smart Building Project?
- Very Closely (28%)
- Closely (21%)
- Not That Closely (24%)
- Not at All (28%)
Digital Twins pave the way for significant improvements in how we monitor and manage building operations and present a number of use cases that are beneficial in the context of COVID-19.
According to a recent report published by Accenture: "The ability to manage a building through a Digital Twin helps reduce the number of people required in the office, making it safer for those who need to be there. Facilities team members, for example, are able to monitor HVAC, electrical and mechanical equipment remotely, with the option to schedule physical on-site visits if required."
Theme 2 - What value does a Digital Twin provide over a Smart Building?
Do you believe your current building data is being used effectively?
- Yes (11%)
- No (89%)
What are your greatest challenges with your current data strategy?
- Data integrity (38%)
- Gaps due to data silos (38%)
- Proper tools to analyze the data (41%)
- Ability to operationalize the data in real-time (51%)
This really summarizes that many feel the data being collected isn’t being used effectively to help drive valuable realtime outcomes to support the management and operation of the building. With the proper tools and technology in place, the building can overcome these challenges within the current data strategy.
One place where Digital Twin Technology has a big impact at the organizational level is in commercial real estate buildings, and smart offices. Digital Twins allow building operators to bring together previously unconnected systems—from security to HVAC to wayfinding systems—to building automation, building energy management, gain new insights, optimize workflows, and monitor processes remotely.
Theme 3 - Why is having insights into your entire building so valuable?
What use cases are a top priority for a safe return to work?
Contactless entry and exit (46%)
Occupancy density (82%)
Intelligent Cleaning (46%)
Desk booking (23%)
Air quality (62%)
Indoor Wayfinding (18%)
These results show what the top concerns are for returning to work. Physical distancing and proper air quality are major components of reducing the spread of viruses within a workplace along with touchless entry/exit and high quality cleaning of the space.
A Gartner survey of legal leaders showed almost all (95%) will require social distancing arrangements to be in place before they ask employees to return to the workplace. Brian Lee, Managing Vice President in the Gartner Legal and Compliance practice. “In most cases, however, things will look very different for employees, and employers will need to make significant changes to workspace planning and acquire new resources such as PPE.”
There has been a lot of conversation around what the return to work will look like. The way we live, work and play have certainly changed drastically and there will be both short and long-term planning needed to ensure people feel safe and confident inside buildings. To help you face these challenges, ThoughtWire has published a Step-By-Step Guide to Prepare Your Building for Wellness.
Visit our Smart Resource Center, to stay current on the latest news about smart buildings, smart hospitals, digital transformation, intelligent technology and more. Explore our articles, blogs, case studies, eBooks, webinars and videos – all designed to help you usher in a new era of highly intelligent built environments.
As an organization that serves many industries such as healthcare, commercial real estate, and corporate real estate organizations, we empathize deeply with what our customers are going through at this moment. We’re a technology organization, but for us people have always come first. If you need advice on where to start or how you can make the changes your organization needs to be prepared for the future, get in touch. Community is important now more than ever.
