Maintaining a Strong Innovation Profile Even When Budgets are Tight

Michael MacMahon 00:00
Okay, awesome. And here to represent FM:Systems is Jennifer Heath. She is the Director of Product Management and has extensive experience in workplace management software, in the workplace management software industry, including as an application end user and an implementation consultant as well as the product manager. Welcome Jennifer.

Jennifer Heath 00:19
Thank you very much. Michael, it’s great to be here. Thank you everyone for joining us today. And so as he said, Jennifer Heath, Director of Product at FM:Systems, which is now a part of Johnson Controls, and I’m going to talk a little bit about some of the different strategies we have seen our clients use successfully in their journey towards smarter buildings. So at FM:Systems, we think about buildings in this sort of evolutionary framework that we have moved from traditional buildings where maybe you have certain elements that are digitized, but nothing is really connected or integrated. Next you have connected buildings where you start to see more integration between systems, data flowing between systems more automated workflows.

Smart buildings are that next level. And to me, smart buildings really the hallmark are IoT devices, where you have data that’s continually being generated and it can inform and automate other workflows. We see that most of our clients are somewhere in that phase between connected and smart. There are still some out there that are in that traditional phase, and they’re trying to move forward, but most folks are in between connected and smart, and really where we all want to go, sort of the holy grail right now of building management is the autonomous building, where you have AI and machine learning models that are able to inform building decisions in a very autonomous way, the building itself can read data and react and respond and recalibrate different aspects of heating or cooling or access controls based on that data that is coming in. But it does require the data. It requires those AI and ML models, and so we really want to help our clients think about what data do you want? How do you want to generate it, so that you can start making your way towards that ultimate goal of an autonomous building, because it can feel somewhat unattainable depending on where you start.

So there are a number of benefits of smart buildings, and frankly, this is part of the challenge. There are so many things you can accomplish with smart building technology, but you can’t do it all at once, because you probably won’t do any of it particularly well. You have to hone in on a particular aspect of your building performance where you think you can affect change and drive an ROI. So it might be your sustainability goals, your energy emissions, the occupant experience, the runtime and life cycle of your equipment. But you need to choose one place to start. You can always expand. You can always add on additional technology sources, but you want to hone in on that one particular KPI that you think you can deliver a bottom line. And it’s all about the data. So your smart buildings ultimately, are always generating data. There’s different solutions that can solve specific workplace business challenges. So Archie talked a little bit about space booking and desk reservations that can streamline workflows, make the employee experience more efficient, but underneath that, you have data. You have bookings data that you can then combine and aggregate with other data sources to reveal different insights about your building performance and your occupant experience. So what we really encourage our clients to do is identify that one KPI.

Think about what data sources you have today that would support and and reveal aspects of that KPI. And then think about what additional data source could you add, what smart technology could you introduce that would be the most impactful in better understanding that KPI? And so I’m talk specifically about sensors and utilization, because I think it’s a pretty easy case study or use case to understand when you implement sensors, the goal of the sensors is to collect data, but that is not the goal of your project, and this is where we see a lot of people stumble in their implementation of smart building technology. It’s not enough to just implement the technology, you have to have an action plan for what you’re going to do with that data as it is being generated. You have to have a timeline. You have to have specific goals. And most importantly, and Michael alluded to this at the very beginning, you have to have an appetite. For change, and you have to have the authority to implement that change.

So it’s so important that you have buy in from your executives, that you have buy in from other departments, that as the data reveals opportunities for improvement, that you are able to implement that change. But even then, you’re not quite done, because innovation is iterative. It’s not like the half court shot where you get one chance and you’re going to win a million dollars. Innovation has to be an iterative process. You have to continually learn. You’re not going to get it right the first time, you’re going to interpret the data, you’re going to make a recommendation, you’re going to implement a change, and then you have to start over, and you evaluate the data, you assess the change. Was it successful? Did you make progress in your goal? Did you not make as much as you wanted to? What can you do next? You continually iterate on that technology implementation and continue to implement those changes to drive towards your goals.

