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Verdantix Green Quadrant IoT Platforms For Smart Buildings 2019
Verdantix Green Quadrant IoT Platforms For Smart Buildings 2019
COM
NOVEMBER 2019
BY DENNIS CALLAGHAN
W I T H R O D O L P H E D ’A R J U Z O N
SMART BUILDINGS
Green Quadrant IoT Platforms For Smart Buildings 2019
The IoT is set to bring a new dimension to how facilities are managed, controlled and optimised. This report
provides a detailed fact-based comparison of the 13 most prominent IoT platforms for smart buildings available
on the market today. Based on the proprietary Verdantix Green Quadrant methodology, the analysis is based
on two-hour live product demonstrations and vendor responses to a 108-point questionnaire. To understand
customer needs, Verdantix conducted in-depth interviews with 10 software buyers at organizations that occupy
mid-to-large real estate portfolios and analysed the data from a survey of 304 real estate and facilities
management decision-makers. This market is clearly at an early stage, with high levels of customer interest, but
there are an equal number of questions on how to drive value from these solutions in practice. Our analysis
concludes that seven vendors have taken an early lead in this market as they demonstrated an excellent breadth
of functionality and good market momentum. The analysis also reveals that six other vendors offer strong
propositions in asset and facilities management, energy management and space and workplace management.
TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S
The State Of The Market For IoT Platforms For Smart Buildings ...................................................................................... 4
The IoT For Buildings and Facilities Remains A Very Nascent Space
Platform Expansion And Non-Traditional Competitors Will Shape The Future Of IoT In Buildings
Firms Are Just At The Start Of The Journey With IoT Platforms ....................................................................................... 7
Occupant Wellbeing, Cost Reduction And Space Utilization Will Drive Real Estate Strategies For The Next Year
IoT Platform Adoption In Real Estate And Complex Facilities Has Been Limited So Far
Data Management, Cost and Complexity Are Firms’ Biggest Challenges
IoT Footprints In Buildings Will Expand In The Next 24 Months
Boosting ROI While Protecting Privacy Will Shape The Business Case For Building IoT
TA B L E O F F I G U R E S
Figure 1. Market Trends Shaping Real Estate Strategies Over The Next Three Years ....................................................... 8
Figure 2. Deployment Of IoT In Facilities Management Across Nine Usage Scenarios ................................................... 8
Figure 3. Software Investment Plans By Type Of Software ........................................................................................................ 10
Figure 4. Top Reasons For Implementing IoT Solutions ............................................................................................................. 12
Figure 5. Suppliers And Software Assessed ..................................................................................................................................... 16
Figure 6-1. Capabilities Criteria For IoT Platforms For Smart Buildings ............................................................................... 17
Figure 6-2. Capabilities Criteria For IoT Platforms For Smart Buildings ............................................................................... 18
Figure 7. Momentum Criteria For IoT Platforms For Smart Buildings ................................................................................... 19
Figure 8-1. Vendor Capabilities Scores ............................................................................................................................................. 20
Figure 8-2. Vendor Capabilities Scores ............................................................................................................................................. 21
Figure 9. Vendor Momentum Scores ................................................................................................................................................. 22
Figure 10. Green Quadrant IoT Platforms For Smart Buildings 2019 .................................................................................... 23
O R G A N I Z AT I O N S M E N T I O N E D
Accruent, Acuity Brands, AEG, Aldar Properties, Altair SmartWorks, Amazon, American Industrial Partners,
Amgen, AMP Capital, Arcapita, Ascendas, Autodesk, Automated Logic, Axonize, Bank of America, BCA Academy,
Bee’ah, Bentley Systems, CaroMont Regional Medical Center, Carrier, Chubb, Colliers International, Comfy,
Commonwealth Bank, Corrigo, CrowdComfort, Cummins, Cushman & Wakefield, Daintree Networks, Delta
Controls, Dubai Airport Freezone Authority, Dubai Electricity & Water Authority, Dubai Festival City, Dubai
Silicon Oasis, EasyIO, EcoAct, EcoEnergy Insights, ENGIE, Enlighted, Envizi, Eutech Group, Facilio, FacilityConneX,
Farrer Park Hospital, Fortive, Fract, FreshDirect, Gallagher Security, GE, GE Current, General Motors, Georgia
Institute of Technology, GPT Group, Hamilton Health Sciences, Hartsfield International Airport, Harvard
University, HCA Healthcare, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Hilton, Honeywell, IBM, ICONICS, IFC, Infosys,
International Towers Sydney, Investec, iOFFICE, iviva by Eutech, Jelmoli, Johnson Controls, Kaiser Permanente,
KGS Buildings, Kidde, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Manulife, Mappedin, Marriott International,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Microsoft, Mirvac, Moorfields Eye Hospital,
Msheireb Properties, National Australia Bank, National Grid New York, Nemetschek Group, Nemours Children’s
Hospital, NORESCO, Oxford Properties, Planon, PTC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Sainsbury’s, Salesforce, The
Scarborough Hospital, Schneider Electric, Sello, Serraview, Siemens, Signify, Spacewell, Switch Automation,
Teem, Telit Communications, Tesco, Thames Water, ThoughtWire, Trader Joe’s, Tyco, Uber, United
Supermarkets, United Technologies, University of Arizona, University of Iowa, University of Minnesota, US
Department of Energy, Vixxo, WaterGroup, Wattwatchers, Westpac, Wipro.
