Collaborative ecosystems: KODE Labs’ approach to integrating PropTech solutions in smart buildings
Posted:
8 / 2 / 2023
Tagged:
Building and maintaining a smart building isn’t always easy. This is where WiredScore’s Accredited Solutions come in and help to make the journey to smart much more smooth.
WiredScore’s Accredited Solutions program was created to help landlords and developers navigate the world of in-building smart technology. This goal is shared by KODE Labs, an AS provider with 17 years of experience in the smart building space.
Solutions Engineer at WiredScore, Nico Lomas, spoke to Ard Stavileci, Product Management & Development at KODE to understand how they go about implementing their smart solutions into buildings.
Hi Ard, thanks for sitting down with me. To start, please could you provide a short introduction to KODE Labs and explain how you fit into the smart building ecosystem?
Hi Nico, of course. KODE offers an open enterprise platform that integrates all forms of building management, IoT, and operational systems into a single pane of virtual glass, with applications that reduce energy and carbon emissions. The platform also operates and orchestrates amazing experiences for the people that live, work, visit and play in the built environment. We’re also proud to say that we worked on RiverSouth, the fastest project to reach SmartScore Platinum (as of July 2023).
Ard Stavileci, Product Management & Development at KODE Labs
Hi Nico, of course. KODE offers an open enterprise platform that integrates all forms of building management, IoT, and operational systems into a single pane of virtual glass, with applications that reduce energy and carbon emissions. The platform also operates and orchestrates amazing experiences for the people that live, work, visit and play in the built environment. We’re also proud to say that we worked on RiverSouth, the fastest project to reach SmartScore Platinum (as of July 2023).
In a collaborative ecosystem, partnerships play a crucial role. How does KODE Labs approach building and maintaining partnerships with other PropTech companies?
The PropTech industry needs open collaboration to drive innovation and make a meaningful impact. We already work with a lot of other solutions companies in one way or another in building or portfolio level projects. KODE has over 100 integrations with different companies, PropTech and otherwise, with new ones released weekly, so I’d say we live in a collaborative and partnership-focused world. For all parties involved, the end goal is delivering an amazing experience for the client. More often than not, we see each other in multiple projects and enjoy the opportunity to build on these relationships.
What advantages does this collaborative approach offer to clients and building operators?
Again, the number one advantage this collaborative approach offers is an absolutely amazing experience to all people who use these buildings. It gives clients full transparency in understanding their building’s overall usage and gains valuable insights to enhance their occupants’ experience. It also gives them visibility and puts them in control of what goes in their buildings – helping them choose the most cost effective and easy solutions to deploy.
As the smart building industry evolves, how does KODE Labs help clients stay ahead of the curve and maximize the value of their investments in smart technologies?
KODE Labs takes pride in empowering clients to embrace the cutting-edge potential of the smart building industry while maximizing the value of their investments in smart technologies. Our primary objective is to deliver a seamless and, if desired, autonomous experience for clients operating in and around the built environment while quantifying the value of what they buy and deploy across their portfolios.
We firmly believe that if moving vehicles can be transformed into autonomous entities, capable of delivering an extraordinary experience, then standing buildings can undoubtedly achieve the same level of innovation and efficiency. To make this vision a reality, all our solutions are meticulously architected, engineered, and built in-house, ensuring unparalleled quality and integration.
By embracing a “cloud-first” approach, we continuously position ourselves ahead of the curve by constantly pushing new updates, features, modules, and apps within the KODE environment. This allows us to stay agile, adapting to ever-evolving technologies and market demands, ensuring our clients always have access to the latest advancements in the smart building realm.
Our commitment to innovation doesn’t stop there. We also prioritize seamless integration with other groundbreaking solutions, creating a comprehensive “one-stop-shop” for all things related to smart buildings. By fostering collaborations with other innovative players in the industry, we enhance the overall capabilities and functionalities of our offerings, elevating the experience for our clients.
There’s a lot of talk about AI in our space. It is technologically impossible to talk about machine learning and AI if you don’t have the ability to normalize data across all systems and software at scale. We’ve solved the normalization problem years ago and are the only company we’ve seen to date that is truly using machine learning and AI to introduce the next generation of smart building solutions.
We are in the era of software leading hardware and KODE is the best positioned product in the industry to lead this phase of our industry.
Are there any specific strategies or resources you provide to support long-term success?
The strategy and biggest resource we provide is our platform, KODE OS. This is the enabler to future proofing a portfolio. It is 100% vendor-agnostic and provides the visibility, optimization and analytics necessary to maximize the value of a portfolio and the systems and softwares within, while creating amazing experiences. It allows for deployment and implementation of any technology or system, at scale, affordably and quickly, in a way that can’t be matched.
