2 in 5 building management professionals are ‘unfamiliar’ with the ‘internet of things’

Forty percent of professionals who protect and manage buildings admit they are ‘unfamiliar’ with the term ‘internet of things’, a survey has revealed.

Conducted by the Electrical Contractors’ Association (ECA), Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) and Scottish electrical trade body SELECT, the survey also found that 55% of respondents say that a ‘lack of clear advice or knowledge’ is a serious barrier to the installation of connected technology in their buildings.

Sixty-one percent of those polled – who include consultants, engineers, local authorities and facilities managers – say they don’t have any plans to ‘evaluate and install connected technology’.

There remain relatively few truly ‘smart’ buildings – loosely defined as having technology that is network connected and automatically responds to changes in the environment – the poll suggests, but a profound shift could be imminent.

More than half of respondents say they believe that ‘a limited number’ or ‘very few’ buildings have connected technology installed, but a similar proportion expect this to increase to a ‘significant’ or ‘overwhelming majority’ in the next five years.

Polling 58%, the most common reason for installing connected technology was to ‘improve energy efficiency and reduce energy bills’. The technologies most likely to be installed in buildings over the next five years, said respondents, are CCTV and security (78%), heating (74%), fire systems (69%) and BEMS (67%).

Another recent survey found that 39% of buyers of IoT tech fail to protect smart buildings against cyber attack.

“The survey findings show that clients rightly recognise that a smart technology revolution in buildings is on the horizon, but are generally unprepared and lack the knowledge at present to make this a success,” says Steve Martin, Head of Specialist Groups at the ECA.

“In the coming period, the ECA will work with the wider industry to help building clients develop and implement plans to take advantage of these commercial and technological opportunities.”

Dr Hywel Davies, Technical Director at CIBSE said: “As digital technology becomes ever more pervasive, it will have an increasing penetration in the buildings sector. The real challenge for our sector is to deliver digital technologies that can satisfy users who are used to technology offerings, functionality and user experience from Silicon Valley.”

The ‘Connected Technology Survey for Clients’ ran for three weeks during November and December last year, with 229 responses received.

Want to find out more about smart buildings? IFSEC Global recently polled hundreds of professionals involved in the building supply chain and management of commercial premises to understand the changing ‘smart building’ landscape. Download the resulting smart buildings report 2017. 

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