IoT for Smart Buildings is about collecting, integrating and analysing data, from sensors, energy meters, from
building management systems, and directly from HVAC or transportation equipment, to make better decisions
on managing building operations. But it is also about acting on that data and controlling building systems, such
as changing the temperature setpoint or turning down the lighting in areas of the building that are not in use to
save energy. Critically, the smart building agenda touches on every stakeholder in the building: landlords and
asset managers, building operators, real estate and facilities management teams and building occupiers.
This is our inaugural Verdantix Green Quadrant report for IoT Platforms for Smart Buildings. Facilities directors
and real estate directors are the main buyers and managers of these platforms, though other commercial real
estate professionals, asset managers, energy managers, building engineers, FM service providers and building
occupants may often interact with them. This report provides those individuals responsible for selecting,
implementing and getting value from IoT Platforms for Smart Buildings with a detailed benchmark of the 13
most prominent solutions available on the market. Their questions include:
• Which IoT Platforms for Smart Buildings will meet the requirements of my organization?
• Which IoT Platforms for Smart Buildings are leading the market?
• How does my existing building IoT platform implementation compare to other products available
on the market?
• How can I benchmark the functionality and depth of experience of building IoT providers and
assess the ability of these providers to deliver value?
To answer these questions, Verdantix analysed 13 software solutions using a 108-point questionnaire and
conducted two-hour live software demonstrations. We also analysed results from our global survey of 304 real
estate and facilities management executives, and interviewed a panel of 10 buyers of building software
solutions to understand their experiences and requirements and gather feedback on the solutions in the market.
The resulting analysis is based on the proprietary Verdantix Green Quadrant methodology, designed to provide
an evidence-based objective assessment of suppliers providing comparable products and services.
The IoT For Buildings And Facilities Remains A Very Nascent Space
Our analysis shows that these are very early days for IoT platforms in buildings. Customer deployments remain
limited or aspirational. Vendor traction is often uneven and concentrated in certain areas, with many products
still on the roadmap. The current state of the market is characterized by:
• Platform vendors that leverage very different heritages and follow different strategies.
The vendors covered in this report have come to the IoT platform world from different heritages,
including energy management, asset and maintenance management, smart lighting, space and
workplace management and building management systems (BMS). They tend to sell to different
functional teams in an organization, in different geographies and in many cases to different verticals. This
report covers only those platform vendors with an application heritage. It doesn’t cover IoT infrastructure,
networking and integration platforms. Specifically, vendors providing an IoT platform only, without
applications, such as Axonize, PTC and Telit, were not included in this benchmark.
• Customers with a clear end goal but juggling different deployment options and not yet funding
large programmes.
Customers are looking for the holy grail: a “single pane of glass” view of their building data to generate
money-saving insights and ways to boost their employees’ productivity. But there are many different
ways to get to the same insights, so customers must navigate a bewildering path of options. Many are
starting small—energy management and meeting room management are the two most popular
choices—with plans to expand into broader platforms.
• Many potential use cases and benefits that need to be further proven.
At the end of the day, IoT platforms are about collecting, managing, integrating and analysing data, and
then acting on that analysis by interfacing with controls systems, like BMS. This analysis can help firms
save on energy costs by turning down the heat, air-conditioning or lighting in unoccupied areas. It can
simplify operations by monitoring how assets are performing. It can make employees more productive by
ensuring optimal temperature, humidity and air quality levels of their workspaces or making it easier for
them to book conference rooms and building services. It can make buildings more secure by detecting
unauthorized entries via door sensors and integrating security camera footage. It can make buildings
cleaner by directing janitors to high-traffic areas and restrooms at regular intervals. It can promote
optimal consolidation of office space and hot-desking in a working world where project work and
telecommuting have become more common. The challenge is working out which of these to prioritize.
• Platform expansion as vendors expand into adjacent areas via development or acquisition.
With a mix of suite vendors and point solution developers, platform expansion is a given. Many vendors
profiled in this report already have plans to add to their offerings on their technology roadmaps.
Acquisitions of specialty vendors by larger firms are also likely, either to gain technology or vertical
market expertise.
• Emergence of Salesforce.com and other new players consolidating data from point solutions.
IoT platforms certainly won’t be limited to vendors in this report. One customer we spoke with considers
Salesforce.com their IoT platform, with different point solutions feeding buildings data into it for analysis
and reporting. Customers, always conscious of limiting costs and delivering quick return on investment,
will look to leverage what they already have in place wherever possible.
• Formalization of what digital twins for facilities are and how vendors should monetize them.
Digital twins are a digital representation of a physical asset. This representation can contain mechanical
data, physical properties, performance data, and even people data. Full digital twins would allow building
operators to simulate the performance of their buildings and more easily detect deviations from the
norm and identify the location of alarms. IoT sensors are key to generating the real-time performance
data that brings digital twins to life. Several vendors profiled in this report use the term “digital twin” to
describe their software, though most of the software applications mentioned here have only some
attributes of a complete digital twin, which can include: a semantic graph database that shows the
relationships between data sets; 2D and 3D visual representations of a building and its floorplan; sensor
data integration for real-time updates of building data; and advanced algorithms for anything from
modelling the whole building’s response to different conditions, to optimizing operations and predictive
analytics for assets. This vast subject will be covered in more detail in future Verdantix reports.
Occupant Wellbeing, Cost Reduction And Space Utilization Will Drive Real
Estate Strategies For The Next Year
To establish the overall strategic priorities for real estate and facilities teams, we asked a global panel of 304
real estate and facilities directors to tell us their priorities for the next 12 months and the next three years. The
main findings are that:
• Improving occupant comfort and wellbeing is a top priority for building managers.
