Thoughts

4 min read

A Connected World: An Introduction to the Internet of Things (Part 1 of 3)

Thoughts

  • author-avatar
    EVORA

The world is becoming more interconnected than ever before. The ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) is an exciting development for many industries and disciplines. You do not have to be a technology expert to realise the potential of IoT.

This blog series takes you on a journey to demystify the IoT concept. Throughout the series, you will understand the implications for real estate investment and management and applications to energy and sustainability performance and we will give you an insight into our very own SIERA platform.


Let’s begin with the concept of the Internet of Things. What is it?

The IoT is a network of physical objects, an ecosystem of devices, buildings and other ‘things’ connected to one another electronically, through software, sensors and connections. Data flows between these ‘things’. They are internet-enabled with links between devices, apps and services, data and the cloud. This sits within something called the ‘Internet of Everything’ which is the connection of data, processes, people and things. As the world is becoming an increasingly interconnected place, some people have even called this phenomenon the 4th Industrial Revolution.


What’s all the fuss about?

It’s all about data and how it interacts with the ‘things’. Through data exchanges, we can begin to get a deeper understanding of the value that can be extracted from core processes and interactions. For real estate investment and management, buildings, people and energy performance forms part of the network. Later in the blog series, we explore the opportunities of IoT for the industry. Many industries are now future-proofing for IoT; attention has been drawn to big data and data management.

Gartner summarised it quite nicely by framing ‘data’ as the currency of the IoT, from which the value can truly be harnessed if the data can be translated to information which can create business transformation and inform strategy.


Four Impacts of the IoT

Impact 1:

The IoT will transform and shape the future for many industries including the commercial real estate sector

Impact 2:

Connectivity and platforms are crucial. There is a requirement that data can be accessed anytime and anywhere in the world. Whether you are in Hong Kong, New York or London – your data is there, anytime, anywhere, in any context and on any network.

Impact 3:

It is not just about connectivity, but accessibility, availability and security are also important. We found that in the real estate investment and management sector, data management has been a key issue – data is traditionally stored on numerous computers, held offline on paper and data loss has been a core risk. Nowadays, data is no longer restricted to a hard drive on a desktop computer, or a USB, but the cloud is a popular means to store data.

Impact 4:

A big focus on data. Data visualisation, data analytics and data mining approaches will be some of the ways to interrogate the data in more detail. Data validation and verification will be essential to question the data and ensure it is meaningful.


Sustainability Intelligence Environmental Reporting & Analysis (SIERA)

We are working hard at the leading-edge to understand our industry needs. We have adopted an agile development and management methodology which has enabled us to situate ourselves within a data-driven landscape. Get in touch to book a demo of SIERA today, which is our proprietary sustainability management software designed for the information age. We would love to have a personal conversation with you to assess your current infrastructure and to discover how SIERA could help you tap into new opportunities.

Part 2 of this series will focus on the implications and applications of IoT for commercial real estate investment management, sustainability and energy performance.


To speak to us about SIERA, or for any other enquiries, please don’t hesitate to contact us today.