So one of our customer success stories, that is an excellent example of this. They came to us specifically because, so this is the driver and vehicle licensing agency in the UK, it’s akin to the DMV here in the United States, they came to us because they had continual requests from different departments to add space. But the space management team knew that their utilization was actually relatively low, but they didn’t have the hard data to prove that they couldn’t go back to those departments and say, No, you don’t need more space, because they didn’t have the data to back that up. So they implemented sensors to get a more clear, objective view of that utilization. And they were right. They really didn’t need more space, but by having that objective, granular data, they were able to reallocate space. They were able to better understand departmental flow, hybrid work, of course, has changed the way we’re using our space. And rather than expand their footprint, they were able to do a lot of reallocation of their space and achieve those goals. So they knew what their goal was.

They implemented that technology, they were able to make those changes. But the second half of their story is really my favorite part, because the other part of these implementations, when you want to be innovative, but you’re also being budget conscious, you have to be aware of secondary and tertiary benefits. So they came in to solve a specific problem, they were able to solve that problem, but then they saw in that utilization data, they were able to clearly identify peak hours, peak days, and they were able to apply that data to their energy management strategy. And so the real ROI of this implementation ended up being the cost savings for their energy. And that wasn’t the initial goal, but because they were open to, what else is this data telling us? How else can we apply this data to our business strategy? They were able to achieve a different sort of ROI. So I think that’s a really important component. When you implement technology, you have to know what you’re going for, but then you have to be open minded about what are the other potential benefits, the other potential applications.

My final point on being successful with smart building technology implementations is that communication is key. You want to be constantly communicating clearly and consistently about what you’re implementing and why. Even today, even though sensors have become much more common, there is still a certain resistance to sensor technology. People don’t want to feel like they’re being monitored, and so it’s very important that your employees understand what the technology does, but also what it does not do. Sensors are almost entirely anonymous. They’re not recording you. They’re not listening to you. It’s really important to alleviate any of those concerns from the beginning, you want your employees to understand why you’re implementing this, what’s the potential long term benefit to them? And that’s when you can really have success, not just in terms of your data gathering, in terms of achieving an ROI, but your employees are bought in as well, and they see the long term benefits.

Michael MacMahon 09:48
No, that’s great. Jennifer, thank you so much. That’s a really good presentation. You touched on so many good points there. I would love to go back and invite you back for the Q and A. I’ve got a lot of questions to follow up with you on. Thank you very much for that piece. So yeah, a lot of really good points. I really love this conversation. I love the different directions. And not to sound cheeky, but I want to kind of just start off by asking the panel, does size matter in terms of the portfolio, in terms of your approach and your technology? Because does it matter that you know, if you’re working towards a decarbonization goal, the first thing you need to know is, well, what am I using right? So that goes back to your point. Jennifer, that’s where the sensors come into play. But again, it’s that program. Like, what am I going to do with that data once I get it right? Like, what is the day two stuff? What am I How am I going to use that so does? Is there a tipping point? Do? Does open that up for everybody. Is there a tipping point in the size of the portfolio where you’re gonna take a different approach, versus someone smaller with a couple of properties, versus a larger organization like Quadra?

Michael Przytula 10:54
Yeah, Michael, maybe I’ll take a swig of that to start with, and love everyone else to chime in. But I think at the end of the day, the build environment is the size that it is, right? Whether you’re, you’re, you’re a company that’s sitting in, you know, two offices on a floor, or whether you’ve got, you know, millions, 20, 30 million square feet across five, 600 buildings, I think it comes down to who’s putting the tech in and who’s making the investment, right? It’s really hard for someone that’s got half a floor in a building to make an investment in smart HVAC, for example, but it’s not hard for the landlord to do so and drive those benefits back to everybody that’s in the building. So I think that it’s more of where the investment gets made and who makes the investment rather than saying, Well, hey, I’m small, so it doesn’t matter.

Jonathan Brouse 11:45
Yeah, I think you’re touching some of the complexities that we see within the built environment of the how the ownership structure can dictate sort of the implementation of technology. And I think what we see oftentimes is that the tool sets that we use will be different based on the complexity of the of the client, right? So when we have a client with 20, 3040, sites, at that point, you need a way of filtering and bringing sort of the most pertinent issues to the surface, whereas if you have a less complex site, we can, we can create dashboards. We can create sort of energy monitoring. And it’s very easy to drill down to, okay, this, this is the issue within that building. But then as that portfolio, or that equipment becomes more complex or larger you what we typically see is a lot of customers focus on sort of the big pieces of equipment, and so it leaves us a lot of opportunity on everything else. And so big pieces of equipment may be optimized, but then also there’s this whole other aspect which affects comfort, air quality, as well as cost. And so finding those issues is actually quite important as well.

