Building analytics is the process of improving the energy and financial prosperity of buildings to drive more value from an organization's physical assets. Business analytics includes a cost-benefit analysis of facility risks, emerging technology needs, environmental responsibility, and labor conditions (i.e. occupant comfort). The aim is to provide insight into what is needed to make faster and better building management decisions for a more productive and sustainable future.
Advanced building analytics includes building data ingestion, data lakes, and data warehouses, and stabilizing data pipelines, as well as leveraging cloud-native data and analytics services. Cloud-native analytics systems can facilitate increased capabilities, advanced performance, and escalate scale at lower costs.
The benefits of Building Analytics extend beyond cost savings and increased energy efficiency. Building analytics technology can present quick, straightforward, and transparent ways to get facility managers and building owners operating company assets at peak performance. Added business value is delivered through increased equipment lifecycles, data-driven capital upgrade decisions, reduced operating costs, or any number of team performance results, including increased contractor engagement and greater team collaboration.
Building analytics diagnostics can identify inefficiencies and system deterioration, and make recommendations for growth and improvement. Once an organization has identified and prioritized its opportunities for improvement, business analytics can provide expert, actionable guidance. Recommendations are then based on statistical analysis, performance trends, and any automated diagnostics.
Building analytics systems can find hidden costs, optimize building operations, and create more environmentally friendly, energy-saving, high-performance buildings. This happens through a combination of cloud-based and fault detection software in conjunction with remote monitoring, reporting, and maintenance services. By taking a systematic approach to evaluating current systems, and using cross-platform data integration, the analytics data can be converted into opportunities for growth. Building analytics can also be automated to continuously monitor building performance and maintenance efficiency and identify any equipment issues that arise in real-time.
What are some of the main benefits of building analytics?
- Facility Manager (FM) upskilling - Building analytics allows FMs and contractors greater visibility into their specific network of building services, granting them the opportunity to make more informed and knowledgeable decisions. This can impact many areas from employee retention to labor hours.
- Data-driven forecasting - Building analytics delves into both historical and ongoing performance, allowing for management systems to forecast and budget more precisely. Knowledge generated from building analytics can be used to create more informed policies and enable greater transformations.
- Better customer experience - Producing a more comfortable environment is invaluable, ensuring the satisfaction of not only the building's occupants but any customers or visitors as well. This in turn could affect length of stay, potential lease renewal, and worker productivity.
- Sustainability - Lowered energy consumption, better air quality, and temperature controls are increasingly being used to improve building sustainability. Many corporate objectives now include a dedicated focus on the importance of delivering climate-positive returns. Enhanced sustainability performance can increase asset value while meeting the demands of eco-responsible investors.
- Collaboration - Teams, FMs, and contractors alike need to collaborate, troubleshoot, and share knowledge across the board. Trackers and dashboards are used to align goals and track results, keeping all parties engaged and accountable.