Multiple checkpoints in this survey showed that this topic is top of mind for real estate and facilities
professionals. Nearly 30% of respondents rated “improving comfort and wellbeing of building occupants”
as their most important objective, the highest score among the five priorities. We then asked how
influential various market trends would be in shaping firms’ real estate strategies over the next three
years. Once again, building occupant wellbeing and productivity had the highest score, with 54% of
respondents citing it as “very influential”. Improving occupants’ comfort and wellbeing is also the highest
priority initiative over the next 12 months, with 51% of respondents identifying it as a high priority.
• Maximizing space utilization will be one of the main drivers of growth over the next few years.
Maximizing space utilization was the second pick of survey respondents for shaping their real estate
strategies for the next three years, with 52% of respondents citing it as very influential. Just 17% of
respondents report significant use of IoT-based technology to better manage space today, with an
additional 21% reporting some use of IoT-based approaches for space utilization.
• Long-term outlook appears positive for IoT platforms given underlying trends on data availability.
As we mentioned in the State of the Market section, IoT is all about the granular data and its users.
Another takeaway from the three-year outlook question is that building managers want better data. A
total of 89% of survey respondents cited “improving connectivity and data availability from smart
building technologies” as either an influential or very influential trend in shaping their firm’s real estate
strategy over the next three years.
Market Trends Shaping Real Estate Strategies Over The Next Three Years
“How influential will the following market trends be in shaping your firm's real estate strategy over the next
three years?”
FIGURE 2
“Do you currently use, or plan to use, IoT-based approaches for the following facilities management processes?”
Significant use of IoT Some use of IoT Evaluating or trialling IoT solutions Not using Don’t know
Note: percentages less than 4% are written as numbers, ranked by first two response options
Source: Verdantix N=304
“Our number one challenge is being able to use the information we gather. The skill sets demanded of
traditional facilities engineers have changed from turning wrenches to being able to analyse
data.” (Technology firm)
“Understanding building utilization is a challenge when you have to maintain the consistency of data across
multiple countries, and understand that there are different ways of working, legal and cultural differences in
those countries. Then you have to create consistent service delivery across the different countries.” (Facilities
management service provider)
“We have to ensure that we continue to balance the cost and experience equation. There’s always pressure
on cost, but there’s also pressure to continue to improve the user’s experience.” (Consumer products firm).
“We’ll connect sensors to the Internet but not controllers, there’s just too much security risk in doing that.
Someone will always hack into our systems, nothing is bulletproof.” (Telecommunications firm).
• Moving from early wins like energy management to broader IoT deployments.
We asked our customer panel where they were using IoT today and where they hoped to deploy IoT in
the next 24 months. IoT solutions are already extensively used as part of energy management and
meeting room management. Executives’ two-year time horizon shows an ambition for far more extensive
IoT deployments covering maintenance management, fault detection and diagnostics, energy
management and lighting/smart lighting. Similarly, most of our panel was bullish on using IoT for
comfort management, building services, space planning and employee interactions in the next two years.
There was less interest in access control/security and wayfinding, where only one or two panellists were
planning to invest further in the next two years.
“Room booking is the most prevalent thing we have out there, but we’re not at the point yet where we can
do it on a mobile phone. We book through Outlook or at the room itself. But not every facility has
it.” (Consumer products firm).
• Adopting configurable, app-rich platforms with high-quality user interfaces and mobile apps.
We asked our panellists to rate the most important factors in shaping their purchase decisions for new
real estate and facilities management software. Some clear winners emerged. A majority of panellists
cited three different factors: breadth of applications available on a single platform, quality of user
interface and quality of mobile apps. That single platform with all its applications must be configurable
however, as all but one of the respondents gave the highest weight to this factor.
“It comes down to scalability, ease of use, high ROI and interchangeability. Any purchase decision we make
has to tick at least two of those boxes.” (Telecommunications firm).
Boosting ROI While Protecting Privacy Will Shape The Business Case For
Building IoT
We asked respondents which three factors would be most important in shaping the business case for building
IoT. Again, some common themes emerged, including:
“It’s always going to be ROI, sustainability, (building) stewardship and brand name (of vendors); we’ll do all
we can to be as efficient as possible.” (Technology firm)
Source: Verdantix
“Data around utilization helps us to shape our occupant experience to ensure that all occupants are having
the best experience possible. As long as we meet the security requirements, we’ll push the envelope as much
as we can.” (Technology firm)
“It’s just the overall control and visibility of what's going on inside the building. Quite often you go into a
place and you don’t have a clue what’s going on above the ceiling or below the floor. Some of these
applications are amazing at giving you insight into what's going on in your building.” (Facilities
management provider)
“A software platform made up of a communication layer for capturing sensor, asset, building management system,
and external data; a database layer, for storing the data; and an application layer for analysis and reporting, for the
purpose of monitoring, analysing and controlling building services, including occupant comfort, space utilization,
energy, maintenance and security.”
We note that there is a broad range of vendors that offer IoT infrastructure platforms, which typically consist of
networking and communications hardware and/or software, including middleware, but do not contain their own
applications. These solutions fall outside the scope of this study and will be covered in future Verdantix research.
• Transparent inclusion.
We aim to analyse all suppliers that qualify for inclusion in the research. For those suppliers that decline
our invitation or fail to respond, we aim to include them in the report based on public information where
this would provide an accurate analysis of their market positioning.
