Is your building feeling a little flabby around the middle? Does it wheeze when exerted, suffer from breakouts? Does your building need a PT to tell it that it is eating too much and not looking after itself? Then you need Demand Logic.
At least, that is how its pitch to the judges at EG’s TechTalk Academy live final on 15 November might go.
“The best way to explain Demand Logic is like a FitBit for buildings,” says founder Sonny Masero, “but rather than just monitoring the health of a building, we go deeper.”
We can not only tell you whether there is a health problem, whether it is functioning the way that it should, but we also have an online doctor or fitness trainer that can help you find the source of that problem – the specific piece of equipment or sensor that is causing the problem – and help you find a remedy.”
So not just healthy buildings, but Olympic-level, properly fit, buildings.
When the company was founded just a few years ago, Demand Logic knew that the industry was not quite ready for the kind of tech it wanted to deliver. So it started off simple, focusing on energy savings and the specific pieces of equipment in the building that were causing energy wastage.
It was during that process that Masero had his Eureka moment, figuring out how to easily get data out of buildings and use it for other purposes.
Demand Logic’s “FitBit” now looks at comfort and productivity issues in buildings, maintenance problems, and managing insurance risk, as well as good-old energy saving.
“Getting the basics right around building systems is really critical,” says Masero. “We think there is a significant proportion of savings that can be delivered in using data just in the operations of buildings and making that operation much simpler.”
Software as a service
Masero says Demand Logic does just that.
The product is sold as a software service. It is a single device that is installed in the building in less than three hours (Masero says his record is 20 minutes) that securely connects the building network – the ventilation, heating, air conditioning, energy and utility meters and more – to the internet. Once connected, Demand Logic creates a virtual model of the building and starts “talking” to all the equipment in the building and gathers data.
Masero says no-one can acquire data like Demand Logic does and that even IBM and Google Deepmind, which have started to do building analysis, have not been able to crack the problem of getting data out of a building quickly.
A big part of the Demand Logic tool is also based around collaboration. Anyone using the software can log on and see their portfolio of properties, and there is even a chatroom for people to share common problems and solutions that their building’s personal trainer has discovered.
This collaboration enables Demand Logic to develop league tables that give it a picture of what real-time, operational effectiveness looks like. Key metrics are around productivity, the impact the operation of the building is having on staff productivity; maintenance, how effectively maintenance is being delivered in improvement of the condition of the equipment; and energy wastage.
Financial impact
The correlation between office performance – temperature, humidity and air quality – and how people perform is well known and cited at length in a world increasingly focused on wellbeing. But it has a real financial impact too.
According to Demand Logic’s calculations, if productivity is hit by even half a percent, the salary cost can be as much as seven figures in a City or Canary Wharf skyscraper – more expensive than even the world’s greatest personal trainer.
So, what will Demand Logic do if it is successful at the TechTalk Academy live final next week?
“This is a great opportunity for a young business like ours,” says Masero. “We are still struggling to raise our profile and help people understand how this kind of data intelligence and software service can be put at the heart of property management.
“We are in 10m sq ft of buildings but at the moment we are still seen more as an engineering tool, whereas we think there is real value in what we do in terms of the core delivery of property and real estate management services.”
Pi Labs says: The ‘smart building’ space is an interesting space that has attracted numerous innovative start-ups, and operational efficiency is a particularly interesting facet on both an environmental and economic basis. The combination of a compelling space, solid team, and significant traction make Demand Logic a very interesting company to hear more from.
Tune in to a special episode of the TechTalk Radio podcast later this week to hear from all six finalists in EG’s TechTalk Academy. Just a handful of tickets remain for the live TechTalk Academy event on 15 November. Find out how to secure your space here.
To send feedback, e-mail Samantha.McClary@egi.co.uk or tweet @Samanthamcclary or @estatesgazette
