Is it time to understand a Smart Transformation?

Perhaps, traditionally, IT penetration and its uses in the Real Estate / ECO companies, at least, in India continues to be underutilized and even if they have deployed the technologies then the technologies continue to work in silos and independent of each other.

For example, the engineering department designs and undertakes structural analysis, the outcome of their activities is CAD drawings which are in paper form. Now, at times, when you construct there are changes that need to be incorporated in the design resulting in communication and a lot of to and fro between the parties involved - architects, contractors, sub contractors and the material suppliers. Many a times, updated and revised CAD drawings are not available at the site thus resulting wastage, delays in delivery, cost overruns and most importantly, customer dissatisfaction.

It maybe argued that today, in India, there are many an ERP implementations in Real Estate / ECO companies and it very true that these implementations have played rich dividends to the companies in form of streamlining and effective transaction capture and structured data flow.

But now, with changing times, Real Estate / ECO companies in India need to look at the next step - transformation of their business and value extraction from existing enterprise data available in the advent of the SMAC (Social, Mobile, Analysis and Cloud) technologies.

Well... the transformation has to be - internal and also in the way customer interactions take place.

One approach to the transformation could be - implementing a "project centered approach", a "centralized platform" with mobile computing. The silos need to be broke down. There is a need to shift to a "project centered" approach and a need to collaborate in real-time... a need to bring together the silios - design, structural analysis and clash detection, energy analysis etc. on a common platform wherein they all see how the project unfolds itself and most importantly all see the "same" picture.

In a real-time "collaborative" environment on a "centralized" platform, the teams need to work together efficiently and need to be able to share data across computing devices - be it a desktop or laptop or a mobile device. This is where cloud computing can help wherein - the rendering, various anaylsis can be undertaken anytime, anywhere; the project plans are updated instantly using mobile devices... this is where one could combine CAD design and BIM and extend it to the project team.

And then apart from the traditional ERP solutions automating the transaction trail, there are in-memory computing solutions that can help Real Estate / ECO companies improve their bottonline through:

• analysing project variance data for a better understanding and early identification of possible cost overruns
• linking the Construction Operations & Finance for a project performance analysis
• streamlining design to have better pipeline visibility

The need for transformation further becomes importantly because the customer is changing and the customer expectations are changing too. For example, today, we are seeing the real estate buying going through a change with "disruption" as the main name of the game. today, there are housing projects been sold "online",  there have been tie-ups with the traditional e-commerce companies and portals to sell property, "online property fairs" and "online offers" on property sales.

I believe in the next 2 or 3 years the "real estate agent" will have no role at all, the middle-man will have to go, customers will want to look at available properties in the comfort of their homes - online (which they can do today too) but through a virtual reality (VRC) headgear, maybe they may want a virtual reality (VR) walk-through or perhaps choose a virtual agent to take them through the project details and its features; further they may want to visualize how their existing furniture and other stuff will look into the new space, may want to add their bit of customizations to the new space. All of this even before they decide to buy the home.

Works and projects are been developed wherein an intelligent machine program (of course, with explicit permissions) could track the customers movements, learn from preferences based on likes and dislikes to intelligently suggest the possible dream homes that one could take a look at.

In the post decision "to buy" stage, if the customer is seeking a home loan, the customer may want the real estate company to line a virtual interview. Alternatively, there could be a linking of the customer's income tax account and PAN details with the Banking Loan Approval department to give instantaneous loan approvals and sanctions. Also, given the Governmental initiatives on e-enabling of services, there could be a portal that will accept online property registration and documentation. Now, the real estate company needs to ready for such "disruptive" initiatives such may not be within the scope of the working of the Real Estate / ECO companies but could impact their operations and functioning.

And then there is the the safety aspect of the home - everybody wants to ensure safety of their dream home, their family and the furniture and all the stuff in the home. So, here come in technologies around the concept of "smart connected homes" and stuff like - automatic door locking and unlocking, motion sensors, voice activated appliances, smart energy switches and smart lights and bulbs etc. Though today, Real Estate / ECO companies charge a premium price for such amenities but days are not too far away in the future when customers will demand this as a "given" as part of their dream home. 

So.... if the world is changing and if the customer expectations are changing, the question is - Is it time for you to undertake a Smart Transformation of your Engineering, Construction, Operations activities or risk your business by waiting for others to be the first initiators of the change and lose?