Jennifer Heath 12:58
I would add, I think no matter the size of your portfolio, it is so important to differentiate between anecdotal operations and objective operations. I think smaller organizations tend to think we just know what our utilization is. We have a good handle on it. But do you really, no matter the size, you still need that objective data that’s driving your decisions. You can’t rely on anecdotes. You can’t rely on a sense of what’s happening in your building. You have to hone in on that objective, actual data to determine what decisions you want to make.

Archie Mahalingam 13:36
The only, the only other thing I’d add is, we do have this sort of issue when it comes to asset classes. So between commercial, residential and industrial, they’re very three. They’re very different types of asset classes. So how we how we scale technology does vary between the three, commercial, lot more granular. Residential, you know, slightly less granular, slightly less robust systems. And, you know, industrial, we kind of keep it very simple, but I think they can all scale differently and still provide a lot of value. And for us, once again, like connectivity is important, like in an industrial property, even if all we have is connectivity, where we can, where we set up some level of infrastructure just to pick up a few data points. There’s still a lot of value in that, because different asset classes are spread out differently, so that, if we have industrial sites all across regions that are that are very remote, just having that, one data point can be very valuable. Instead of sending, sending a body, you know, 600 kilometers or 100 miles, or whatever it might be to to, like, get somebody over there.

Michael MacMahon 14:53
Yeah I agree. I think that. I think having that capability behooves anyone, right? Because even having the historical data being able to collect that automatically, so you can do trending over time to say, Okay, this time last year, I had x number of occupants in the space. They were utilizing it in this manner. They consumed this much carbon, right? So we’re talking about, you know, carbon reduction is another why that people are starting to look at, especially in like Boston and New York, where a lot of the regulations are stipulating that I’m going to need to know and understand what my carbon consumption is, so that, you know, involves, like, a metering and monitoring plan, right? Like that might be a focus that somebody has, but I like the concept of understanding the different market segment based on the building type, what your approach would be. And so, you know, that might be something where you’re looking focused solely on operational aspects, or you’re looking at focused on the tenant side, or maybe it’s a combination of both, right, depending on, you know, that type of building, I guess I would call it a building persona, on how that would work. So let me ask you, Jennifer, do investments in enhanced workplace data? Data sets like typically translate well to boosting workplace experience. Is there pretty much a direct correlation there? Or is that something that? Is that why people are investing in those types of insights?

Jennifer Heath 16:11
I think there can be. I think there’s huge potential for that. Again, back to Michael’s point. My point, you have to have the appetite for change to really impact your employee experience. I think one of the most interesting things that utilization data can show you is what spaces your employees prefer when they have the freedom to make choices about where they want to work, if it’s in an office desk, if they want big collaborative spaces that utilization data will show you those trends and patterns over time that people prefer this particular type of space. These are our most popular conference rooms. These are the most popular workstations when you can gather that objective data and feed that back into your workplace design, I think you necessarily are going to impact the productivity because you are designing a workplace that reflects the way they naturally want to work.

Michael Przytula 17:10
Yeah, I think if I can add to that as well. Jennifer, right, it completely agree, right? It’s about being willing to action it. But I think the other piece of that is is when we look at gathering data across the workplace. It’s making sure that we understand the why of that, right? If we’re just collecting occupancy information, for example. And we could say, hey, you know, the the right hand corner of this floor is always, you know, is always occupied or highly occupied. And we we use that data in isolation, we could be led to believe that, hey, the people like the way that this is laid out, when, in fact, it could be that the other parts of the floor are really cold, or the it’s super noisy, or other things like this. So the more data points that we can pull together and correlate them to understand, you know, what’s driving that, especially if we’re trying to do it at the at the macro level right of like, why is this part of the floor busy, or why is this, you know, part of the floor empty? And is it just that? Is it a furnishing problem? Is it a layout problem? Is it super noisy? Is it, you know, a comfort perspective, being able to pull multiple different data sources together, it allows you to really get a good understanding of, sort of, what’s happening on the on the floor. And I think goes back to the overall, you know, investment theme is, is, what are we trying to understand? And if it is why people are using space, then let’s make sure we get information on all the things that the drive people to do that absolutely. And we talk a lot about the importance of that subjective data, those employee opinions. Why are they drawn to certain spaces when you can bring those two pieces together, that’s when you can really deliver an amazing workplace experience.

