Big data, smart buildings, intelligent cities, smart grids, IoT, and user journeys are all buzzwords used throughout industry that have different meanings for different groups of people. In today’s age of technology revolution and connected individuals, it has never been more important to understand the crux of what big data is, what it means to stakeholders, and what it can achieve.
The power of big data is typically in the hands of systems and data integrators, but its value is in the hands of the consumer. Consumers in this context are the various users of the built environment who use the assets, created in construction, for their places of work: tenants, engineers, visitors and the public.
Creating big data from technology alone does not necessarily service these stakeholders fully, but value can be created through the blending of data from various sources inclusive of technology systems within buildings. Making use of blended data has the power to create new outcomes and thereby create new value to users. Consider the value of data outcomes that can serve the needs and desires of an administrator on the 22nd floor of a multi-story development. Chances are, that individual stakeholder is less concerned with energy dashboards and NABERS ratings than in the ability to automatically manage meeting room environments, HVAC, lighting and AV, directly from a visitor management data set. Collecting and storing data for the sake of technology deployment alone does not provide the catalyst for the delivery of suitable value to educated developers and asset owners in today’s competitive leasing and sales market.
