Frank Becker is back at the office, and early at that. Not least because his app assigned him a free parking space right next to the entrance closest to his office upon his arrival. He can also do his daily business more quickly. In contrast to other shared offices, where employees first have to search for minutes, his smartphone also knows where a free workstation is guaranteed to be; when a notebook is docked in the docking station on the desk, the app is informed in real time and only then does it register the relevant place as assigned.
But that’s not all! Sensors permanently inform him about the carbon dioxide content in the office rooms, which may trigger the recommendation “Please let some fresh air in” via app. The search for a free meeting room is just as relaxed in Becker’s office: if the motion detector integrated in all rooms detects no activity ten minutes after the start of a meeting, the room is released again. In summary, Becker is able to avoid unnecessary stress and optimise internal company processes – the manager no longer wants to do without his app, which has since developed into an assistant of sorts. And this is just the beginning; even more useful expansion packs will follow in the coming months.
Becker’s employer benefits from a strategic partnership between the Danish facility management group ISS A/S and Deutsche Telekom. For example, ISS Germany is al- ready using T-Systems’ Connected Things Hub. The IoT platform thus becomes the central control element for all buildings managed by ISS worldwide. Data from 20,000 sensors is already flowing into the platform. These sensors collect measurement data such as room temperature and carbon dioxide levels. Special software analyses and visualises this data almost in real time and can trigger countermeasures if limit values are exceeded. The system processes a wide variety of sensor data for this purpose and thus creates transparency, for example regarding the over- and under-occupancy of rooms.
“The fact that we use the IoT platform to collect information from many companies with different buildings at different locations makes our dashboards increasingly meaningful.”
“We see ourselves as a driving force in the real estate industry that wants to develop further together with its customers. Our self-image thus goes far beyond the mere provision of FM services,” says Tom Dreiner, Commercial Director at ISS Germany, explaining the plans for the joint platform project, in which he sees a wealth of new opportunities.
Why this is the case can best be understood from the philosophy of the company: The ISS – with over 480,000 employees worldwide and an annual turnover of almost 10 billion euros – is defined by maximum service quality. This includes, among other things, that the company aims to achieve its own contribution rate of 80 percent and invests heavily in the further training of its employees. The aim is to increase added value for customers through services, to which the IoT platform is expected to make a decisive contribution in the coming years.
This starts with adapting services to the actual use of the building. Highly frequented rooms are cleaned more intensively than rooms that were previously hardly used or not used at all. Another example: service staff receive a message via smartphone app when paper towels need to be added to the towel dispenser. In addition, the database allows analyses of building usage that provide insight into the complex process depths of large-scale building and property management. According to Tom Dreiner, the plan is “to make anonymous benchmarks available to our customers with the data collected on the platform.” ISS customers benefit from the fact that they do not have to provide their own infrastructure when it comes to sensor technology, but that the service provider always connects their own installed sensors via radio. If the customer still wants to use his own CAFM system, “then we can connect to it via interfaces,” reports the ISS Manager.
In the first step, the objective of the benchmark is to gather experience: how many sensors and measurements are necessary for an optimal quality of stay in offices? With the help of artificial intelligence (AI), the number of sensors can be significantly reduced. Of course, these measurements also lead to obvious results and ensure, among other things, that companies can reduce their energy costs, for example. This gives them a very detailed, transparent picture of the actual use of their space. The dominating feature, however, will be what Tom Dreiner describes as “predictive facility management.” Based on the IoT projects in the manufacturing industry, ISS wants to be able to make precise, AI-based predictions about the use of buildings in the future.
The idea behind this is that the measured data optimise the customer’s real estate strategy. What about maintaining the value of the building? How can buildings be used most effectively? Does it make sense to rent parts of buildings or combine other buildings? What does the square metre area in a similar location in another city cost me? What costs do I incur for the management there? The data aggregated on the IoT platform provides the company’s customers with a reliable answer to all these questions. “The fact that we collect information from many companies with different buildings at different locations makes our dashboards more and more meaningful,” says Tom Dreiner with pride.
ISS has been providing facility services for all of Deutsche Telekom’s 9,000 locations nationwide since July 2019, and is therefore in a position to rely on a huge pool of data. This will enable the service provider to expand its offerings beyond optimal office use in the future. After all, what applies to office locations undoubtedly also applies to production facilities and factory halls. It is precisely here that the measurement of processes and flows of goods in intralogistics, for example, offers a greater benefit, and the sensors installed can do much more with their data. The aim of ISS is to optimize the alignment of production
plants under the influence of digitalization. “When companies make location decisions in the future and rethink their real estate strategy, our Predictive Facility Management offering can make a valuable contribution to this in practice,” emphasizes Dreiner.
ISS A/S, founded in Denmark in 1901, is the leading group of companies for facility services. ISS is active in over 70 countries, employs more than 485,000 people and is one of the largest private employers in Europe. ISS A/S digitalizes and networks services with modern Internet technologies, equips buildings with sensors that provide status and usage information for service processes, and modern robotics supports employees in the provision of services. Efficient integrated facility services solutions, innovative methods, motivated and well-trained employees, financial stability, a high level of entrepreneurial commitment and careful handling of health, safety and the environment are the core factors for the sustainable success of the company.
Contact: JPaetz@t-systems.com
More Information: www.issworld.com
More Information: www.t-systems.com