Michael MacMahon 18:51
Would it be safe to say, I think you guys both touched on it. There was, you know, you once you start collecting data, you can infer certain things. So, like, I had a client that had an interesting problem. They were responsible for Section Eight housing, and so everything is paid for by them, and they kept having their major complaint was that people were opening their windows and letting their PTAC units either heat and cool the space while the windows are open, right, just wasting throwing energy out the window, literally. And so we took a look at it, and all I had to do was take a look at the building blueprint, and I said, Oh, are they along this street? And they said, Well, yeah. And I said, Oh, okay. So the problem is, is that you’ve got a south facing property. Everybody on the south side of the building is exposed to the sun, so the windows are causing them to, you know, that’s changing the thermal dynamics of their apartment depending on the time of year, and so they’re going to heat your cooler space by the best way that they know, and not pay attention to the technology, right? So you can infer that without having any data other than just, you know, the complaint, and that little bit of data of understanding the orientation of the building, you can begin to infer. And I think that’s the journey here that we’re starting to see is taking that little bit of data and starting to infer that, oh, this is a new area of focus of where I need to go now I’m going to collect more data, and I’m going to be able to make a decision, because I can be decisive about the information that I know, and move from that subjective inference into an objective, concrete data set that I can truly make a decision on and so I can’t keep hearing that theme that it’s this, this evolution of growth that you guys are doing, that you’re starting to see in these in these spaces. So I got a question for Michael real quick, but I’m going to open it up to the floor too. But does creating healthy workspaces complement or contradict maximizing ROI with competing priorities? Does healthy mean more efficient? Does it, you know, from an investment standpoint, and does it make it more attractive? So to Archie’s point, you know, we’re going to do tenant facing stuff first, because that’s going to help us drive up our census and our buildings, which is then going to help us be able to save money and focus on operations that are providing some of them. So how does that correlate? John, I know, I know you touched on that too, but I want to hear what Michael’s opinion,

Michael Przytula 21:03
Yeah, it’s a great question, Michael. And I think this all depends. You know, health can be subjective to so many people, right? And I think that it also depends on how you’re measuring ROI, right? If you say, Hey, we’re going to invest $100,000 or a million dollars, or 10 million in making this building healthier. What’s the ROI to my building operation? Well, it’s probably not going to be any right, if you’re just purely looking at it from the operation of the building, but if you look at it across the organization, of the impact that you’ve you’ve got on the health of people in the building, of the number of sick days that they come in. If you start looking at, you know, depending on the size of the organization, if you have the ability or the desire to track it, right? What are, what are the healthcare costs that you’re incurring? For the people that are, that are using that space, you’ve got to be willing, as an organization, to zoom out far enough to see the impacts that you’re having if you’re purely looking for a financial return, right? And I think that that’s one lens to look at it. The other lens to look at it, though, is just from an organizational ethics perspective, and say, No, are we? Are we as an organization, going to stand up and say, We want to make our building healthy? You know, you you’ve all probably seen GSK open their new building in in London and your headquarters the other week, you know, their North Star vision for that building was, this will be the healthiest building on the planet. And that was something that they held themselves to through the whole design and construction project. It wasn’t a it wasn’t a, hey, we can save some money. Here. We’re looking to save money. But if you set the North Star to say health is a priority, then you know, you work, you work ways around ensuring that that’s the way that you want to operate, because they understand that long term, you know, that’s the that’s the best thing for people, it’s the best thing for the organization. And they will get the return long term. They’re not going to get it in the same fiscal quarter that they spend the money, though.

Michael MacMahon 23:00
That’s great, yeah, thank you. Michael, John,

Jonathan Brouse 23:04
Yeah, I think that was well said. You know, looking at some of the studies that carrier sponsored, one of the things that we see is, for example, lowering pm 2.5 exposure directly decreases all cause mortality. Basically, it means people live longer. And so I think what Michael touched on is it depends. How far do you zoom out that lens, right? And who actually benefits from the economics of healthy and with the with the complex owner structure, ownership structure of buildings, it really depends, right? And so we see oftentimes that healthy sometimes fits more into workplace experience rather than into, say, a facilities budget. So it’s, it’s about finding how, how do you, how do you line that up with the business objectives of a customer who wants to pursue that, and how do you make sure that rolls up to what their strategic goals are,

