Our Facilisight is a futuristic energy management tool with a dynamic UI.

Gaurav Burman

- VP & APAC President, 75F

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Minneapolis - USA, 75F is a fast-growing building intelligence solutions provider that leverages IoT and cloud computing to predict, monitor and proactively manage various elements in a building including its temperature, lighting, air quality and its energy management needs. “The growth potential for 75F in the Indian subcontinent is huge,” says Gaurav Burman, VP & APAC President, 75F. Excerpts from the interview…

How do you assess the growth opportunities for building automation & control systems (BACS) market in India?

The Indian BACS market is estimated to grow at CAGR of over 11% during 2017 - 2022. Further, with the government's interest in smart cities, I expect the smart real estate market and thereby the BACS to grow even more in the coming years. These smart cities will be the catalysts leading to a refining of working standards and leading to a transformation in the commercial building segment.

What is the growth potential for 75F in this space?

The growth potential for 75F in the Indian subcontinent is huge. A booming economy, new building deployments, and customers who are aware of and open to new technology makes India a promising market for 75F. Owing to the current uncertain times, we also see factors such as the growing need for remote manageability, operational efficiency, space management, enhanced indoor air quality and improved occupant health and productivity contributing to our growth.

When we launched operations in India in 2016, we were focusing on a few key verticals such as IT/ITeS, healthcare and hospitality in the four major metros. Within just a few years, we have seen traction in other business verticals such as SMEs, BFSI, co-working spaces and retail. We see it as a constantly evolving industry as the market is growing with increasing awareness about the benefits of smart building technologies using IoT and machine learning in conserving energy and improving occupant experience in workplaces.

Brief us on the building intelligence systems from 75F, especially on HVAC controls?

75F's building intelligence system uses IoT and smart algorithms in the cloud to not only optimize energy efficiency but also proactively control the HVAC, indoor air quality (IAQ), and lighting systems in a commercial building based on inputs from sensors, weather data, occupant preferences and predictive algorithms. Broadly, the innovative solution provides commercial buildings and smart cities with up to 50% savings on energy, enhanced occupant comfort and productivity, better indoor air quality, controls automation, predictive maintenance, extended equipment lifecycles and remote management capabilities.

Our award-winning approach to HVAC controls, Dynamic Airflow Balancing™ for example leverages IoT design philosophy and the power of cloud computing. The 75F solution achieves what was once thought to be only theoretically possible; continuous commissioning or perfect air balancing. The solution takes in hundreds of data points like weather forecast, building orientation, sun positioning, humidity, air quality and mean radiant temperature every day per site. Proprietary algorithms analyze and combine the data with real time sensor readings and from within the building in order to send the optimal control strategy to the central control unit, which sends instructions to incrementally move smart dampers a few degrees at a time, creating even temperatures throughout your building.

Tell us about the other innovative solutions from your portfolio?

Our portfolio also includes innovative solutions such as advanced lighting automation and control, outdoor air optimisation, indoor air quality management and 'facilisight', amongst others. Facilisight is a futuristic energy management tool with a dynamic UI. Facilisight's suite of web and mobile apps allow customers to manage temperature and lighting in their buildings remotely and round the clock from anywhere using a smartphone, tablet or laptop.

Could you brief us on how IoT is reshaping the BMS sector?

The IoT has been a disruptive force in smart building automation and control sector, offering new opportunities to enhance the efficiency of buildings, raise employee productivity, and encouraging the development of innovative new services. IoT can yield remarkable benefits. As interconnected IoT devices and sensors throughout the building measure, optimize and integrate multiple systems, an office can raise its efficiency and reduce energy usage while enhancing employee comfort and optimizing various operational and maintenance costs. Thanks to an integrated system, building operators, facility managers or owners can control energy management systems, HVAC and lighting not just in their respective buildings but across all their sites.

What is the unique features of your building intelligence system?

A solution like 75F's building intelligence system ticks off both boxes: scalability and sustainability. It uses the IoT and edge computing to predict, analyze, monitor and control a building's HVAC & lighting system. By continually monitoring a room's needs, analyzing incoming data, and controlling the operations, the 75F system effectively manages a building's energy loads. It drives away employee discomfort by eliminating temperature and lighting imbalances. The process saves money and energy - in fact, up to 50% on your HVAC and lighting energy bills.

What is the impact of ICT / IoT platforms on investors and on the end-user segments and TI packages?

IoT powered smart building technology makes buildings 14% less costly to operate than standard buildings and leads to a 7% increase in asset value. These buildings also tend to attract and retain tenants when compared to buildings that are not smart. Adding smart controls to buildings often provides for paybacks of less than five years, and even fewer in many cases. For example, some of 75F's customers enjoyed a RoI of less than two years and saved up to 50% on their energy bills.

Apart from the cost-benefit, according to a study by the World Green Building Council, improved thermal comfort, air quality and lighting can increase productivity by up to 23%. Thermal comfort led to a 10% increase in productivity, efficient lighting led to a 23% increase and better ventilation resulted in 11% improvement. Optimal comfort translates into productivity and well-being, which means happier occupants and increased productivity from employees.

As a solution provider, what are the major pain points you face?

Energy efficiency, business continuity, employee health and productivity, optimization and protection of assets or goods in a building, physical security and surveillance, etc. all form an integral part of today's business objectives when it comes to commercial buildings. While technologies such as IoT enable all of these at a much lower cost and in a more user-friendly way than before, there is inertia in changing to newer technologies and newer standards in comfort and sustainability.

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