Based on the inclusion criteria above, this report looks in-depth at 13 IoT Platforms for Smart Buildings vendors:
Accruent, EcoEnergy Insights, Envizi, iviva by Eutech, Facilio, GE Current, Johnson Controls, KGS Buildings,
Schneider Electric, Siemens, Spacewell, Switch Automation and ThoughtWire (see Figure 5). All 13 IoT platform
suppliers included in this study actively participated through interviews, product demonstrations and responses
to a 108-point detailed questionnaire. Acuity Brands, Altair SmartWorks, Honeywell, IBM, ICONICS and Signify
qualified for this study but declined to participate. These vendors may be included in future Green Quadrant IoT
for Smart Buildings.
• Capabilities.
This dimension, captured in the vertical axis of the Green Quadrant graphic, measures each software
supplier on the breadth and depth of its software functionality. To assess performance on this dimension,
Verdantix collected data on 86 criteria grouped into 19 areas across platform and applications. Platform
capabilities include: data input, IT systems integration, database design, master data management,
configurability and customization, application development, implementation options, business
intelligence, user interface, internationalization and security. Application capabilities include: asset
management, monitoring and control, energy management, space monitoring and analysis, wellbeing,
workplace services, FM services, building security, sustainability, reporting and customer focus.
• Market momentum.
This dimension, captured in the horizontal axis of the Green Quadrant graphic, measures each software
supplier on a range of strategic success factors including publicly announced customers and internal
The evidence provided by all IoT platform vendors is captured in a quantitative model that starts with the sub-
criteria scores. Each sub-criterion has a percentage weighting that dictates how much of a contribution it makes
to the high-level capability score. For example, energy management is one of the high-level criteria considered
in the capabilities section, but is itself composed of seven weighted sub-criteria that determine the overall
score. All sub-criteria are scored between 0 and 3. Subsequently, each high-level criterion is allocated a
percentage weighting which then determines how much that score contributes to the overall score. The
combination of high-level criteria scores in the capabilities and momentum sections generates the Green
Quadrant graphic. Details on the criteria are provided in Figures 6 and 7. These figures also provide (in
parentheses) the weighting allocated to the high-level criteria in the model. Weightings are based on customer
survey data regarding what IoT platform functionality is most widely used and analyst views on the broader IoT
platforms for smart buildings landscape.
Spacewell Cobundu
Source: Verdantix
CAPABILITIES
Data Input (6%) What functionality is provided for integration with sensors, meters, building
management systems and building equipment? What range of indoor positioning
systems can the software integrate into?
IT Systems What functionality is provided to integrate with CAD and BIM? What functionality
Integration (4%) is provided to integrate with other enterprise systems? What functionality is there
to integrate with third-party real estate and facilities systems?
Database Design What scalability can the vendor demonstrate with customer deployments? How
(4%) does the IoT platform handle large volumes of data? What functionality is
provided to ensure data integrity?
Master Data What functionality is provided to define and/or upload the organizational
Management (4%) structure and hierarchy? How are users able to configure the organizational
hierarchy data? How does the solution support privacy guidelines like GDPR?
Platform Configurability How can elements such as forms and metrics libraries in the system be changed
(4%) or reconfigured? How can business rules and workflows be changed/added to?
Application What application development tools are available and what is the vendor’s
Development (4%) strategy? What applications have customers or partners created?
Business Intelligence What tools are available for business intelligence, visualization, benchmarking,
(2%) forecasting, dashboarding and geospatial analysis?
User Interface (4%) What is the quality of the user interface for the enterprise application and mobile
app?
Platform How many user interface languages are provided? What is the multi-currency
Internationalization functionality? How does the software manage multiple time zones?
(2%)
Security (4%) What is the security framework for platforms and applications? What vulnerability
assessments are performed? What hosting environment is used and what are
their SLAs for security and data recovery?
Asset Management, What functionality is provided for asset monitoring, condition assessment,
Monitoring (8%) tracking, continuous optimization and control? What about FDD?
Energy Management What functionality is provided for energy monitoring, reporting, analysis and
(8%) targeting? Can savings be measured and verified?
Figures in brackets represent the weighting given to each criterion in the flexible multi-criteria model that
generates the Green Quadrant graphical analysis.
Source: Verdantix
CAPABILITIES
Space Monitoring and What functionality is provided for leveraging IoT data as part of monitoring how
Analysis (8%) space is used? What analytical tools are provided to help users better plan,
organize and use space? What functionality is provided to support the specific
needs of retail customers or other sectors?
Wellbeing (8%) What functionality is provided for leveraging IoT data to monitor environmental
conditions such as temperature, CO2, humidity and other factors? How does the
solution allow users to adjust conditions for greater comfort?
Workplace Services What are the capabilities to provide self-service applications to building
(8%) occupants for reserving meeting rooms, spaces and workstations? What are the
capabilities to support companies that want to have an agile workspace? What
functionality is provided for occupants for real-time wayfinding to locate desks
and co-workers? Are there capabilities to manage parking spaces?
Building Security Does the vendor’s solution support the convergence of physical, cyber, social
(3%) and event-based security? What functionality is provided for alarm management
such as suppressing false alarms, identifying groups of alarms and root causes?
What functionality supports better access control by leveraging IoT data, such as
linking occupancy patterns to threat detection? What functionality is provided to
improve on traditional CCTV monitoring of sites?
Sustainability (3%) What functionality allows users to leverage IoT data to analyse sustainability
performance? What functionality accelerates internal and external reporting such
as to GRESB?
Reporting (3%) What functionality allows users to view, chart and analyse data? Are the
dashboards available on mobile applications such as smartphones and tablets?
Can dashboards be integrated within company websites or internal building
displays? What is the quality of the user interface?
