Continued commissioning
and service mindset
Continuous monitoring and maintenance of facility sys-
tems is key to maintaining a “first-call” position with facil-
ity owners. The ability to collect and analyze data to help
prevent and solve problems is an important core compe-
tency that allows stakeholders to derive actionable in-
sights from the massive amounts of data that too often
go unused.
In a recent CBRE report, Matthew Eastwood states,
“You can measure a million different things—but focus on
what you want to control and do it differently.” The ability
to collect and analyze data also permits service providers
to communicate both proactive and reactive solutions to a
facility manager or subcontractor. These teams can then
act on-site to troubleshoot the identified issue with pur-
pose, avoiding potential problems and solving issues
faster as they arise.
Who has the expertise
and skill sets?
The landscape of true technology experts and smart fa-
cility providers is not always obviously identified. The
unique combination of skill sets needed to bring all of this
expertise together currently sits in various places within
the broader industry landscape. As time goes on, the
skilled leaders will further emerge, and increased consoli-
dation will likely occur. The early leaders able to build a
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CCC0011650 large base of loyal clients will benefit the most. This evolv-
ing competitive landscape will impact industry stakehold-
ers differently:
Engineering firms
Traditional MEP design and consulting engineering
firms have varying depths of technology practices—from
zero to extremely advanced. Those firms that are more
deliberate in developing technology design and integra-
tion capabilities across key end markets are more likely to
enjoy a stronger competitive position.
“Today, building occupants across all asset types ex-
pect 24/7 connectivity and a positive user experience,”
says Val Loh, principal at Syska Hennessy Group. “That’s
why we view our capabilities in technology design as a
core component of our services rather than as a specialty
add-on. Because our technology practice is fully inte-
grated into our team structure, we can offer our clients a
form of holistic design that differentiates us from other
engineering firms.”
Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs)
Skilled controls professionals inside OEM organiza-
tions are a recognized talent pool in the industry. The dif-
ference between an OEM representative and a controls
engineer from a product-agnostic firm is the knowledge
and ability to integrate one specific product type (as op-
posed to taking a broader view). As more systems and
users move toward open systems not tied to a single
product provider, the value assigned to the expertise and
ability to work with multiple systems will increase. This
will likely pressure the OEM providers to broaden exper-
tise and/or further utilize product-agnostic service
providers to execute the integration.
Facility managers
Certain facility managers possess the skill sets needed
to optimize building systems, but they’re focused on re-
sponding to problems and fixing tangible issues. Utilizing
well-designed technology with remote systems expertise,
analysis and support from technical service providers, on-
site facility managers who live and work with the equip-
ment every day can truly maximize the performance of
the buildings they manage.
IT managers
As new technology is integrated into buildings and fa-
cilities, and as equipment becomes further integrated,
greater reliance and power have shifted to IT managers.
IT managers are increasingly the gatekeepers for critical
facility system decision-making and troubleshooting. The
role of IT staff and the accompanying core information
technology knowledge is a key component of today’s
properly functioning facility.
As a result, the IT staff is a group that is likely to see an
increased share of responsibility among facility stakehold-
ers. Montgomery states, “Additionally, many traditionally
managed systems (i.e., building automation systems) are
now being managed and operated by IT personnel as