Michael Przytula 24:02
I think if I can just, just add to that. Jonathan, again, right? I, I did a session at the well conference a couple months ago on this specific topic, right? And I, I used the analogy back then of saying, hey, if we had a production facility and there was a robot that was working on it, right, and we had information that said this robot is running at 70% of its total capacity, we go in and fix it. We’d spend the time to make sure that it was running at capacity. There’s definitive data that’s out there that shows that when CO two levels, for example, are optimal, or when other environmental aspects are optimal, that cognitive performance of people is better, right? We know that information, but we don’t see that. You know every decision that somebody makes is 20% better, or that people work 35% faster, for example. And so I think that that’s where, where organizations sometimes you shy away from spending the money on making health a priority, even though we have the data that says that healthy buildings are better for people and ultimately better for organizations.

Michael MacMahon 25:15
Yeah, I can definitely see that. Archie, what about you?

Archie Mahalingam 25:18
Yeah, the one other thing I’d add to that is like for us, you know, the the health of buildings are very high priority. Like, that’s, that’s top of the list. And from a smart building technology perspective, we want to find ways for technology to complement some of that process that already exists. So it’s if you’re trying to provide a business case to your organization, like an organization like ours, we have process for ensuring there’s environmental assessments done in buildings. There’s consultants that are involved to make sure that there’s certain standards that are met. If you can provide IoT sensors or technology that can complement that. Maybe there’s a way where you can reduce scope from one area and then kind of blend it into the smart building scope. That’s an easy business case for a lot of owners and landlords to digest. So I wouldn’t shy away from from introducing smart technology into into buildings. It is. It is a priority for, for most owners. And I’d say, if there’s a way for that compliment to occur, that’s that. That’s, that’s sort of the easiest way for a, for a for a low, you know, where budgets are tight, that’s, that’s an easy way to provide that support.

Michael MacMahon 26:41
No, that’s a good point. Yeah. And we do that with a lot of our clients, too, and especially when we’re special, because we’re specifying engineers. That’s what we do. We’re consulting engineers. So, you know, we’re writing the specifications of what technology should be used based on, you know, their use cases. We also help our clients create the use cases if they don’t exist, because that you need a North Star in order to design to right, and you need to or multiple North Stars to save to be rodesly. But the you know, the key thing too, is we keep coming back over and over again. Oh, we’re not interested. We’re not ready for that journey yet. Well, at least do me a favor and buy smarter, right? Because if you’re going to have the budget and you’re going to do a fit up of an existing facility, or you’re looking at a greenfield project, it doesn’t cost that much more to buy a smart, enabled piece of the technology that could be leveraged later, right? Like put in that converged network, put in that that smart controller, go IP with certain things. So that way, when you go IP, now, I actually have the ability to connect things and and be able to draw data, even if you’re not ready to make that first step on your journey. Because when you are as a portfolio owner, you know you know this. Or if you would like as as you’re either going to keep that property within your portfolio or you’re going to sell it, either way, that makes it attractive, and because the price comparison has come down so much, they’re relatively the same. So you know, just at least by smart in preparation for for having a smart building. So I got two, two last questions here, and and I really kind of want to, want to break it up, but I want to hear from everybody. But I’m gonna start with you, Archie, real quick. If you were starting out to deploy technology in a building, be it for tenant facing or occupancy or operations, what’s the first step that you take?

Archie Mahalingam 28:24
Yeah, I’d say there’s, from a from a technology perspective, it’s like all I’ll say two things, because I think they’re both important. One is, is, is connectivity? Because we have everything surfaced to the cloud, and we try to aggregate all of our data in the cloud. Connectivity is always the first thing, connectivity, cybersecurity. That’s very important. The second piece would be making sure all of your systems have the right uplifts. If there is, if you’re if you’re purchasing equipment that is not, you know, doesn’t have open API’s, that doesn’t have other, you know, means of communicating to the outside world, then you’re kind of kind of like locking yourself down in a sort of speak. So I’d say those are the two key things, perfect.

Michael MacMahon 29:11
Thank you. Jennifer?

Jennifer Heath 29:15
I think the first step is really assessing what you have, what are you already using that is working well for you, and how does that fit into your short term goals and your long term goals? And that’s really the other piece, is setting those goals, deciding what is it that you’re wanting to accomplish? Because again, you’re not going to accomplish all of these benefits and all of these advantages in one go. You’ve got to take them in small pieces. And so what KPI, what benefit is really going to drive change in your organization? Is it sustainability? Is it about really attracting the younger generations of employees who tend to put more of a premium on organization? Commitment to sustainability, is it really about optimizing your space and understanding how much space you need? There’s so many different business challenges that you can solve. You’ve got to have focus. So what are the short term goals? What are the long term goals? And then, while always being budget conscious, what do you have today? How do you supplement and build?

