This means it is more important than ever for building owners and landlords to take steps to improve their stock. Buildings that are not flexible or energy efficient will be to stand empty as companies take their pick of facilities. Retrofit is going to be a critical element, both in terms of making the buildings efficient and achieving decarbonization, as the IPCC Working Group II points out in its latest report (1).
But it’s not all about changing lights and improving heating. Migrating to cloud-based building management systems (BMS) can also bring a lot of benefits…
1. Cloud-based building management makes properties more flexible
Moving away from on-premise BMS means that your buildings are pretty much ready for anything. Whatever the tenant, and however the use of the building changes, a cloud-based BMS will make it easier to control and configure everything in a unified way.
2. Moving to a cloud platform means you have more options for control and maintenance – across multiple sites
Maintaining control of on-premise systems can be time-consuming and costly. And the more sites that a building owner or landlord oversees, the more those challenges are magnified. Moving everything to the cloud will reduce travel expenses and – since it is often possible to make changes or fix problems remotely – reduce the need for call-outs.
It also means that you can review or redeploy any in-house technicians you may have. With no shortage of IT firms with cloud specialisms, it may make sense to farm out this area of responsibility in future. And where technicians are retained, they can be redeployed to work on other tasks.
3. Data that can improve efficiency and reduce energy spending is more accessible
A look at Priva’s own cloud-based Digital Services underlines this point. For instance, we provide a host of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) that allow you to connect third-party applications – or your own software – to the data in your building. The set-up can be closely configured to match your own requirements in areas including access rights. Priva has APIs for real-time and historical data (2), while its powerful control app is easy to use by anyone – regardless of skill level – and can be used for simple control and adjustment of building systems.
Simply put, more data means more chances of identifying savings and locating potential problems at an early stage. So good news all round for you and your tenants.
4. Cloud services are a great insurance policy against the future
As we have noted, the future seems more uncertain than ever. Building usage will change, and not always in ways that are expected or predictable. So, being tied to a rack-room full of building control equipment that is expensive to maintain makes less sense than ever. Migrating to the cloud is a fine insurance policy – whatever the future brings.
Factor in the premium security of cloud-based services – in the case of Priva’s Digital Services, provided by the leading Microsoft Azure platform – and it is clear that building owners and landlords have nothing to fear from the cloud. In fact, they have a huge amount to gain.
Sources:
(1) https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-working-group-ii/
(2) https://www.priva.com/solutions/building-automation/building-connectivity-api
