An intelligent building that reacts to the movements and behavior of its inhabitants might sound like the opening scenes of a sci-fi movie. But it's not. And it could open up a whole new world of opportunities for service providers.

The connected workplace  offers countless possibilities. Imagine an office that reads facial expressions and reacts accordingly. It can adjust the lighting to help staff concentrate, or turn down the air-conditioning if they look sleepy.

Instead of having such building systems run on separate networks, you can now create a single smart building solution. One that brings together lighting, ventilation and air-conditioning, metering, CCTV, and physical security onto a converged IP network.

Another key reason to control these building services via the internet is to reduce costs.  For example, presence sensors connected to lights can 'tell' the system that no one is in that part of the building. It will then dim the lights accordingly.

The building management system can be controlled via the cloud. Building tenants can access the system to set their own controls and policies for their own floors. This gives the tenant flexibility to pick and choose what service they want to use.

Smiles all around

Monitoring staff through facial recognition -even if used only to alter lighting and temperature control -might not suit some companies. But they could use that technology to improve the workplace experience. For example, for security, rather than using badges.

Think of the key people that will be interested in such intelligent building management systems, and why. CFOs will appreciate the operational cost savings. HR directors and CIOs will appreciate the potential increase in staff productivity and connectivity.

New possibilities

We live in a world where cities are becoming ever smarter. Public spaces are now more connected and the increased use of data analytics is helping to enhance those spaces.

These developments are now making their way into the office space. Just look at the integration between personal smart devices and their use in the workplace.

The drive towards internet-based connectivity is irresistible. Cisco predicts there will be more than 26.3 billion network devices and connections by 2020, nearly half of which will be "things".

Find out more

It's a great time for your business to drive new IoT services and create new profitable outcomes in a digital world. Learn more about Cisco's Digital Ceiling solutions for smart buildings here.