Michael MacMahon 30:24
That’s a great point. Yeah, and John,

Jonathan Brouse 30:29
Yeah. So I think when we when we typically go to clients, our first goal is to understand where are they currently. Let’s meet them with meet them where they are, and understand what goals that they have, not only for their part of the business, but their larger organization, and then how can we create and tailor solutions that meet those goals? So oftentimes, we might talk about, hey, it would be really cool to connect all of your equipment, gather all of this data, create all of these insights. But the use case that we finally decide to go with and look at might be just a small subset of that, and we might create a longer term journey of getting to a more autonomous building, but it really comes back to those goals, and then what are the drivers that we can use to influence those goals and Make sure that we make our customers successful, and oftentimes that is, how do we make that equipment work the best way that it can, or how do we get the data that the customer needs to make the right decisions?

Michael MacMahon 31:32
Yeah, so maybe it is starting with optimization of the existing of what they have in order to be able to innovate. Yeah, I keep hearing that theme over and over again as well. I think Archie touched on that as well. Michael, what’s, what’s your opinion on that? Where was the first step that you advise your clients?

Michael Przytula 31:47
Yeah, I loved where Archie started with, you know, if you’re going to build something new, if you’re going to, you know, make a net new investment in construction, for example, I think, you know, open API’s access to, you know, to be able to gather information from the systems, be able to control information from the systems, is the key. Because if you look long term into to Jonathan’s point, whether you use it today, you use it tomorrow, you know you’ve got flexibility. But then also, as you know, we build these assets. It’s not all the time that we build an asset as a developer and then hold it for its life cycle, right? We may, we may just develop it and then sell it. We may build it and hold it for three or four years and look to offload it somewhere, and then you’ve got the large property developers, sorry, the large property managers or the the owners. They’re also looking to use technology to be able to drive consistency across their portfolio as well, and being able to come to them with an asset that is easily adaptable or easily connected into the platforms that they’re building, to want to be able to manage their portfolios is also going to make it attractive. So for me, that open API to be able to provide information to you, to be able to provide information to your tenants, I think, is a cornerstone of what’s going to make a smart building moving forward for both you know, the owners of the building, for the operators of the building, and for the tenants that are going to look to move into

Michael MacMahon 33:15
That’s great. Thank you. Yeah, and I think you know when you talk about the drivers, I think the most is going to be experienced. What is, what’s the experience of the person occupying the building, but also, what is the operator’s experience, right? What do I have inside in my equipment? How can I influence one over the other? And that experience for me? I mean, that’s something that I pay for, right? I I enjoy food, so I pay for the dining experience that I like. I like I like base I used to like BASE jumping. I used to do skydiving. I used to do a budget jumping, you know, anything, pretty much throw myself off of anything I would pay for that experience, because that’s what I wanted. That’s what attracted me. So, you know, it’s finding out. What is it that that works that way? And I used to put together trips with folks so that we would all get together, because a bunch of common people with common interests that like to throw themselves off of things, and I’m like, Hey, let’s all get together and do it as a group. You know, make it a social activity. But it’s the key, is delivering the consistent experience. It’s finding out what the people need to be in the building. That’s probably the most important piece. I know, for me, a sterile environment is not something conducive for me. So walking in in a hotel space where I don’t get to have a picture of my family or something on there, that kind of detracts from the experience for me. So I bring it with me. I make my own experience happen, right? But I still get to use that hoteling space to effectively meet with my peers and drive business functions. So with that in mind, just one last quick question for everybody, and I’ll just go right down the line, starting with you, John, what’s the most innovative solution you’re working on right now?

Jonathan Brouse 34:52
Oh, geez, it’s a lot of options to choose from. I think right now, what we’re looking at is, how do we intertwine AI into everything that we’re doing, whether that’s implementing large language models or figuring out, how do we, how do we make data more insightful? There’s a lot that we’re working on, and you know, hopefully we can announce something soon, but it’s it’s all about leveraging sort of advanced technology to lower cost and improve efficiencies for our clients.

Michael MacMahon 35:25
Excellent. Jennifer?

