Unlocking Operational Efficiency Through Smart Building Technology

All buildings are different, and so are their owners and operators. However, they all share the same goals: evolving their business, meeting rising tenant expectations and generation ROI for their facilities. 

To achieve these goals, owners and operators are striving for operational efficiency and turning to technology solutions to help them get there.

Fortunately, building technology is up to the task.

Take lighting, for instance. In the past, lighting served the basic function of remedying darkness. Today, lighting systems can do much more. They’re equipped with occupancy sensors to enable more efficient energy usage and enhanced functionality. 

It’s all about being intelligent and interconnected. When building technology is both,  it can power greater operational efficiency and collect data to derive insights that bring even more efficiency.

Leveraging Building Technology for Operational Efficiency and Improved Outcomes

Technology is now the cornerstone of operational efficiency. As buildings have grown more complex, with far more assets, devices and control systems, owners and operators need more technology to run all of them effectively. They also need to know what’s going on. To be truly operationally efficient, they must connect to their assets, devices and control systems and see how they’re performing so they can tune them accordingly.

Once you have the right building technology, with seamless connectivity and a steady stream of contextualized data, you can start stacking good outcomes on top of it, like better energy savings and improved safety and security for your occupants. 

Let’s look at how technology can improve the efficiency of an HVAC system, the complex network of chillers, heaters, pumps and air ducts that control a building’s climate. In the past, HVAC efficiency meant basic scheduling: turning the system up at 9 a.m. and down at 5 p.m. With today’s building technology, you can do much more. For example, you can optimize temperature control 24/7 to ensure your HVAC system doesn’t work unnecessarily hard and thereby extends its lifespan.

To better manage your building from top to bottom, you can install a gateway that identifies all interconnected systems and retrieves comprehensive data on their functioning to gain new insights and enhance overall efficiency. The data you gather can be managed on-premises or exported to the cloud.  With it, you can develop a broad range of outcome-based applications.

For instance, you can deploy various algorithms to analyze the performance of each asset and trigger alerts when anomalies occur. This makes triaging simpler, eliminating the need to physically dispatch a technician to resolve issues. 

Simplifying building management and accelerating digital transformation 

Today’s buildings are complex systems.  Managing all that complexity can be daunting, but there are solutions on the market that make it easy.

Honeywell Forge for Buildings is a comprehensive solution that delivers  key outcomes to help building owners and operators achieve sustainability, efficiency, improved occupant experience and better compliance, safety and resilience.

Honeywell Forge for Buildings consists of several applications that accelerate digital transformation for asset-intensive companies, helping them manage the performance and sustainability of all their buildings.

One of the applications is Predictive Maintenance, which enables building operators to remotely address and resolve issues before they escalate, avoiding unnecessary costs. Another is an automated fault-detection and diagnostic application that continuously evaluates the performance of equipment and looks for conditions that can negatively impact asset availability, asset lifecycle and energy consumption. 

Energy and carbon management is critical. Honeywell Forge can help building operators manage the environmental impact of their buildings without compromising operational outcomes. Using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), our technology solution can create a baseline of energy consumption and carbon emissions, and provide tools to monitor, control and optimize across building assets These capabilities support carbon-reduction goals and enhance resilience by managing different power sources.

Honeywell is transforming the way buildings work

In just about every industry sector, buildings are on a journey of digital transformation. It’s a long trip and it’s best taken one step at a time. It starts with implementing the right technology to manage all your assets, devices and control systems, and  installing  the right sensors to capture data effectively.

To fully achieve operational efficiency, it’s essential to approach your entire portfolio at once, rather than go building by building. This enables you to maximize operational efficiency both from an asset perspective as well as a savings perspective. 

Honeywell is transforming the way every building works to help owners and operators reach better efficiency and improve the quality of life for the people who use them. With a portfolio featuring software, hardware and services, Honeywell’s outcome-focused approach enables owners and operators to improve safety and security, boost energy and operational efficiencies and create a better building experience.