Integrating Smart Technology Into Your New Builds and Remodels

Designing with Technology in Mind 

Integrating smart technology into your workplace has the potential of increasing productivity, moral, efficiency, and management. Smart buildings create the potential for self-diagnosis, correction, and self-healing when problems arise, such as an elevator that is in jeopardy of failing. Automation allows for building owners to be automatically alerted to problems in hopes of more cost-effective recovery, and maintenance automation is just one of the many benefits of smart integration. However, you don’t have to have a smart building to begin integrating smart technology into your workspace.  

Smart technology integration consists of components that can link together to form an intelligent building and office space. When smart technologies orchestrate efficiently it will increase profit margins, increase sustainability, as well as carbon-neutrality, and most of all productivity. From reduced energy consumption and decreased maintenance costs, to extension of equipment life, automation and smart technology reduces building expenditures. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, lighting makes up 20% of energy used in commercial buildings. Automated lighting systems can reduce expenses with controlled shut off and dimming of lights to reduce energy flow. The Department of Energy actually estimates a 15% savings with automation. No longer will meetings be disrupted with a, “Can you get the lights?” 

Integration Starts with Options 

So, what’s going to fit your business needs best? Is it smart lighting, as mentioned above, or will it be something more specific, such as smart presentation tools or climate control? 

SCS Home Entertainment can offer customized presentation spaces with touch panels and built-in camera control, as well as an electronic whiteboard, customized and automated presentation spaces, and remote meeting capability. Smart technology can also mean climate control automation in your workspace. Not only does climate control mitigate high-energy costs, just as lighting does, but thermostats can be monitored and controlled right from any device, even a mobile device. 

Make a Plan 

If you’re unsure how to begin your integration, start slow! There are a multitude of available options that are cost-effective and sustainable; builders and interior designers can move and plan for their commercial buildings in steps:  

• First, assess your buildings technologies, location, and ability to integrate smart technology. This can be done virtually, or conceptually, or both for a new building. If your commercial space is already existing, a comprehensive survey of building components will be able to tell you how items such as electrical infrastructure and lighting are connected. 
• Second, determine an integration plan. What are the goals for your business space? What will be essential smart technology to enhance your future space? Create priorities. 

• Thirdly, apply the set priorities of your plan. Existing facilities should take into consideration time of year, budget, type of business space, and potential interruptions when considering which smart technologies they will integrate. 
• Lastly, implement the design phase. Beginning your integration process may mean different things to different builders and interior designers, but establishing relationships with industry experts is key.  

 

With SCS, your options aren’t just limited to a business or commercial space. With the smart home solutions package you can control lighting, security, and have complete climate control all from your smartphone or tablet. Take control of your home with smart integration using the same steps listed above! Our homes are our safe spaces, and with smart technology you never have to leave the house and wonder, “did I lock my front door?” Integration of smart technology allows you to relax and rest assured that you are taken care of, from anywhere in the world. 

 

Just as you would with an electrician or plumbing expert that you trust, you should ensure your smart integration partner will continue to work with you as a client, once your integration is complete. Smart technology will continue to evolve, update, and become more efficient as data is gathered from smart technology that that can lead to identifying patterns and trends, leading to better design choices in the future. Your smart integration partner will be key in aiding your future integration decisions. Once you’ve begun integration, you can use your newly found expertise and partnerships in the area of smart building to grow your portfolio and establish your construction, and interior design, business as a leader in technologically complex spaces. Whether you start small with one or two features, or you fully integrate your home or business into a modernized smart space, SCS is there to help.