Electricity + Control June 2016

DRIVES, MOTORS + SWITCHGEAR PLANT MAINT NANCE, TEST + MEASUREMENT

Making technology work for you

Neil Cameron, Johnson Controls Building Efficiency

They help us understand, quickly and effortlessly. Visualisations un- lock the value of data. In recent years, the building efficiency industry has witnessed the rise of dashboards, which have simplified the process of aggregating data and displaying information like energy use and utility benchmarking, but dashboards are just a starting point. Cloud-based solutions Today, applications and cloud-based solutions work in tandem with BMS systems to analyse vast amounts of data, transforming it into visuals that offer a clear picture of what’s going on, and a clear path to achieving more. These visualised forms of information help facility managers literally see how building systems are functioning, how they could and should be made to function better, how to make equipment last longer, and how to make everything – including people – work more efficiently. Many applications go beyond what dashboards can do. Cloud-based solutions often reach beyond their sophisticated visualisation tools. Users also benefit from resources that help them structure, interpret and take action, including technical support, communities where like-minded people can share ideas and forums where industry experts lay out their visions of what the future holds.

No one buys technology just for the sake of technology.

I f that were the case, we might all have pockets full of silicon chips instead of smartphones. To have value, technology has to help people achieve more. It has to make life easier. Building Manage- ment Systems (BMS), such as Metasys by Johnson Controls, do just that. They help facility managers control multiple systems and condi- tions using one tool, making management of the facility far easier and ensuring the buildings are more efficient. While they are doing all that, they are gathering enormous quantities of performance data. Yet consider this, from a survey of the industry’s facility manag- ers conducted last July: 93% of respondents indicated that they are currently using BMS. The vast majority of them believe that their BMS is keeping pace with other technologies, but only 22% say that they are completely satisfied with their systems. The reason? Many facility managers are not taking advantage of the full capabilities of their BMS. They know the technology is great; they know that a great deal of data is being gathered; they know that there is value in it. However, they do not have the time or the resources to sift, sort and interpret it. So its value has remained locked up and beyond reach.

Local front On the local front, South African companies are open to new technology and some of the most ambitious projects within this company’s portfolio have emanated from South Africa. This is partly due to freeing human intelligence for higher achieve- ments in South Africa and technology can perform the repetitive task of analysing data rather than requiring human intervention with enhanced func- tionality in the latest iterations of BMS technology.

Conclusion Data is becoming the world’s most valuable resource, thanks to innovative tools that help us understand it. As new technology makes existing technol- ogy work better, it helps people work better and smarter too. It helps us achieve – which is where the real value lies.

How do we make data make sense? How, then, do we make the data make more sense? That is where a new and different kind of technology comes in. The human brain gathers and interprets data through five senses ‒ sight, sound, smell, touch and taste. Of those five, sight is easily the most important. We are hard-wired to process information visually. Those smartphones we carry in our pockets take advantage of that fact every day with icons, simple on-screen tools and intuitive displays that make eve- rything as simple and useful as possible

• Technology needs to make life easier. • Visualisations unlock the value of data.

• Visualised forms of information help facility managers see how building systems are functioning and where improvements are necessary.

take note

Neil Cameron is the General Manager of Johnson Controls Building Efficiency. Enquiries: Tel. +27 (0) 11 921 7141

Visualisations Visualisations simplify information, allowing our brains to focus on the important things. They help us see the patterns and connections.

June ‘16 Electricity+Control

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