Jennifer Heath 35:29
So as I mentioned earlier, and I think you mentioned as well, Michael FM:Systems is now a part of Johnson Controls, and so that has really opened the door for us to think so differently about our solutions, because now we have a really different ecosystem that we’re working inside of. So Johnson Controls is really managing the built environment. I really think about it as what’s inside the walls and on the roof that’s really Johnson Controls domain. FM:Systems is delivering experiences to the people inside. And so we bring a human element to these buildings that Johnson Controls is operating, and so it has created the potential for us to pipe our data into all of their systems. And we are working on multiple different integration projects right now, if it’s automating work order ticketing based on equipment faults from Metasys, one of the Johnson Controls building automation systems, we’re looking at ways to bring together utilization and energy data combined with their energy advisor platform, Net Zero advisor to make recommendations on how you can reduce your energy consumption and your energy emissions. There’s so many sort of cross paths where we can deliver a different level of data to Johnson Controls towards that goal of a more autonomous building, because they can leverage our data to build out those AI models that machine learning so that the building is able to respond to the occupants, and I think that it’s just an incredibly exciting time for us. No, that’s fantastic. Thank you Jennifer. Archie?

Archie Mahalingam 37:13
I think I would, I’d echo sort of what Jonathan had said, using like AI machine learning to create sort of these autonomous workflows, especially what when it comes to critical failures. If there’s critical failures in anywhere in our building, we want to initiate a a truck roll immediately, regardless of, like, if it meets, if it meets a critical standard. And that’s and that’s all done without the, you know, the interference of people, and it’s all done 100% autonomously, and that’s one of our more innovative initiatives.

Michael MacMahon 37:50
Yeah, that’s awesome. Yeah, that’s definitely going to be the future where the building can respond and fix itself with human some human interaction, right? Michael?

Michael Przytula 37:59
Yeah so the the thing that’s exciting me right now that we’re spending a bit of time on is building what we’re calling digital human concierge. So you can think of it as as a well, a digital human that sits on top of all of this information and data that we have about the workplace that allows people to come up to it and have the conversation that you would have with a workplace or a facilities person in the building. Ask it questions, get it get things done. I need a room. Where’s the spot that I can go that’s cool on the floor? Where can I, you know, get lunch from? Is there a recommendation for somewhere that I can take my client out to? So basically putting a digital human on the front of all of these pieces of data and processes and information that we’ve got to allow people that come to the workplace to be able to get basically the insights of the workplace all in one plot spot from from one person.

Michael MacMahon 38:58
Oh, that’s really cool. I would love to have something like that, you know, to be able to walk in and just ask the building a question and have it respond back to me personally, that’s that’s a pretty good way to go about it. And and so I keep, you know, as far as innovation is concerned in the building space, I keep hearing the reoccurring theme here, and people have asked me before, you know, my opinion about, you know, what about AI? What do you think about AI? And I’m like, you don’t really care about AI. Why don’t I care about AI? I’m like, Well, you don’t have any systems to give it any data, right? AI is intelligence and feeds off of sensory data, just like humans, that’s how we build our own intelligence, right? We become more intelligent when we school ourselves, when we learn, we read, we watch webinars and we listen to people talk, right? So like, if you don’t have that ability for your building to capture that data, to be able to produce that data, I should say, in a method to capture it and a method to analyze it, in a method to make you smarter. Then you know you’re never going to get to AI. And so I think you know some of the fundamental nature, if you’re looking to for our audience members, if you’re looking to innovate, it starts with that. It starts with prioritizing and assessing what do I have currently, and then what are some of the drivers of where I would like to go? And then from there, you just work backwards, like you said, you know, I’ve heard you say that a couple of times, you know, once I figured out where they want to go, now I can just work backwards and figure out a path forward, which sounds kind of funny, but, you know, I gotta know where we’re driving in order to know what kind of vehicle to bring. Right, like I said, I like to book, you know, make a bunch of trips. Do I have 10 people going, or do I only have four? You know, do I What kind of vehicle do I need to be able to get to my destination? And so, you know, and there’s a ton of different ways to go about it, and so there’s a little bit of optimization, because then you can optimize what you currently have to be able to produce some ROI and some savings, I think that could then fund those bigger initiatives. And you’re right, you know, John, you said, you know, maybe it’s a little bit now, in a lot more later. And so you kind of, you know, work with somebody to build that roadmap of where you think a lot of that stuff can go. I just want to open it up one more time, real quick. We’ve got a few minutes left, and I’d like to open it up to the audience to see if there are any questions for our panelists. I think we’ve covered a lot of ground today, and I think it’s been fantastic. Really appreciate everybody’s time and insights into this, and I definitely found value just participating in myself, and I hope everybody else did too.

