Protecting your property

The physical protection of your building and IT Systems is just as important as online protection. With the use of information technology and artificial intelligence you can take your building protection and building intelligence to the next level.

Artificial Intelligence

Over £1.35bn has been invested in smart building technology in 2010 with over £200m invested in deep learning for smart building applications according to data analytics firm Quid. Deep learning is a type of artificial intelligence that mimics activity of the human brain.

This is promising for the smart building industry, where computers can learn to recognise patterns ranging from people in the room to room temperatures that correlate with high performance and efficiency – and then recommend these conditions.

In retail, this is helping with stock control and protection. In offices, organisations can optimise office dynamics by matching people on teams to enhance productivity.

There are many smart building cloud applications now available. Some of which improve building security or efficiency such as applications that allows office workers to exert control over their heating and cooling in commercial buildings and learns their preferences. These types of solutions help building managers to reduce wasteful energy use by learning the preferences and occupancy patterns of employees and adjusting energy use throughout the day.

Access Control

Smart technology can be used in properties to provide its owners and tenants high end security. Network applications are available with intelligent recognition software to allow employees and clients to use a mobile app to enter the building without needing a set of keys or a key card. This can also be locked down to a commercial device or phone to ensure both are in possession when exiting and entering the building.

Individual employee access control helps improve security in general by restricting access to certain areas, such as the server room. When used in full, entry/exit logging systems also allow connecting with building heating and lighting to improve energy efficiency.

Intelligent Switching

Deploying and configuring intelligent switches it key to physical security. Intelligent (Layer 3) switches are frequently deployed without the configuration of their full potential. Intelligent switches can fully lock down your network to unwanted devices included devices from employees or visitors, which unknown to them, could be carrying malicious software.

Intelligent switching is also an enabler for artificial intelligence and big data.

Big Data

Part of artificial intelligence in buildings is the use of Big Data. “Smart” buildings will more and more rely on advanced Building Management Systems (BMS) connected to a variety of sensors, actuators and dedicated networks. Their objectives are to observe the state of rooms and apply automated rules to preserve or increase comfort while economising energy.

The total global market for Big Data in Smart Commercial buildings will experience robust growth, rising from $15.6Bn at the end of 2018 to $35.8Bn by 2023, representing a CAGR of 18%. Growth in this area has slowed slightly. The slowing is largely due to the steady maturation of the market, and the much larger baseline market size; but in part also due to other factors such as price competition and concerns surrounding data privacy and security.

Smart buildings which have reached their combined value potential often use big data to impact the following areas of their organisation:

• Product/Service Innovation
• Workplace Productivity and Collaboration
• Service Personalisation
• Virtual Assistants
• Employee Wellness
• Behavior and Emotion Analytics
• Building Data Monetisation