Market drivers

The smart home and building market is booming. ABI Research projects the number of smart homes to reach 280 million by 2022, growing five-fold over the course of five years.^[1] By the same time, Memoori expects smart commercial buildings to leverage 5 billion connected devices, up from 2 billion in 2018.^[2] Much of this growth is driven by expectations for improved comfort and convenience, increased autonomy, and the desire to increase workforce engagement and productivity. Improved monitoring and control over how and when customers use their services will make utilities another key driver. And legislation aiming to curb greenhouse gas emissions will play a major role in shaping how the connected building market evolves over the coming years.

^[1] The emerging role for smart homes in the smart city, ABI Research, 2018

^[2] The Internet of Things in smart commercial buildings 2018-2022, Memoori, 2018

Building management

Buildings are responsible for 40 percent of our CO2 emissions and 36 percent of our total energy consumption.^[3] The Building Internet of Things (BIoT) cuts costs, combats climate change, and saves resources, while making buildings more comfortable, convenient, and productive by automating buildings so that they consume resources only when and where they are needed. Constant monitoring and predictive maintenance translate to reduced downtime of lights, elevators, and heating and cooling infrastructure. Room occupancy monitoring helps make most use of limited real estate, while wireless security cameras increase security in and around the building. And wireless communication makes Building IoT device networks quick and easy to deploy, maintain, and upgrade.

^[3] 2018 Global Status Report, Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction, UN Environment, 2018

Smart utilities

Utilities will be among the leading beneficiaries of the data generated by connected buildings. Fine-grained monitoring of the transportation and consumption of water, gas, and electricity will make it more efficient to detect leaks, diagnose disruptions in the delivery network, and catch illegal withdrawals. And as the fraction of electricity from variable renewable sources – primarily solar and wind power – increases, power grid managers will depend on demand response mechanisms to balance power supply and demand and supply becomes more intermittent. As a result, utilities will play a key role in disseminating the technology into households and commercial buildings via wirelessly connected smart meters, upon which they will be able to build additional value-added applications.

Wellbeing, and health

We spend more time indoors than any generation before us. Individuals and companies are already deploying connected building devices to monitor and optimize the indoor environment to improve their own and their employees’ wellbeing, health, and productivity. Controlling air quality, temperature, ambient lighting, and activity all fall into this category. Elderly individuals are turning to connected home devices in the form of assisted living solutions to preserve their autonomy into old age, staying connected to family members, caregivers, and their doctors.

Productivity and profits

Companies are deploying smart building devices to decrease the operational cost of running their offices and other facilities, as well as to increase the productivity and engagement of their workforce. Indoor positioning solutions are another driver, allowing plant and facility managers to track people and assets in real-time. And in retail, connected building infrastructure can lead to saves through optimized inventory management, and increase sales and customer loyalty through personalized and location-based promotions.

Smart cities and environmental legislation

More and more cities are building smart city platforms to improve the life quality of their residents, affecting government, infrastructure, and buildings. By incentivizing the deployment of connected building technology for smart metering, improved security, and e-health, smart cities are driving adoption from the top down. At the same time, legislation aiming to curb greenhouse gas emissions, save resources, and promote sustainable practices is mandating connected building technologies.