frontline Voices: Paul Sheedy on SMART BUILDING DATA

Paul Sheedy is a seasoned technology executive with over twenty years of experience within the industry. Paul is known for his innovative approach and expertise, having founded Unifi.id, a pioneer in the smart building and data integration industry. Paul is passionate about not only driving clear output and profit margins for clients, but also about enhancing building safety, efficiency and sustainability.

Paul has a proven track record for driving technological advancements over the years, introducing new ideas significantly ahead of their respective times. Throughout the interview Paul discusses how data can drive clear change within companies today, the need to take sustainability far more seriously than he sees it currently being positioned and the challenges which the technology sector face when attempting to introduce new digital transformations.

The primary aim of this series is to showcase how companies and business leaders are using digitisation to accelerate their businesses. Unifi.id specialises in accurately detecting building occupancy and the locations of occupants within buildings. The idea stems from a greater need for enhanced safety and a better utilisation perspective, companies are delivering deep level analysis for the need for specific measures to be implemented, based on the clear data collected.

Paul Sheedy mentions, "Our ability to detect building occupancy with 99.9% accuracy is revolutionising how businesses manage their spaces. One client reported a 32% increase in billing by better understanding the real usage of their work spaces, all within the first couple of months of implementation."

Case Study:

• Client: Co-Working Organisation

• Challenge: The client faced difficulties in understanding the buildings real occupancy, leading to inefficiencies in staff deployment and membership manipulations.

• Solution: Unifi ID implemented their occupancy detection technology.

Outcome: The organisation saw the need for a radical change in terms and conditions, automated alerts delivered a rapid response to manipulations of terms, and greater clarity on membership tiers to increase income levels and control the secondary incomes available to the organisation. More importantly the organisations retention grew exponentially through greater customer engagement. 

Unifi.id has multiple ways to facilitate data collection, a core detection option is through an advanced microchip and antenna placed inside of a user’s access card. The chip requires no power and enables simple identification and tracking of individuals within a building. Unifi ID is currently advancing systems with new non-powered microchips harnessing energy from the access points, eliminating the need for current detection hardware in buildings. Not only is the idea pushing the boundaries of IIoT applications, but it is also advancing sustainability goals too.

Unifi.id, under Paul's leadership, has become a leading organisation in pushing the boundaries of where digitisation could potentially lead, enhancing buildings to think for themselves in advance of any variables that may occur.

A significant aspect of digital transformation is data. Every new digitisation effort, whether minimal or extensive, revolves around data. However, the key is the utilisation of that data. It’s crucial to comprehend and leverage it effectively in order to be successful.

Paul emphases the importance of collecting only data that is actionable. Collecting too much can result in analysis paralysis, a lack of clarity, making it challenging to derive meaningful conclusions. He states, “You should only be collecting data that has at its core a reason to enact change”. This approach ensures focus for meaningful results, avoiding an unnecessary amount of unused data, to improve business outputs.

In addition, Paul explains how data is driving not only business change, but also change in the way we think about automating decision making. Data provides irrefutable evidence, making it difficult for company executives to ignore issues of negligence or waste. He asserts, “Whether it is real-time data, historic data or the way in which we use data for predictive analysis, occupancy data is changing how we manage assets, increasing their value and enhancing more stringent governance requirements.” Companies are beginning to see the importance of previously unnoticed business matters and acknowledge their significance, driven by data collection and transparency.

Case Study:

• Client: Financial Institution

• Challenge: Review of their energy consumption, assessment needed on the building management of a high rise impacted substantially from post-Covid working patterns.

• Solution: Unifi.ID's focused on occupancy levels, overlaid the multiple impact factors on occupancy and illustrated the impact of optimising HVAC, energy assessments through sub-metering and advancing lighting systems to be fully dynamic.

Outcome: The institution was shown how reducing its energy consumption by at least 18%, having no impact on occupants, would save approximately £1.8 million annually.

In the modern world, digital transformations are always welcomed and encouraged, but they must align with sustainability principles. Digital transformations should focus as a core principle how it improves sustainability by enhancing company efficiencies. However, it’s crucial to ensure that all technology providers are aligned on the company’s core focus to minimise energy wastage to hit sustainability goals.

Paul leverages occupancy data to reduce energy consumption and improve efficiency and sustainability. The transition to a hybrid workforce following the COVID-19 pandemic has led to many buildings being heated or cooled for a minuscule number of employees on specific days. Analysing the data collected by Unifi.id allows companies to make thoughtful decisions to alter their consumption.

Paul states, “So we take all of the factors that will affect particularly your plateau of occupancy during the day, we take historic data on each day of week, we take weather predictions, transport strikes et cetera. And when you mesh all these data points, you can tell a day in advance how many people are going to come in and what that plateau will look like.” By critically analysing this data, a company can decide whether to heat a specific number of floors, turn off the lights or shut off elevators, thereby improving a company’s overall efficiency and sustainability.

