The role of innovative technology solutions, such as Facilities Management Software, is becoming increasingly critical in the built world. The first analyst call of May was facilitated by Sean Wrenn, and featured speakers Bob Bray, Vice President and General Manager of Autodesk Tandem; and Sean Olcott, VP of Production & Innovation at Gafcon Digital. This call serves as a preliminary view into BuiltWorlds’ upcoming 2023 Buildings Conference, which will delve even deeper into how data can be harnessed and leveraged to boost building performance, specifically within making buildings more comfortable, cost-efficient, and sustainable.

When understanding facilities management, it is important to note that context matters. Different industries use different types of facilities to address different goals. Within these technologies are a multitude of systems that can work in tandem or independently to generate the specific methods of integration goals for its stakeholders. Within the AEC industry, facilities management plays a vital role towards a project, from maintenance, operations, sustainability, and overall management of a building throughout its lifecycle.

“A big key to success for implementing any sort of digital transformation generally is to start with where there’s real high leverage problems to solve and specifically it may be at the margins…That allows you to create a positive change in a sort of incremental and quick fashion that allows you to kind of build on success overtime, whereas the more holistic ‘rip out a system and introduce a new system’ is really not realistic.” Sean Olcott, Gafcon Digital

Digital Twins have emerged as a powerful tool within facilities management, as they give the ability to optimize building performance, minimize energy consumption, and improve the occupant experience. Digital twins are virtual replicas of a built asset and contextualize the complexities of the systems, equipment, metadata, and space within a building.

“The holy grail in all of this is the idea of an autonomous twin that is a self-healing and self-tuning facility that is driven by AI. We’re a long way from that right now, but taking a stair step incremental approach is the way we get there.” Bob Bray, Autodesk

There is a promising future for facilities management with the ever-evolving technologies that continue to emerge and Sean and Bob are excited to see the continued growth within the industry. Watch the full Analyst Call to learn more about technology solutions from two seasoned industry leaders.

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