How Internet of Things can support Facility Management with tenant insights

Abstract

The development of digital solutions and technologies, such as: Internet of Things (IoT), has increased, and made great impact in every industry. IoT refers to a network of devices connected to the internet with the aim to collect and exchange data. However, the Facility Management (FM) industry, is in some extent conservative, and therefore, technology have not been developed in the same extent. The implementation of IoT-devices in combination with Building Information Models (BIM), can provide new information how buildings are utilized and provide insights about the tenants needs, to be used for improving the core business and developing new services. Since, people spend 80% of their time in buildings and facilities, the tenant needs should be of great importance. Therefore, is the purpose of this thesis to investigate how the FM industry use IoT-devices in combination BIM-models to provide insights about tenant needs, and the level of impact tenant needs has in the industry. The thesis is based on literature from the academy of the researched topic in combination with interviews conducted with professionals of the Swedish FM industry. The result provided by the thesis, present that the level of innovation depends on the organizations perspective of innovation, either a generating or adoptive approach. Further, the attitude to improve the core business can either be developed by customer engagement or digital solutions. Therefore, the market is divided by innovative leaders, that generates innovation and proactively identifies new services, and the adoptive organizations that use existing and proven efficient technologies, to be implemented in the core business on reactive customer demands.