Your Answer is....????

Smart Infrastructure Services - Second Step to a Smart City

Let us assume the city planners have used the necessary digital tools to look at the "big picture" and there are smart building owners and smart facilities operators who have implemented a Building Automation System (BAS). This will take care of the planning and some aspects of the management pieces of Smart Cities and Smart Buildings. Furthermore, also let us assume that, perhaps, to ensure uniformity and consistency in the approach to planning a "Smart City" the city authorities and planners have also considered and made it a mandatory requirement for digitized filing of all building construction plans for all statutory governmental approvals and for the subsequent maintenance of buildings constructed.

However, this could only be the first step... A Smart City needs to have more...a Smart City needs "Smart Infrastructure Services" in form of - "Smart Energy", "Smart Water Management", "Smart Transportation".

When we talk about "Smart Infrastructure" what we are really talking about is the deployment of smart solutions through use of technologies such as - cloud computing, analytics and sensors in a way to be able to detect wastage and "leaks". It is about been able to visualize the issues and then to be able to proactively act to correct the same, thus conserve the resource and ensure sustainability.

For example, using smart meters and sensors by the water or electricity distribution companies in a city, one would be able to understand and analyze the losses in the distribution system and then correct it to save and conserve the water or electricity resources. Furthermore, I believe it can also throw up interesting statistics such as - the volume of water demand or the electricity consumption pattern and can also facilitate things like - leak identification, leak prevention, grid performance optimization, prevent outrages, restore outages faster, time-based billing to the consumer and facilitate better planning. Also, the fact that the data is made available in real-time to the consumer, the consumer can now be proactively involved and educated about his / her individual consumption patterns of water and electricity and further incentivized for its conservation.

It all sounds very simple and easy and there is huge potential but the challenge is finding the right business model. As such there could be four business models through companies can engage and work with along with city authorities and utility companies: Build Own Operate (BOO), Build Operate Transfer (BOT), Build Operate Manage (BOM) and Open Business Model (OBM).

Also, it is foreseen that participants to the creation of the "smart Infrastructure" will primarily operate in one of the following roles: - integrators (the end-to-end service provider); or network operators (the M2M and connectivity providers); or product vendors (hardware and asset providers); or managed service providers (third-party providers overseeing management / operation of smart solutions / services).

I believe that the business models and the necessary ecosystem will evolve over a period of time, but are an absolute necessity if India has to achieve its objective of creation of 100 Smart Cities.

Smart Buildings - First Step to Smart Cities

A Smart City needs - Smart Buildings, Smart Service Providers, Smart Electricity Meters, Smart Water Meters, Smart Traffic and Road Safety Management, Smart Waste Management, Smart Security...

Now, the challenge is - existing cities and new and upcoming ones. Well... it would be relatively easier to incorporate everything "smart" in a new city but what do we do about the existing cities. The question is - How do we connect and bring in all the diverse and proprietary systems be it the heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC), the lighting, power, plumbing and water, if ONLY they are always deployed in a building. Well... the solution is simple - Building Automation System (BAS).

If a BAS is not deployed in a commercial and / or industrial building then there is a need to deploy that in the first instance and to be "smart building owners" and "smart facilities operators". Now, in the event, the building owners and /or facilities operators have been "smart" and have an existing BAS deployed then there is need to protect that investment and keep capital expenditure (CAPEX) to minimal.

The point to be noted herein is - A standard BAS has its own limitations and can normally manage and maintain individual systems but may not be really able to interlink between systems and hence not able to leverage the BAS infrastructure to report a status change in one system. For example, a standard BAS may not be really able to modify the operations of a lighting system or a HVAC unit based and thus optimize energy usage and consumption based on the say the number of people in an office or a commercial building.

To be truly "smart", we need a modern BAS with basic requirements that include:

• Device-to-Device Connectivity and Data Exchange
• Remote Manageability
• High Reliability
• End-to-end Hardware and Software Security

The Solution, perhaps, is - to look at Internet of Things (IoT) and incorporate a BAS Gateway that supports multi-communication protocols to provide connectivity between the device networks and the backend infrastructure network to the existing BAS. Furthermore, the BAS Gateway also needs to have a monitoring framework which is cost-effective.