Marc Petock 41:15
I’m going to add on behalf of the audience, again, audience was a little quiet today, which was unusual, but Michael McMahon, jumping off buildings and skydiving, I don’t think I’ll be joining you anytime soon.

Michael MacMahon 41:30
I don’t do that anymore. No, yeah, no, I’ve got three bad knees now I can barely walk upstairs. I’m not worried about jumping off buildings anymore. Those are all memories.

Marc Petock 41:43
I know I’m working on that, Archie, I had a follow up question for you. It was really about the decisions to replace some HVAC and other systems when they still seem like they have life, but doesn’t that sometimes contradict if you’re trying to meet ESG carbon footprint goals. If some one of the systems is not necessarily the most efficient, it still has life, but it’s kicking out carbon and it’s wasting energy all over the place. How do you leverage that with your senior executives?

Archie Mahalingam 42:17
Yeah, that’s a good point. So it’s, you know, you have to be very careful of what type of systems you’re sort of applying the capital planning strategy to. It doesn’t necessarily, it’s not a there’s not one sort of stroke that covers all of it. So I’d say, if you were looking at something like security or you’re looking at so like 111, easy way that we use that strategy is we monitor all of our all of our CCTV equipment. If there’s a if there’s areas where we’re seeing constant CCTV failure, will will invest more capital into that. But if there’s a CCTV system that has not had any issues for the last 15 years, we’re not, we’re not, we’re not going to immediately upgrade that specific system. So it it may not apply to every single base building system, but when you start to look at, you know, as you aggregate data from access control, CCTV metering, EV chargers, lighting controls. If you look at a lot of the other systems outside of HVAC, it will that that strategy on capital planning based on failures and runtime. I think those are the areas it can apply to.

Marc Petock 43:34
Good, good maybe, I don’t know either, either one of the Michaels is, is, is Canada’s focus on ESG reduction and carbon footprint reduction. This exactly the same as it is here in the United States.

Michael Przytula 43:50
I think I’m seeing they have, they have a little bit more of, let’s call it pro green stance, than than we see in the in the US. I mean, I think if I can speak candidly the US, I could generalize by saying it’s we want to be green, if it financially makes sense. And and I see that the Canada is definitely, you know, probably take, is probably a few more steps in front of that. But I think the other thing that we are seeing, though, is, you know, with so many of the big REITs based up in in Canada, we’re seeing some of the, some of the thought processes that are happening up there filtering down across the bigger portfolios as well, which I think is, which I think is a positive thing.

Marc Petock 44:36
Yeah, I think sometimes when you just exactly as you stated, we’re definitely thrilled about green and ESG reduction, as long as it makes financial sense. I always wonder too, if some of the regulations that are in place are going to be like, Oh yeah, those are great ideas, but if 98% of the companies can’t meet them, then the regulation is likely to change a little bit. To give them more time, so we’ll see how that goes. But you guys just did great, great panel. I really do appreciate your time. Thank you, Michael for for moderating, or just enjoy all of that. Michael, P do recommend people check out your smart smart spaces podcast. I learned a lot every time I listen to one of those. So lot of fun. If you can it, could it could clearly, just Google that, and they find you unless you get unless you want to make a pitch for it here.

Michael Przytula 45:30
No, that’s fine. I appreciate it. Chuck, yeah, if you are interested or more on the topic creating smarter spaces, you’ll find it on your favorite podcast, player of choice.

Marc Petock 45:39
Fantastic. All right, whether you’ve joined us live or you’re watching this a recording we do. Thank you for tuning in, and be sure to visit realcom.com to register not only for our next webinar that’s going to be on the September the 12th, but also for a new group that we’re putting together that’s electrify, a new conference that’s smart DC powered buildings. That’s September 23, and fourth, that’ll be in Fort Worth Texas, also cortech coming up. November, 19 and 20th. That is in San Jose, aka Silicon Valley. That’s it for us today. We wish you all be well, safe and just again to our panel. Thank you guys so much for participating. Really enjoyed the discussion. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you. Bye.