Building management is changing, and remote access technologies are responsible for some of the most dynamic and meaningful changes affecting the industry.
If you want to stay on the cutting edge of smart building technology and the many remote access opportunities available but don’t know where to start, ODIN is here to help. We’re going to walk you through how remote access has already impacted the way we manage our buildings, identify areas that can be improved, and make a few predictions about the future of building management.
Remote Access Management is Catching On
The majority of buildings in the U.S. were built before the Cold War, which means many of the facilities our society relies on are “still using legacy control systems that weren’t designed with remote operations in mind.” Yet, this reality hasn’t stopped managers and developers from taking the initiative and investing in building automation software whenever possible.
For example, a Markets and Markets report explains how the building management system market is valued at approximately $6.6 billion and is expected to reach over $19 billion by 2020, with a compound annual growth rate of 16.71%. Even though remote access management is only recently laying roots in the industry, the foundation it needs to thrive is already in place.
“SaaS is empowering facility managers in ways that legacy software never could, allowing them to do their jobs more efficiently and more accurately than ever before,” Buildings.com says. And when building automation and remote access capabilities can help buildings save millions of dollars on energy and water, the incentive to embrace these technologies is hard to turndown.
Identifying the Need for Improvement
The biggest obstacle facing building management is the lack of building automation software with remote access. While many of those technologies have become more accepted and easier to implement, Facility Executive reports that “15% of buildings don’t have a building management system (BMS) in place at all.” Even those that do, fewer than half of them “have the tools in place to access or view it remotely.”
Buildings are more complicated and interfaced with technology than they’ve ever been before. However, the managers, technicians, and engineers who work with that building are often still using the same tools and processes that their predecessors were. “The days of separate, stand-alone security and building control systems are numbered,” Security Today claims, and we must work together to make remote building controls a standard, not a luxury.
Where is Remote Building Management Going Next?
BAS and remote building management tools allow a single building manager to seamlessly monitor and maintain the facilities under their care. And when problems do arise, as they inevitably will, the manager won’t be required to be on-site. Instead, their BAS can remotely notify them of the issue and empower them to delegate the resolution of that issue to the appropriate parties.
Facility Executive says it like this: the analytic capabilities of cloud-based monitoring applications can “proactively identify and preempt potential system failures” and errors. This is the power remote access management tools offer. You won’t only be able to identify and resolve problems quicker than ever, but some of those problems will be autonomously resolved by your building’s internal systems before they have a chance to affect your building at all.
Get in touch with us to see firsthand how remote access is revolutionizing building management.