Customer Focus (3%) What functionality or out-of-the-box workflows support the needs of corporate
customers? What about service providers, including facilities management
Figures in brackets represent the weighting given to each criterion in the flexible multi-criteria model that
generates the Green Quadrant graphical analysis.
Source: Verdantix
MOMENTUM
Vision & Strategy What is the firm’s vision for the evolution of customer requirements over the next
(20%) 3 years? What is the firm's strategy to meet the needs of customers and develop
the product over the next 2 years?
Installed Customer What is the total number of customers using the firm’s building IoT software and
Base (20%) across how many sites? Describe the typical size of customers by revenue or
Deal Sizes (20%) How many building IoT software deals did the firm sign in the last 12 months or
last reporting period? What was the breakdown of those deals by size? What
was the average deal size in 2018, including software (licence or subscription)
and implementation?
Organizational In how many countries does the vendor have offices, provide technical support
Resources (15%) and host the software? How many employees does the supplier have dedicated
to IoT?
Financial Resources What were the firm’s revenues from building IoT software in the last 12 months
(15%) or last reporting period? What was the breakdown in revenue between software
and services? How much did building IoT revenue grow from 2017 to 2018?
How much capital has the firm raised since 2017? What is the firm’s customer
retention rate?
Customer Locations What percentage of your customers are located in the following geographies:
(10%) Asia-Pacific, EMEA, Latin America, North America?
Figures in brackets represent the weighting given to each criterion in the flexible multi-criteria model that
generates the Green Quadrant graphical analysis.
Source: Verdantix
GE Current
EcoEnergy
Buildings
Accruent
Iviva by
Insighs
Eutech
Facilio
Envizi
KGS
JCI
Data Input 1.8 1.8 1.8 2.0 1.6 1.2 2.0 1.1
IT Systems Integration 1.6 2.0 1.2 2.2 1.0 1.0 2.0 0.8
Database Design 1.7 1.3 1.0 2.3 1.3 1.0 2.0 1.3
Master Data Management 2.0 1.7 2.0 2.0 1.3 1.2 2.0 2.0
Platform Configurability 1.8 1.5 2.0 1.5 1.7 0.5 1.7 1.7
Application Development 0.0 2.0 1.8 1.6 0.4 1.0 2.0 0.0
Implementation Options 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
Business Intelligence 1.7 1.7 2.0 1.2 1.3 0.7 2.0 1.0
User Interface 1.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 2.0 1.0 3.0 2.0
Platform Internationalization 2.3 1.3 2.0 1.7 1.3 1.0 1.7 1.7
Asset Management and Monitoring 2.1 1.9 1.7 2.0 2.0 0.8 2.4 1.6
Energy Management 2.1 1.6 2.3 1.6 1.6 1.1 2.3 1.4
Space Monitoring and Analysis 1.4 1.6 0.3 1.6 0.6 1.0 1.8 0.0
Workplace Services 1.0 1.2 0.3 1.5 0.8 0.8 1.8 0.0
Building Security 0.6 1.6 0.0 2.0 1.0 0.0 2.2 0.0
Customer Focus 1.6 1.6 2.0 2.0 2.0 0.8 2.2 1.6
Scoring Framework
3 Vendor provides evidence they have market-leading functionality, supported by a broad set of references to customers
2 Vendor provides evidence they have strong functionality, supported by a broad set of references to customer examples
1 Vendor provides evidence they have relevant functionality, with limited references to customer examples
0 No response provided or available publicly, or supplier has a weak offering
Source: Verdantix
ThoughtWire
Automation
Spacewell
Schneider
Siemens
Electric
Switch
Data Input 2.3 2.3 1.3 1.8 1.5
Scoring Framework
3 Vendor provides evidence they have market-leading functionality, supported by a broad set of references to customers
2 Vendor provides evidence they have strong functionality, supported by a broad set of references to customer examples
1 Vendor provides evidence they have relevant functionality, with limited references to customer examples
0 No response provided or available publicly, or supplier has a weak offering
Source: Verdantix
GE Current
EcoEnergy
Buildings
Accruent
Insights
Iviva by
Eutech
Facilio
Envizi
KGS
JCI
Vision & Strategy 2.0 1.0 2.0 1.5 1.5 1.0 3.0 2.0
Installed Customer Base 2.0 1.3 1.3 2.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
Deal Sizes 1.2 1.6 0.6 1.6 0.6 1.0 1.8 1.0
Organizational Resources 1.7 2.0 2.0 1.3 1.0 1.0 2.0 1.0
Financial Resources 1.7 1.1 1.6 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.7 1.3
Customer Locations 2.0 2.0 1.3 1.8 2.5 1.3 2.0 3.0
ThoughtWire
Automation
Spacewell
Schneider
Siemens
Electric
Scoring Framework
3 Vendor provides evidence they have market-leading momentum, supported by significant facts and evidence
2 Vendor provides evidence they have strong market momentum, supported by significant facts and evidence
1 Vendor provides evidence they have moderate momentum
0 No response provided or available publicly, or limited momentum
Source: Verdantix
INNOVATORS LEADERS
Siemens
JCI
iviva Schneider
by Eutech Electric
ThoughtWire Accruent
Facilio
CHALLENGERS SPECIALISTS
MOMENTUM
Capabilities This dimension assesses capabilities for the following: data input, IT systems
integration, database design, master data management, platform
configurability, application development, implementation options, business
intelligence, user interface, internationalization, security, asset management
and monitoring, energy management, space monitoring and analysis,
wellbeing, workplace services, FM services, building security, sustainability,
reporting, customer focus.
