SHRIKANT BAPAT, General Manager, India, Johnson Controls, writes on how cloud-based, digital solutions improve occupants’ comfort, enhance visibility and streamline maintenance operations.Facility management is a complex business. Buildings today use 47 per cent of global energy, and are increasingly outfitted with myriad of smart technologies that can be a challenge to maintain. A typical building – with equipment and systems of 15-20-year life span – may have systems from more than 30 suppliers and involving over 10 protocols. Adding to the complexity for facility managers is the need to meet demands from various stakeholders. The facility service team has its own set of challenges. Managers have to ensure building equipment are well-serviced and usage optimised, and to find capable maintenance workers – all within limited budgets.  Adopting IoTIn India, the building and construction industry has been adopting new technologies for greenfield and brownfield (retrofit) projects. A more holistic approach to the overall building systems is needed as developers are incorporating emerging solutions. For instance, some existing commercial building owners have embraced the Internet of Things (IoT) technology, and have embarked on the journey to digitise their building stock to pave way for new trends such as hot desking and more ergonomic workplaces. The integrated approach will help building owners and the facility management team to gain maximum equipment efficiency, better space utilisation and support future expansions, without sacrificing comfort and safety of building occupants.Enterprise managementTo address the growing demand for intelligent interconnected building management systems, companies such as Johnson Controls have leveraged the cloud technology. The digital solution – Enterprise Management – is an agnostic product that integrates into any automation platform to support an entire smart building ecosystem. The Enterprise Management solution analyses data in real time to identify issues, faults and opportunities for improved performance and operational savings within a building.  The solution has been installed in more than 25 commercial buildings within India. To date, the technology has delivered cost, operational and environmental efficiencies to help facility managers drive greater business value for stakeholders, including asset owners and occupants.Johnson Controls has a rich heritage in HVAC, controls, energy management, security and safety solutions. The company was recently named the 2019 Industrial IoT Innovator of the Year by IoT Breakthrough, an independent organisation that recognises the top companies, technologies and products in the global IoT market today.Smart solutionsAmong the company’s portfolio is the advanced digital cloud platform – Digital Vault – for processing, analysing and managing buildings and related enterprise information, and is the foundation to enable the digital transformation of any building. Johnson Control’s advanced digital security platform leverages machine learning and artificial intelligence on data sourced from security sensors, enterprise IT, facility systems, event feeds, weather and social media, and performs threat modeling and creates response scenarios to help improve security operations. A smart workplace solution – Companion – allows building occupants to customise their ambient experience through controlling temperature and lighting, as well as to book conference room, perform activity trackers, and incident management.  Thanks to advances in digital and cloud technology, facility managers now enjoy greater control over their work. Working with trusted, strategic partners with the right suite of technologies will further empower the facility service team to leverage the IoT technology for real-time data collection and analytics, and to deliver measurable benefits to the various stakeholders in a cost-effective, efficient manner. (Communication by the management of the company)