How can smart buildings support when adapting to the “new normal”?
In the face of the global Covid19 pandemic, smart buildings around the world prepare to reopen. What can technology do to support companies and their employees to return to work with confidence? There may be new regulations in place to ensure the safety and well-being of the people. At the same time, some buildings are running on changed capacities and operators need to be supported in daily operations. From social distancing and space optimization to remote operations, we are committed to supporting you with the right smart buildings solutions. We want to collaborate to support our customers as they face unprecedented challenges.Why do buildings matter?
We spend up to 90 percent of our lives in buildings, and we believe that everything people do in life deserves a perfect place to do it. In a world where our fundamental health, safety and wellbeing expectations have been deeply impacted with the anxiety of a new virus, buildings should offer a haven. Ideally, a perfect place to learn. A perfect place to grow. A perfect place to prosper.
While it’s true that today’s buildings should be efficient, reliable and safe – these characteristics alone don’t enable businesses and empower people the way a true smart building can.
Adaptability is crucial. Smart building interact with the people, systems and external elements around them. They learn from past experiences and real-time inputs. They adapt to the needs of the people and the businesses within them by increasing comfort, efficiency, resiliency and safety. And today there is a new need: to protect people from Covid19. When we use technology to support the people in buildings, we create environments that care.
Enabling contact tracing, space utilization, without compromising on well-being
When integrated with Enlighted IoT sensors, social distancing measures established can also be managed by building operators through insights provided by data on the utilization of rooms or common office spaces. The Comfy workplace app allows building operators and owners to engage with occupants and keep them informed, safe and productive.
Enabling contact tracing
Health organizations around the world have turned to contact tracing to slow down or stop the chain of transmission of the virus. The process includes the identification of persons who may have come in contact with someone who has been infected and often becomes like detective work.
Enabling IoT sensors within your building allows for more accurate and efficient contact tracing. The solution which relies on Real-Time Location Services (RTLS) enables the location of people and equipment, visitor monitoring and sanitization trigger & tracking - all of which ensures the safety of your building occupants and visitors.
Key components of our Enlighted solution include:
Applications to turn this data into actionable insights
Smart sensors are installed in and powered by each lighting fixture in a building, creating a dense sensor network with advanced motion tracking and occupancy detection capabilities. Applications to turn this data into actionable insights include:Providing data about how the building is being utilized by its occupants allows building management to adjust usage to increase energy efficiency. Temperature and lighting can automatically adjust based on occupancy, providing comfort levels where people are and reducing energy usage where they aren’t. And sensors monitor changes in ambient light levels to maintain the desired level of overhead lighting.
Building managers use motion, occupancy and space utilization data to deliver improved space planning, better return on real estate capital investments and optimized employee workflows. Space utilization analytics provide insights using data collected 24/7 across the building. Detailed utilization metrics inform better space planning decisions.
Real-time location services keep people and equipment safe and secure and ensure business continuity. Equipment theft can be prevented by triggering alerts when valuable assets leave a designated area. In the event of an emergency, sensors can locate people in the building and provide valuable information to first responders, who can assist employees to safety and quickly exit the building. By analyzing the flow patterns of occupants and understanding the average number of building occupants on a given day, security presence and procedures can be adjusted accordingly to enhance safety and security.
Using Bluetooth LE tags and dashboards, real-time location services can locate equipment and visitor or staff badges. The system also uses virtual tags to locate Bluetooth-enabled mobile devices like smart phones or tablets. Employees can quickly locate the nearest available equipment, saving staff time and improving customer response times, e.g. a nurse locating a wheelchair for a patient. Asset utilization can also be increased, resulting in reduced capital expenditures. Visitors can use wayfinding to easily find their way around a building, improving the customer experience.
Give occupants greater transparency and control on desk or room availability
A Workplace app allows building operators and owners to engage with occupants and keep them informed, safe and productive. Accomodate social distancing through configurable desk booking, help occupants find and select amenities to prevent overcrowding or search if a colleague is working from home or the office. The app can also provide timely updates related to COVID-19 or configure content for localized needs and mandates.
When integrated with Enlighted IoT sensors, social distancing measures established can also be managed by building operators and the platform allows users to ensure guidelines are being adhered to based on set thresholds.