Momentum This dimension assesses strategic success metrics including: vision and
strategy, installed customer base, deal sizes, organizational resources,
financial resources, customer locations.
Source: Verdantix
• CMMS integration.
Accruent has a number of CMMS products in its portfolio and vx Observe has written integrations to at
least three of them, vx Maintain, FAMIS and 360Facility, as well as non-Accruent systems such as Corrigo
and Vixxo. The integrations allow conditions detected in vx Observe, such as a burned-out bulb or
malfunctioning refrigerator unit, to trigger work orders in the CMMS without user intervention. vx
Observe offers APIs to enable integration to both Accruent and non-Accruent systems. Accruent’s
expertise in the CMMS world gives it an understanding of the integration points between an IoT-based
monitoring platform and the CMMS that is a strength and differentiator for the firm.
• Firms that want to combine strong IoT capabilities with asset lifecycle and energy management.
Thanks to its multiple acquisitions, Accruent has a breadth of well-established products for the built
environment, including facility and asset management and energy and sustainability management. With
its open APIs, vx Observe can send data and trigger workflows in these applications. It can also receive
data from these applications and act as a control system, for example by turning down lighting or air-
conditioning in underutilized rooms. While firms can still use multiple vendors for these different
applications, Accruent does offer them the option of getting cross-platform connectivity from one
vendor.
EcoEnergy Insights manages nearly 17,000 sites worldwide, mostly in the retail space, both directly and through
partners. The firm also targets banks, K-12 schools, airports, commercial real estate, hotels, manufacturing,
restaurants and water utilities.
• Energy management.
Energy management was EcoEnergy Insights’ original focus when it launched in 2009 and this remains a
strength of the firm today. EcoEnergy Insights produces analytic reports and dashboards on energy
consumption at different levels in a customer organization and shows operational improvement
opportunities. It can categorize normalized savings trends by region, climate zone or asset type. EcoEnergy
Insights uses its patented Service Window framework to identify the relationship between energy
consumption patterns (measured in kWh) and operations and site usage patterns. Once this relationship has
been established, EcoEnergy Insights analyses the patterns and identifies potential energy cost savings for
customers.
• Customer diversity.
EcoEnergy Insights seems strong in the retail space, but it’s not clear that the technology has made many
inroads to other verticals. Though the firm claims to have large customers across hotels, shopping malls,
schools and universities, airports and commercial real estate, it has no identifiable reference customers in
these spaces. The lone case study on its website is for a sustainability management programme at Thames
Water. Having publicly referenceable customers across different industries is a key area of improvement for
EcoEnergy Insights.
• User interface.
We weren’t very impressed with the EcoEnergy Insights user interface, which was very basic and data heavy
but not especially graphical or user-friendly. Customers are expecting a more intuitive interface that’s easy
to get insights from and supports two- and three-dimensional building representations. Most of the vendors
in this study are delivering that.
Envizi pulls sensor data from IoT-enabled devices and the BMS via a common data capture engine into a single
database, where a common user interface, analytics and rules engine and issue management centre are applied
to the data. Of its 200 enterprise customers, around 25 use Envizi’s IoT platform functionality. Enzivi expects the
IoT platform to be deployed at more than 1,000 sites by the end of the year. Building IoT currently represents
less than one-tenth of Envizi’s total revenue but is the firm’s fastest-growing revenue stream.
• Firms under regulatory pressure to reduce energy usage and carbon footprint.
Envizi cut its teeth in Australia, home of the sixth most expensive energy market in the world. For its initial
customers, reducing energy usage and spend was a necessary cost-containment measure. Customers in
less expensive energy markets, like the US, are under increasing regulatory pressures to
reduce energy usage. For example, Local Law 84 in New York City requires privately owned buildings with
at least 50,000 square feet of floor space to submit yearly data on energy and water usage. The
companion Local Law 87 demands a more detailed breakdown of energy data, requiring buildings to
carry out energy audits and retro-commissioning, while delivering energy efficiency reports every 10
years. Envizi would be a good choice for commercial real estate operators faced with compliance to these
regulations.
iviva by Eutech manages more than 300 million square feet of buildings for a customer base split between the
Asia-Pacific and EMEA regions.
Improvement Opportunities
Based on the Green Quadrant analysis, Verdantix finds that iviva by Eutech could improve on:
• Forecasting.
Forecasting is a useful tool in smart buildings to predict energy consumption and temperatures inside
buildings, based on ambient temperatures, building occupancy and other environmental conditions, then
control HVAC systems accordingly. iviva does not yet support forecasting in the UMS platform.
Customers have to build their own forecasting models in Microsoft Power BI and integrate with Lucy.
• Customers in the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions who want a complete IoT platform.
iviva by Eutech is a strong IoT platform offering with an existing customer presence in the Asia-Pacific
and Middle East regions. Building operators in those regions who need an enterprise class platform may
find iviva a credible alternative to other enterprise IoT platform plays, with an unmatched market
knowledge and focus. Commercial real estate firm Colliers International has deployed iviva to provide
facilities management services to more than 1,400 office, industrial and retail properties along the
eastern seaboard of Australia. Other iviva reference customers include Bahrain-based investment firm
Arcapita, Farrer Park Hospital in Singapore, and the Dubai Festival City shopping mall.
The India-headquartered startup has raised $7.5 million in venture funding and has more than 15 customers
managing more than 300 buildings globally, which is good momentum for a firm that’s only had product in the
market since 2018.
• User-friendly interface.
