“The IoT is steadily transforming the way that facilities managers, building owners and operators can gather and analyze building systems performance data, as well as changing the way building users interact within the built environment,” states our latest report The Internet of Things in Smart Commercial Buildings 2018 to 2022.

Cost of sensors is a driving force in adoption of the IoT across markets and in buildings of different scales but the low cost of sensors is also playing a big part in the applications and places that sensors can be installed. “With access to an ever increasing range of low-cost sensor technologies, it is now increasingly feasible for stakeholders to install sensors even in the most inaccessible of locations, in order to provide a much more granular view of overall performance,” explains the report.

Meanwhile, advances in analysis have made it possible to link data sets in unprecedented ways. Building managers supported by vendors and data scientists are creating new data relationships, many that were unthought of just a few years ago. By combining streams of data in new ways they are able to unearth new insights that lead to real benefits for the occupant, building, and the enterprise. As the BIoT develops, more and more insights will emerge, and this continuous evolution represents the true value of the IoT.

“It is now possible to drill down into the data and analyze complex relationships that may reveal, for example how occupancy data affects energy usage, how changes in weather patterns affect customer numbers or whether employee productivity is positively or negatively impacted by a reduction in building temperature,” suggests our report, which provides a comprehensive analysis on these BIoT developments and many more.

Beyond extracting more insight from data using these innovative forms of analysis, it is also increasingly possible to integrate the once disparate data sets into a single data monitoring platform. This enables building managers to add greater context to the data, while enabling the benchmarking and comparative reporting of different areas of the building or indeed multiple sites within a single platform. As the report highlights, integration of data sets is a key driver for the BIoT looking forward by offering a holistic view of the building and how it operates.

Integration can also support the utilization of data in real time, which in turn opens up new avenues for building managers to convert insights into value. “As communications speeds and data processing capabilities improve, data processing can occur in real time or near real time, allowing for more informed, pro-active decision making, and even automated, AI driven decision making regarding systems settings to occur” the report explains.

As levels of data, combinations of data sets and integration of data streams continue to evolve, data modeling and simulation tools and techniques are also developing to ensure building managers are able to make the most of the new information available.

New methods based on historical data gathered from existing building systems are also offering for better planning, testing and visualizing systems to improve building configurations, and doing so without any capital expenditure. “This kind of approach can greatly reduce the cost and risk associated with major building renovations, layout or systems changes” the report states.

Many of the smart building technologies that the BIoT helps to empower have wide ranging applications in all building types, whilst others are more specific to a particular market vertical. The report explores and analyses these applications and opportunities in detail offering a deeper delve into how they can apply to specific market verticals.

Factories offer by far the greatest potential for economic impact of any vertical with estimates ranging from $1.21 trillion to $3.7 trillion by 2025. These are places with repetitive work routines, including hospitals and farms, which can benefit from improved operating efficiencies as well as the optimization of equipment use and inventory. Factories are followed by cities, direct human applications and a host of other verticals including retail, worksites, retail, homes, and offices.

“Industrial related sectors clearly have the most to gain from IoT investment based on this analysis,” the report states. However, “the market opportunity of offices, work sites and retail is definitely not insubstantial, with these three markets expected to gain between $700 and $2,300 Billion by 2025,” it continues.

This 3rd edition of our research into the market for the BIoT explores all these applications and market verticals in great depth to explain the factors driving these technologies. It analyzes the current situation in buildings contrasted with the vision for a future BIoT, and discovers how business models and market opportunities will shift as BIoT moves from vision to reality.