Cracking The Smart Buildings Code: A Spotlight on Commercial Real Estate

Commercial real estate revenue expectations have dropped to levels not seen since 2018, leading to an increasing criticality for expense mitigation. Leaders face a deluge of issues including high interest rates, high vacancy rates, increasing crime rates, hybrid work uncertainty, and increasing pressure to reduce carbon emissions. To help solve these challenges, savvy leaders need to invest in making their buildings smarter through better system integration, automation, and intelligence.

Our research found that investments in smart buildings are a critical differentiator for retail and commercial real estate leaders. Doing so enables them to reach sustainability and security goals, while providing optimized occupant experiences for all stakeholders using their buildings. However, few organizations operate smart buildings today, as their building systems and data are not fully integrated and many lack the expertise to leverage building system insights. Technical and strategic partners are needed to help leaders fill expertise gaps and advance smart buildings initiatives.

Research results are from the November 2023 Thought Leadership Paper, “Cracking The Code: Unleash Your Smart Buildings Strategy With The Power Of Facility Data”, a Forrester consulting thought leadership paper commissioned by Johnson Controls, February 2024.