We found Facilio’s interface to be clean, simple and intuitive, reflecting its focus on a particular set of
users and use cases. Rules were easy to set, dashboards easy to customize and create, and tailor for
different roles. Customers shouldn’t have much of a learning curve.
• Building operators looking for a modern, low-cost facilities and maintenance management tool.
As a brand new product released in 2018, Facilio was built for the modern world of IoT. With an average
deal size of $25,000 per year in subscription costs, it provides customers with a low-cost entry point to
facilities management that isn’t limited to buildings with a BMS installed. Facilio recently inked a deal
with the Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) to provide IoT-driven facilities and sustainability
management technologies to Dubai office buildings and residences as part of DEWA’s Smart-Living-as-a-
Service initiative.
Improvement Opportunities
Based on the Green Quadrant analysis, Verdantix finds that GE Current could improve on:
• Firms that prioritize smart lighting investments as a way into building IoT.
Smart lighting is a good entry point for IoT. Buildings that wish to start with smart lighting and reap
immediate energy savings can then expand into a broader IoT platform through Current and its partners.
General Motors did just that, installing 45,000 Current LED light fixtures at 32 different sites to cut its
lighting-related energy use by more than 60% and save more than $2 million annually over its previous
fluorescent and HID fixtures. GM is incorporating sensors and controls into the new light fixtures to build
an IoT platform and realize future productivity and energy-efficiency gains.
Improvement Opportunities
Based on the Green Quadrant analysis, Verdantix finds that JCI could improve on:
• Occupant wellness.
Space and workplace management is a relatively new area for JCI. While its capabilities for room booking,
hot desking and basic comfort management seem solid, it doesn’t yet have an offering for occupant
wellness monitoring, including humidity, CO2 and VOC levels, which more advanced space and
workplace management applications typically have.
• Sustainability management.
Though JCI has advanced energy management software, it lags in sustainability management. JCI plans
to provide data around sustainable operations, which will help the customer view portfolio sustainability
information in one place, understand how each facility is contributing to their sustainability agenda, and
strategize sustainability initiatives around poorly performing facilities. But all this remains on the
roadmap for the Enterprise Management product.
Improvement Opportunities
Based on the Green Quadrant analysis, Verdantix finds that KGS Buildings could improve on:
• Auto-discovery capabilities.
Clockworks Connect can auto-discover BACnet points and devices on a network today. However, KGS
Buildings is working on more advanced capabilities such as auto-instantiating and auto-tagging
monitoring points to the Clockworks data model. This will speed the set-up of the system, as these
processes, which allow Clockworks to understand what it’s monitoring, have to be done manually, or at
best, in a semi-automatic fashion today once the monitoring points and devices have been discovered.
• Firms with large real estate assets whose initial focus is improving building performance.
KGS customers tend to have large assets to manage, such as a university with 10 million square feet of
campus buildings or a pharmaceutical firm with 5 million square feet of laboratories. When improving the
performance of those large assets is a top priority, KGS should be on the vendor shortlist. Its FDD
technology has powerful analytics and can scale.
Schneider Electric has offices in 100 countries and serves customers around the world. Its BMS is used in more
than 1 million buildings worldwide, with about a quarter of those using IoT capabilities. Schneider also develops
and sells sensors and other hardware used in IoT deployments, though we are focusing on its software offering
in this profile.
• Extensive and open partner ecosystem plus development framework for customers.
Schneider’s EcoStruxure Partner Integrator Network and its more than 1,000 partner organizations are a
true strength for the firm. They develop applications on the Schneider platform and assist with system
implementations. Customers can also develop their own applications in C++, C#, Python and other
languages and have access to the same classes and tools as partners. These applications are then shared
on The Exchange, Schneider’s app-sharing web environment. Most customers use the Smart Connector
tool for customization rather than develop separate applications. Schneider’s partner ecosystem extends
beyond systems integration, with software firms such as IWMS provider Planon adding portfolio
intelligence, reporting and workflow capabilities. In terms of building joint offerings with other vendors,
having an independent integration partner network, allowing customers and partners to build on its
platform and sharing data with other tools, we find Schneider to be perhaps the most open platform in
this study.
Improvement Opportunities
Based on the Green Quadrant analysis, Verdantix finds that Schneider Electric could improve on:
• Digital twins with both 2D and 3D building visualizations and powerful analytical tools.
Siemens has an edge in its digital twin approach to visualizing building data. It can store BIM and CAD
data as 2D plans, 3D models or point cloud scans in the native format of the authoring tools, which
include AutoCAD, Revit, Autodesk’s Navisworks and Recap products, Bentley Systems’ MicroStation, and
IFC. Siemens provides Autodesk and Bentley Systems tools in the cloud to edit the BIM data without the
need to install the tools locally. Unique identifiers and georeferencing enable the identification and
mapping of locations across different models. Siemens brings together structural building data from the
digital twin with asset management and BMS data into a single visualization to give building operators a
comprehensive view into what’s happening in their buildings.
Improvement Opportunities
Based on the Green Quadrant analysis, Verdantix finds that Siemens could improve on:
• Firms seeking a complete platform from one vendor with open integration and development.
Siemens checks off just about every functionality box we’re evaluating firms on in this study. Though it
has acquired some capabilities through acquisition—such as the 2018 deal for Comfy that brought it into
space and workplace management—its current offerings seem mature across the board. While we’d rate
Siemens strongest in asset management and energy management, we believe it can offer building
operators a credible unified platform with strong data connectivity and integration capabilities. Through
MindSphere, it brings into play an ecosystem of third-party vendors and the ability for customers to
create their own applications.