Today, BAS gateways are available that can connect to various sensors say - a Smart Parking sensor, Office Air Quality sensor, Environment sensor (checks on the CO2 levels, temperature, humidity, etc.), Energy Management sensor, etc. all over a wireless (WiFi) network to the existing BAS. Once deployed, these sensors can and will help measure and realize energy and cost savings over the lifetimes of buildings.

The benefit for us in India today, is that we do not have too much automation in our buildings and building processes, so we can actually jump-start couple of steps on our journey and dream to create "Smart Cities". It very much possible to "convert" existing buildings into "Smart Buildings" and "build" new "Smart Buildings" using Internet of Things (IoT).

Smart Buildings is the First Step to A Smart City!!

Sorry... was away from blogging for a little more than a year now... but was busy...

It is been quite sometime since we have been touch and just thought of sharing a quick update with you.

Last week, I have been selected to the Core Team, and will be on the "Future of the CIO Role" Working Committee and also a member of the Working Committee Group on the Special Interest Group "Defining the CIO" at CIO Index (http://www.cioindex.com). CIO Index is the World's Largest Professional Community for Chief Information Officers and Technology Executives with over 60,000 members.

I was invited to and participated on a series of six CIO panel discussions in January 2014 to be webcasted soon to the CIO Community on efficient, future-ready and environmentally friendly data centres in association with the "CIO Magazine" and "Schneider Electric".

In December 2014, I was nominated to be possibly selected amongst the TOP 50 CIOs for the honour of "India's Best CIOs - 2014".

I was invited to be on the selection panel at "Welingakar Institute of Management", Mumbai, India for evaluating aspirants to the fulltime programs at the WeSchool in April 2014. The programs included were : 

• PGDM / PGDM e-biz / PGDM Business Design

• PGDM Retail / PGDM Healthcare / PGDM Rural & Emerging Markets

• PGDM Executive

I have been a member of the "IM Advisory Council" by S P Jain Institute of Management & Research (SPJIMR), Mumbai, India for the last 2 years running. The IM Advisory Council is responsible to review the course curriculum of one year and two year management courses in Information Management and recommend and suggest changes to the curriculum to align it to industry requirements.

In September 2013, I was nominated to the Expert Committee on Electronics, Telecommunications & Information Technology (ET&T) at the Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI). Established in 1836, the Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry is one of the oldest Chambers in India with an illustrious history of 178 years. The Chamber has over 4500 members from large, medium and small companies. Members of the Chamber contribute to almost 25% GDP of the country.

Smart Cities - Do you have the Big Picture?

Of late, there is a lot of talk of Smart Cities, Smart Communities, Smart Everything and the use of Internet of Things (IoT) in India. Most infrastructure developers, builders have projects announced which are smart.... from smart townships to smart buildings etc... Smart is the newest buzzword...

"Smart" is really not about just putting and integrating a few electronic tweeks and teasers in a residence or commercial building... Smart is integrating technology and technological tools in all aspects of planning, designing, construction and maintenance management of the constructed structure... Yup.. one can argue, of course technological tools are currently also been used in the designing aspect at least... but then there is need to an integrated approach... need for bringing all of it under roof and seeing the Big Picture as it will ultimately span out to be... In the long run, it really would be very beneficial commercially too...

Also many a times, when it comes to Smart Townships, there is a wanting need - to start at a very fundamental level of Town Planning and putting in a complete blueprint demarcating and plotting as to where the residential area, business area, roads and bylanes, railway connectivity, inter city metro / monorail connectivity are been proposed and integrated in the blueprint; how utilities, service providers, waste management, etc about be facilitated in the entire Smart City beforehand; in short there is need for a Master Town Plan and then on this Master Town Plan there is a need to in fact do capacity planning for the present and the future needs of the Smart City. When the Smart City is designed and laid out, there is a need to doadvanced planning optimization to ensure that the Smart City does not start decaying the moment the so called well laid Town plans are put in place.

So... in smart townships / cities if we do not have a Master Town Plan with all its planning and visualization (of course, there are technological tools that can facilitate that) then what we would be doing and really would end up is creating a receipt for disaster. Most of the time infrastructure companies have the land banks, they have the resources, but no Master Plan... they built as the need be and built as they think appropriate and that is what can spell disaster.

A Smart City needs - Smart Buildings, Smart Service Providers, Smart Electricity Meters, Smart Water Meters, Smart Traffic and Road Safety Management, Smart Waste Management, Smart Security...

Having said all this, the best part is in the execution... that is a very very critical piece of the success story!!