Smart Building Insight - Dec 2023

Aamidor Consulting continues to provide insight to smart building innovators in this section. This month, we've included an interview with Andrew Knueppel of Cushman and Wakefield. We speak with Andrew about smart building technology and his experience deploying and using it across large corporate portfolios.

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Q: Andrew, can you introduce yourself to our readers and tell us about your role?

Andrew Knueppel: I am a professional engineer with an MBA in Energy Management, and I’ve spent the past 10 years working to improve the performance of commercial office buildings, whether that’s energy, carbon, occupant experience, or reliability. I like to think that my experience in MEP design, commissioning, and energy audits gives me an ability to anticipate and address issues across different phases of the building lifecycle. I currently work for Cushman & Wakefield, where I’m full time dedicated to the account of a major tech company. In this role I’m responsible for developing the standards and processes that guide the MEP engineering and smart building portion of capital projects, as well as for creating portfolio initiatives that improve employee experience, help achieve sustainability commitments, and reduce cost or risks. I’m happy to share my perspective from the client side with your readers!

Q: Zooming in to your role/responsibilities using technology to manage a large portfolio; From a facilities point of view; and how this changed?

I think the biggest changes I’ve observed have come from an increased focus on the cost savings, carbon, or experience ROI of the investments we are making, and on how we operationalize and measure the performance of those investments to really verify the impact. In the area of smart buildings, that looks like a more intensive evaluation of use cases, closer evaluation of the ROI, and overall fewer use cases making it into the final scope. In many cases we’ve shifted to getting a better understanding of the constraints that operational teams are facing and the maintenance implications of any increased complexity. With IoT sensors for example, how can we simplify the installation to the highest value locations, where can we streamline workflows to act on the data with less dashboards, and how are we managing the maintenance implications? In general, we want to spend time ensuring that we have trusted data, well commissioned systems, and clear operational workflows for the technology we already have before we consider more complex use cases, data collection, and automations.

Q: I've always found that it can be difficult to find, purchase and deploy master systems integrator (MSI) solutions/services, but you have a lot of experience in this realm. Any advice to our readers?

I’m in agreement with this whitepaper from Spaceworx & Memoori that underestimating complexity and relying on vague RFPs and system specifications can make it very difficult to succeed on smart building projects. In my experience, solving this problem starts with defining the business, functional, and workflow requirements of each use case in an inclusive and consistent way that goes beyond the typical ‘user journey’ format. I have found it to be effective to work with partners that can help structure this process either at the level of client standards or in the early stages of design on a project. The clearer you can be in the procurement process, the easier it is to get accurate pricing, compare bids, and avoid value engineering of important use cases. When searching for an MSI I find the Nexus Labs community to be very helpful; they are doing some great work with their Buyer’s Guides and marketplace of vetted vendors. I have spoken on their platform (https://www.nexuslabs.online/content/the-3-types-of-msis-nexus-newsletter-141) about my experience trying to differentiate between different vendors. To summarize, I think an MSI needs to have a core business focus on integrating many different types of applications, data layers, and system device types. They may have an application or middleware product to sell, but should have strong references of experience with your preferred vendors as well as expertise in different cloud environments, cybersecurity, and navigating the IT/OT divide. One sign of a good MSI on a new construction project is that they get involved with the existing specifications and find conflicts or redundant infrastructure that saves the client money. 

Q: And, stepping back, how do you differentiate between systems integrators or master systems integrators?

I think they are similar in that both get involved with software, hardware, networking, and system configuration. In my experience system integrators address integration of one or more defined systems that they have specific experience in, with more limited customization. Master system integrators are more holistic, with broad experience across multiple domains and the ability to integrate with new and legacy systems. They offer a higher level of customization and can support strategic planning of a campus or portfolio.

Q: Are there any categories of solutions or use cases that you think are under-addressed by current market available offerings?

I’d like to see more use cases that give occupants the information they need to make decisions using existing touchpoints. There are a lot of simple things we can do right now with existing data, like warning when outdoor air quality is poor or advising the lowest carbon time to charge your EV. Rather than displaying bar charts or trying to allow occupants to change set points, I wonder if we shouldn’t spend more time learning from information design experts and behavioral scientists!

Q: Do you have any bold predictions about the future of technology to manage real estate?

My hope is that in the next few years we’ll be able to move on from the challenge of gathering, normalizing, and sharing the data generated by commercial building systems by agreeing on standard architectures and seeing more vendors specialize in specific layers of that stack. It would be great to see less network gateways and cloud subscriptions needed! As far as smart building projects go, I think that as use cases become more standardized the role of smart building consultants may start to be replaced by MSIs who can create detailed design documentation in a ‘design assist’ capacity. The easier it becomes to give traditional subcontractors a defined scope, the more effective the MSI can be at managing integration validations and the more the client can focus on demonstrating impact from the start of operations. I think that is what we need for the smart building industry to grow faster. My last prediction is that organizations which move too quickly on AI solutions for optimizing building controls through supervisory overrides may run into issues with opaque algorithms, lack of accountability within the building, and degrading performance due to underlying physical and digital issues. In contrast, those who take a more incremental approach by focusing on data quality, well commissioned systems, and rules-based workflows may be able to layer in AI tools to achieve consistently higher performance within the next few years.

Aamidor Consulting works across the smart building industry, supporting startups, capital allocators, and industry incumbents throughout their journey, from the early stages of customer discovery to being on a rapid growth trajectory. Specifically, our firm supports startups on product and market strategy, investors as an independent advisor during diligence, and real estate owners/operators as they develop plans to deploy technology. See a summary of our past projects and also a description of our consulting services for more details on how we can help.