• Building owners that want to take a digital twin approach to managing their real estate assets.
Some digital twins are simply a data model, but Siemens adds 2D and 3D interfaces, and a large number
of analytical tools to have perhaps the most complete digital twins we’ve seen in this space. Digital twins
require not just the analytics and multi-dimensional interfaces but also good data connectivity. Here
again, we think Siemens can check off all the boxes. Building operators ready to commit to or just explore
the digital twin approach should have Siemens at the top of their list. One caveat: customers should
expect a significant Siemens managed services engagement as part of the deal.
• Comfort management.
Spacewell has a dedicated product to monitor wellbeing, health and comfort: The Comfort Monitor.
Through IoT sensors and BMS integration, Spacewell continuously measures temperature, relative
humidity, CO2 and volatile organic compounds. It then visualizes this data on floor plans in real time and
provides standard reporting and dashboards that show the evolution of indoor wellbeing, such as
average conditions and peaks during the day. Customers can compare thermal comfort data over
different time periods and filter the information by spatial and other criteria to gain a better
understanding of the indoor comfort. Data on occupant complaints, requests and planned tasks can be
plotted on floorplans with sensor data, giving facility managers a more complete picture of occupant
comfort. Comfort management goes hand-in-hand with space management and we like the way
Spacewell has evolved to meet this market need.
Improvement Opportunities
Based on the Green Quadrant analysis, Verdantix finds that Spacewell could improve on:
• Cloud infrastructure.
Spacewell is currently hosted in private data centres in multiple locations. Public cloud such as Microsoft
Azure or Amazon Web Services is the standard deployment model for this space and is where Spacewell
ultimately needs to be. This will allow the firm to grow with its customers, better support their growing
data needs, and reach customers in new geographies.
• Platform expansion.
While Spacewell’s focus, both as a firm and for its IoT platform, is on space utilization and management,
the firm does have other capabilities in its software portfolio that could someday be brought to
Cobundu. For example, its Axxerion product for facilities and property management supports energy and
sustainability management (see Verdantix Green Quadrant Integrated Workplace Management Systems
2019). Spacewell also includes the O-Prognose application for long-term maintenance and asset
management. Spacewell as a combined entity is less than a year old, but the firm does have plenty of in-
house potential to expand its IoT capabilities.
• Building managers who prioritize occupant comfort and wellbeing in their IoT strategy
Improving the comfort and wellbeing of workers can result in productivity gains and a happier, healthier
workforce. Building managers who are aware of this can turn to Spacewell to help them leverage the
power of the IoT to improve office environments. Verdantix has seen the market norm shift to reinvesting
part of the savings from a space consolidation programme into better office conditions (see Verdantix
The Business Case For Space And Workplace Management Software).
Improvement Opportunities
Based on the Green Quadrant analysis, Verdantix finds that Switch Automation could improve on:
• Advanced technology adoption like machine learning, artificial intelligence and digital twins.
While Switch has benchmarking and optimization capabilities, it has yet to embrace more advanced
technologies like machine learning, artificial intelligence or digital twins. All of these are still being
researched and tested by the firm. We believe these technologies would improve Switch’s capabilities in
areas like continuous optimization of building performance, energy management, comfort, and fault
detection and diagnosis.
• Firms looking for an easy entry point to digital facilities management and IoT.
With its choice of adoption models, Switch makes it easier for firms to adopt its platform and find retro-
commissioning opportunities. Operators of older, less efficient buildings that have yet to embrace digital
facilities management should find some quick wins for cost savings in energy and maintenance. Within
one month of implementing the Switch Platform, Oxford Properties identified $150,000 in savings across
four locations as a result of retro-commissioning major building systems such as chiller plants, boiler
plants, air handling units and lighting systems.
Improvement Opportunities
Based on the Green Quadrant analysis, Verdantix finds that ThoughtWire could improve on:
EcoEnergy Insights manages nearly 17,000 sites worldwide, mostly in the retail space, both directly and through
partners. The firm also targets banks, K-12 schools, airports, commercial real estate, hotels, manufacturing,
restaurants and water utilities.
• Energy management.
Energy management was EcoEnergy’s original focus when it launched in 2009 and this remains a strength
of the firm today. EcoEnergy Insights produces analytic reports and dashboards on energy consumption
at different levels in a customer organization and shows operational improvement opportunities. It can
categorize normalized savings trends by region, climate zone or asset type. EcoEnergy Insights uses its
patented Service Window framework to identify the relationship between energy consumption patterns
(measured in kWh) and operations and site usage patterns. Once this relationship has been established,
EcoEnergy Insights analyses the patterns and identifies potential energy cost savings for customers.
Improvement Opportunities
Based on the Green Quadrant analysis, Verdantix finds that EcoEnergy Insights could improve on:
• Customer diversity.
EcoEnergy Insights seems strong in the retail space, but it’s not clear that the technology has made many
inroads to other verticals. Though the firm claims to have large customers across hotels, shopping malls,
schools and universities, airports and commercial real estate, it has no identifiable reference customers in
these spaces. The lone case study on its website is for a sustainability management programme at
Thames Water. Having publicly referenceable customers across different industries is a key area of
improvement for EcoEnergy Insights.
• User interface.
We weren’t very impressed with the EcoEnergy Insights user interface, which was very basic and data
heavy but not especially graphical or user-friendly. Customers are expecting a more intuitive interface
that’s easy to get insights from and supports two- and three-dimensional building representations. Most
of the vendors in this study are delivering that.
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