How can you overcome challenges to implement smart building technologies in facilities engineering?

1 Assess your needs and goals

Before you invest in any smart building technology, you need to have a clear vision of what you want to achieve and how it aligns with your facility's objectives and priorities. Conduct a thorough assessment of your current facility's performance, needs, and gaps, and identify the key areas where smart building technologies can add value and solve problems. For example, you may want to reduce energy consumption, optimize space utilization, enhance indoor air quality, or automate maintenance tasks. Define your specific goals and metrics for each area, and prioritize them according to your budget, timeline, and stakeholder expectations.

2 Choose the right technology and vendor

Once you have defined your needs and goals, you need to research and evaluate the available smart building technologies and vendors that can meet them. There are many types of smart building technologies, such as sensors, controllers, actuators, software, platforms, and networks, that can perform various functions, such as monitoring, controlling, optimizing, and integrating different systems and processes in your facility. You need to choose the technology and vendor that can provide the best fit, functionality, reliability, scalability, interoperability, and compatibility with your existing infrastructure and equipment. You also need to consider the cost, installation, maintenance, and support of the technology and vendor, and compare them with the expected benefits and returns.

3 Plan and execute the implementation

After you have selected the technology and vendor, you need to plan and execute the implementation process carefully and systematically. You need to follow the best practices and standards for smart building technology installation, integration, commissioning, testing, and operation. You need to ensure that the technology is properly configured, calibrated, and connected to the relevant systems and devices in your facility. You need to verify that the technology is functioning as intended and delivering the desired outcomes and performance. You need to document and communicate the implementation process and results to all the involved parties and stakeholders.