IoT in facility management

What is The Internet of things (IoT)?

The Internet of things is a system of devices provided with unique identifiers and capable of connecting to the internet. If you think that it is broad definition, you are correct. Basically any device that can connect to the internet is part of IoT. That includes devices such as your smartphone or your laptop, but may also include thermostats or energy monitoring devices.

When these devices are connected to the internet they can send information or recieve information (or both). We can actually break down this big group into 3 subcategories :

  • Devices that can collect information
  • Devices that receive information act on it
  • Things that can do both

How can FM industry benefit from IoT?

The most basic benefit that IoT presents is that it allows acces to more accurate and real time information, measured and provided by sensors. It can be motion sensors, air quality sensors, moisture sensors, temperature sensors or any other sensor you can think of.

These sensors automatically collect information and enable you to make more intelligent, data-driven, decisions.

The more complex IoT devices can, not only collect and display information, but also act on them.

For example Imagine you are having a meeting in the conference room, and you notice some of the people are not paying attention. Well it might not be because the meeting isn’t interesting, it might be because the leveles of CO2 are too high. If you install CO2 sensors and connect them to the air conditioning system you can prevent this from happening again.

In this way IoT can ensure well-being of your employees, while simultaneously boosting their productivity by improving indoor environment of your facility.

Saving money with IoT

Thanks to IoT you can run a real time diagnostics on your equipment which and be helpful in detecting problems quicker. Early fault detection be crucial in cutting down maintenance expenditures and downtime.

Some devices can also run a predictive analysis and can warn you about high probability of equipment failure based on vibrations and power output. This enables you to prevent unnecessary costs.

Online facility management software will notify you about upcoming audits and allow you to store all necessary data online which helps reduce paper use.

Another significant expense you can lower, by using IoT devices, is energy consumption. By installing energy management system you can monitor your energy consumption and identify leaks or unnecessary spendings.

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