Fully integrated digital infrastructure will allow building owners and operators to transform their properties and business models, differentiate themselves from competitors, and deliver innovative services at a lower cost. That is really the premise of connected real estate.
But why would any company in the construction industry, care about the digital infrastructure? After all Johnson Controls, for instance, is an HVAC Equipment and Controls company first and foremost, right? Wrong.
Real estate, plain and simply, is important. It's the second largest business expense - about 5-10% of operational budgets. It's also the largest long-term asset on most company balance sheets.
We're not in the 1900s.
Today's world should be all about creating "a more comfortable, safe, and sustainable world." The new vision and goals give us more reason to be interested in digital infrastructure. Buildings account for half the world’s energy consumption and on average, digital infrastructure is the second-largest consumer of energy in buildings. If we’re going to work toward the “sustainable” piece of our mission, then it’s a space we must play in.
Note: the largest consumer is HVAC (much of which is spent to cool IT systems).
As far as architects, engineers, consultants, and construction companies are concerned, they can no longer afford to ignore the power of the interconnected IT systems to improve their own productivity. And while they're learning, they will champion integrated digital technology capabilities and services into the built environments they create!
But all of this isn’t theory, there is experiential knowledge surrounding us. The new 52-story Bank of America Tower in Manhattan is opening in 2008 and will be the first high-rise office building in the world to attain the LEED platinum building standard.
At the end of the day, hopefully we're all working toward building inspirational buildings where technology enables not only personal lifestyle choices, but corporate ingenuity.

