My commitment to fostering clarity and driving forward-thinking dialogue in the digital built environment continued with a new podcast series, rebooting my established “What’s Smarter Now?” brand. Launched in April 2024, this series, co-hosted with Umesh Bhutoria, founder of Xempla – Decision Support System for Enterprise Asset Management, was specifically designed to accompany a pivotal industry roundtable I facilitated earlier this year.
Both initiatives aimed to delve into the essential interplay of smart building technology, processes, and outcomes, and were part of a broader exploration into potential new publications and symposium-style events.
The series aims to address a fundamental challenge: stakeholders often face uncertainty regarding the desired outcomes from smart building initiatives. With my background in human-centred design and Umesh’s expertise in FM and Maintenance software, we set out to shed light on this core question: what do we truly seek to achieve through smart workspaces and buildings? By establishing clarity around these desired outcomes, the practical “jobs to be done” become far more apparent, leading to tailored solutions that genuinely align with a vision for smarter, more impactful, and sustainable built environments.
Our inaugural episode, “What’s Smarter Now? A look at Smart Buildings in 2024 and Beyond,” laid out several main themes that underscore the evolving landscape of our industry:
- Sanity and Clarity in Outcomes: Moving away from overly broad specifications towards a sharp focus on clear, achievable outcomes, particularly concerning Net Zero and broader sustainability targets. This addresses a historical “honesty problem” in the industry, where overclaiming often overshadowed tangible results.
- Retrofit-Driven Smart Building Adoption: Acknowledging that the vast majority of buildings are already in existence, we highlighted that retrofitting will be the primary engine for smart building adoption, propelled by Net Zero goals and compelling commercial incentives.
- FM Evolution: Towards an Asset-Heavy, Technology-Enabled Model: We discussed the significant shift for Facilities Management companies towards investing capital in retrofits to meet Net Zero goals, leading to an increased reliance on technology for risk mitigation and differentiation. Umesh noted the growing prominence of technology in the FM sector, with leaders increasingly embracing its strategic importance.
- Rise of Platforms and Outcome-Based Pricing: We explored the impending consolidation in the FM tech market, predicting that comprehensive platforms will become dominant over niche applications. This shift could usher in outcome-based pricing models that reward genuine performance and foster greater transparency.
As I highlighted in the episode, “It’s like everyone sort of looks at the Smart building space and broader area of where it meets from their own perspective and therefore that often kind of more holistic view gets lost in there and you know and a sort of lack of common understanding.” This fragmented understanding underscores the very purpose of this series: to foster a more holistic and outcome-driven approach.
The “What’s Smarter Now?” podcast series promises to offer further valuable insights, with upcoming episodes featuring a diverse range of experts from rating bodies, FM companies, well-being institutes, design consultancies, and main contractors, all contributing to a richer understanding of the industry’s trajectory.
You can listen to the full episode and subsequent conversations here:
- Spotify: What’s Smarter Now? Episode 1
- YouTube: What’s Smarter Now? Episode 1