Small changes can have a huge impact on an energy bill and energy consumption. Paul highlights, “When you look at just two buildings that we know well in London, with an electricity bill of £10 million a year, we know we can cut 15-20% of that. And I think we'd cut 20% off very easily. That's £2 million you're saved a year. But more importantly, that's £2 million of energy produced that's not going to be used by burning even more fossil fuels.” 

Case Study:

• Client: Tech Company

• Challenge: High risk buildings with specialist fire suppression systems, complex building with multiple evacuation points and a very slow ability to gather data on who was in and who left in an evacuation.

• Solution: Implementation of real-time occupancy data and evacuation module triggered of fire alarms. 

Outcome: The tech company has real-time overall occupancy levels 24/7, on a fire alarm being triggered management have exact data on all staff evacuating the building through 13 evacuation points. Insight into exactly which staff have not evacuated and their contact details at hand on their mobile devices.

With all business plans, there are inevitable challenges surrounding adoption and support. Digital transformations are no different and often experience more issues. These challenges range from procrastination, and siloed approaches, to privacy issues. Organisations need to address and tackle all of these to be successful with their digital transformations.

Procrastination is a major roadblock in adopting new technologies. Business leaders often sit on difficult, yet promising, opportunities for too long. The result can cause missed opportunities or leave organisations behind their competitors. Paul emphasises this as one of the biggest issues, “So now, what we see as the biggest issue with all of these opportunities for change, is procrastination, it’s never been more important to build and illustrate a rapid return on investment, even then, we see procrastination becoming the biggest factor in slowing progress.”

Another significant barrier to adoption is siloed approaches. A siloed approach involves the reluctance to share information with others in different management teams, with issues around ownership, budgets when implementations involve more than one department. Inability to resolve siloed managements in organisations is always detrimental, a failure to integrate with different departments where impacts may be skewed, often leads to the downfall of impactful plans for the wider organisation.

A common barrier to adoption is safety and privacy concerns. Overcoming these concerns requires complete transparency and understanding, demonstrating that data is used for efficiency and security purposes only, not for intrusive purposes.

Case Study:

• Client: Financial institution

• Challenge: Resistance to adopting new technologies due to privacy concerns and deeply embedded legacy systems.

• Solution: Unifi ID provided a transparent demonstration of their technology's benefits, ran over a dozen pilot projects, focused on all data privacy concerns, anonymising individuals to clusters of departments.

Outcome: The firm overcame initial resistance on the success of all pilot projects. However, systems were implemented by another major US corporate technology conglomerate, which failed entirely to deliver any of the requirements sought, resulting in the technology being removed.

With all the noise surrounding barriers to adoption and the complex minefield of data collection, there are significant questions raised in regards to best practices. There is no ‘golden playbook’ in regards digitisation, it is entirely dependent on your own organisation. Something which may have worked for another company, might not necessarily work for you and vice versa. However, the defining factor on whether a digital transformation is successful or not is usually transparency and understanding. Provided the project is clear and concise, and all the relevant parties are on the same level of understanding the risk is minimised.

Paul places specific importance on collaboration between specialised technological teams to achieve business goals with the highest efficiency. He states, “This is where by gathering niche technological experts together, we take on the challenge behind the scenes, to focus on working together. Doing this leads to the whole equation of when and with whom we push or pull data needed to enable building systems to work seamlessly and the clients systems are enhanced to minimise energy wastage and know in advance how it needs to prime itself for maximising efficiencies.” 

An example of this is a university campus that managed its resources more efficiently by integrating Unifi.id’s occupancy detection for attendance in lecture halls. This integration led to a full transparency on student attendance and enabled alerting measures for pastoral care for students changing attendance behaviours. It also streamlined administration and gave students clarity on attendance levels and highlighted where issues arose.

Finally, Paul calls for decisive action in business decision-making. The resources are there to be used, whether that be AI, machine learning or new specialised technologies. Digital transformation is an open opportunity for those willing enough to take it. Paul concludes, “Trying to get people to go and take the actions, make the decisions, implement and stop procrastinating, is the only thing stopping technological progress, nothing else, it’s inaction that has our buildings and the environment in a mess, it’s a sector responsible for 40% of CO2 emissions and one too slow to embrace change that is needed now.”

Paul Sheedy's interview clearly demonstrates that leveraging data and innovative technology can significantly enhance building safety, efficiency, and sustainability. Unifi.id's approach exemplifies the power of digitisation, showing how actionable data can drive meaningful business transformations. By addressing common challenges such as procrastination, siloed approaches, and privacy concerns, companies can successfully adopt new technologies. Collaboration and transparency among teams are crucial for achieving these goals. Ultimately, Paul emphasises the importance of decisive action in embracing digital transformation to harness its full potential.

Additionally, Trout can support these digital transformation initiatives by ensuring robust data security and providing comprehensive solutions tailored to each company's needs. Trout's expertise in cybersecurity and digital innovation can help safeguard the integrity of the data while enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of digital systems. With Trout's support, companies can confidently navigate the complexities of digitisation and achieve their strategic objectives.