The Importance of IoT (internet of things) in Commercial Real Estate

Guest blog by Becky Holton. Becky is a journalist and blogger. She is interested in education technologies and is always ready to support informative speaking. Follow her on Twitter, @HoltonBecky1.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is getting increasingly important as it quickly changes the way we live and do our everyday business. The new technology influences almost every aspect of our daily lives and also has the potential to reshape entire industries, commercial real estate in particular.

The global IoT market is projected to reach $1.7 trillion in 2019, growing by almost 20% year-on-year in the field of commercial real estate. But how does IoT influence this industry? What makes this smart technology so critical to the evolution of commercial real estate?

We will explain it to you in our post, so keep reading to learn six ways IoT is impacting commercial real estate business.

IoT and Commercial Real Estate Defined

Before we start talking about the relations between IoT and commercial real estate, we need to explain the two concepts and discuss them briefly.

By definition, IoT is a computing concept that describes the idea of everyday physical objects being connected to the Internet and being able to identify themselves to other devices. As such, they create a network of smart devices that can essentially communicate with each other.

The purpose of IoT is to ensure faster communication and enable maximal automation of different processes. This way, IoT helps people and organizations to save time and money while reducing operational costs in general.

On the other side, commercial real estate represents property used exclusively for business purposes or to provide a workspace rather than a living space. It includes all types of business-focused facilities from the smallest thrift shops all the way to the biggest shopping malls.

6 Ways IoT Improves Commercial Real Estate

We already mentioned that IoT makes a huge impact on commercial real estate, but some of its features proved to be more important than others. Our goal is to focus on the six most important aspects of IoT in commercial real estate and explain how they change this gigantic industry. Let’s take a look!

1. HVAC efficiency

IoT completely revolutionizes the way we approach heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC). As the devices are getting smarter, they become capable of making estimations and decisions on their own. In terms of HVAC, it means adjusting temperatures and ventilation room by room instead of unifying the entire system.

Greg Hudson, a data analyst at EssayHave and Assignment Help Online, shares a practical example with us: “For instance, IoT knows when employees are not there and it turns down the heating in order to prevent energy waste.”

2. Lighting efficiency

This is another well-known benefit of IoT in commercial real estate. The principle is the same as in the first example mentioned above – instead of turning on the lights in the entire floor or building, IoT does it only in offices where employees are still working. According to the report, manufacturer Atlas Global Solutions reduced energy costs by 75% using intelligent LED lighting systems. It is only the tip of the iceberg, but it clearly shows the importance of IoT in commercial real estate.

3. Reduce bottlenecks

Smart commercial real estate management can also help businesses to reduce high traffic and ensure easier functioning in their facilities. Our fellow colleagues at AustralianWritings.net and Boom Essays Review say that intelligent systems of indoor navigation already help large shopping malls to identify bottlenecks and rearrange floor plans so as to eliminate barriers and ensure easier way-finding.

It makes customers a lot happier and gives them more time to spend in stores and buy stuff. Needless to say, this makes shopping mall owners a lot happier because their facilities generate higher revenue.

4. Air quality improvement

Air quality has a huge impact on employee satisfaction and productivity. A study reveals that employees who get to work in healthier environments achieve cognitive scores that are over 60% higher than their colleagues who still have to work in offices with average or low-level air quality.

5. Enhanced employee experience

With everything we mentioned so far, it is clear that IoT can strengthen the overall employee experience in commercial real estate. From air quality to more natural heating and lighting, there are so many ways to make the offices feel more pleasant.

Jake Gardner, a content creator at AustralianWritings.com, mentions some of the most popular IoT improvements:

Smart elevators that minimize waiting times
Conference room scheduling becomes simpler
Parking lot sensors that discover open spots

6. Workplace optimization

IoT creates workplace benefits because it analyzes huge volumes of information in real-time. As such, smart systems can be used for workplace optimization as well. You can understand where your employees spend most of their time throughout the day and identify rooms or offices that have no real purpose. Doing so, you can reduce operational costs as a tenant, while facility managers can rent those premises to another team.

Conclusion

Commercial real estate is evolving rapidly thanks to the all-encompassing influence of IoT. The new technology impacts commercial real estate in many different ways, but we discussed only six major features in this post. IoT obviously plays an important role in modern business, so it’s not the issue of whether to use it in commercial real estate but rather how to do it quickly and most productively.