Our Client Experience and Product teams are also always providing updates and available to listen and work with all of our clients and partners in designing and building new innovative solutions that address different use cases and issues in our space. With KODE, you receive the best technology with a human touch, at your fingertips.
Can you share some examples of successful retrofit projects where KODE Labs helped transform traditional buildings into smart buildings?
There are a lot of buildings and portfolios to choose from! Bedrock Detroit, QuadReal Properties, Hines, 800 Fulton in Chicago recently, Ford, ESRT to name just a few.
Bedrock
Bedrock Detroit manages, owns, and operates over 100 buildings in Detroit, Michigan,
and Cleveland, Ohio, and is leading the revitalization of downtown Detroit and
Cleveland through an ongoing stream of construction and renovation projects.
Bedrock Detroit recognized that operating their buildings with a multitude of various
systems installed by different subcontractors was not efficient at scale.
KODE Labs has provided Bedrock Detroit with an easy-to-use platform that enables
their team to proactively identify issues before they have major impact.They are also able to monitor and control assets directly from the field through native mobile applications, plus track and analyze the energy performance of all systems and devices across the portfolio.
Book Tower & Hudson Tower
Bedrock Detroit manages, owns, and operates over 100 buildings in Detroit, Michigan,
and Cleveland, Ohio, and is leading the revitalization of downtown Detroit and
Cleveland through an ongoing stream of construction and renovation projects.
Bedrock Detroit recognized that operating their buildings with a multitude of various
systems installed by different subcontractors was not efficient at scale.
KODE Labs has provided Bedrock Detroit with an easy-to-use platform that enables
their team to proactively identify issues before they have major impact.They are also able to monitor and control assets directly from the field through native mobile applications, plus track and analyze the energy performance of all systems and devices across the portfolio.
KODE OS standardizes the look and feel of data across the whole portfolio
from the building level to device details. We focus on providing users the ability to
detect and diagnose issues among other things and that only comes through simplicity, design, and a powerful analytics engine.
With the use of detailed energy dashboards, unique consumption reporting tools, and hundreds of millions of data points collected each month, KODE Labs’ capabilities include automated functional testing, root cause analysis, and optimization analytics. Bedrock now oversees the whole portfolio from a centralized Command Center, allowing them to operate at a completely different ratio of people per building when compared to the industry average, while providing an incredible service to their occupiers.
QuadReal
QuadReal followed a pragmatic and stepped approach to execute their Digital Strategy at scale across their global portfolio. We shared the same vision of standardization and repeatability being paramount. QuadReal created a playbook to address new construction projects and retrofits, across all asset classes, to ensure consistency across buildings.
With KODE OS, they integrated all their BMS, Lighting, Energy & Utility Metering, Security System, Fire Alarm Systems, Elevators, Parking & EV Systems, A/V & Content Management, Connectivity Systems, IoT Sensors & Devices, Enterprise Platform, Customer Apps, Work Order Management etc., in one single platform.
The Post & Thurlow
QuadReal followed a pragmatic and stepped approach to execute their Digital Strategy at scale across their global portfolio. We shared the same vision of standardization and repeatability being paramount. QuadReal created a playbook to address new construction projects and retrofits, across all asset classes, to ensure consistency across buildings.
With KODE OS, they integrated all their BMS, Lighting, Energy & Utility Metering, Security System, Fire Alarm Systems, Elevators, Parking & EV Systems, A/V & Content Management, Connectivity Systems, IoT Sensors & Devices, Enterprise Platform, Customer Apps, Work Order Management etc., in one single platform.
Similar to Bedrock, QuadReal is now working on optimizing their operations via Command Centers. The recruiting of talent at QuadReal is also completely different from a traditional real estate portfolio. Next generation tech, data, analysis and real machine learning and AI is deployed across the portfolio which means the opportunity for growth working at QuadReal is tremendously higher than the average industry opportunity.
What were the key considerations and outcomes of these projects?
For us, it is all about making sure we are listening closely, understanding the desired end goals and meticulously putting the pieces of the puzzle together in a way that provides an incredible experience during and post project completion. We have the only Smart Building Project Management specific platform in the industry. This allows for full transparency on all projects, every step of the way, providing the client with a way to stay in control throughout the process. Each project and client has some unique goals but the key ones we see are normalization of different systems across different buildings and asset classes. Ability to monitor, control, track, analyze and report across different systems and uses. Orchestration between different systems and ability to scale fast and affordably are big outcomes that we provide and are unique to KODE.
Outside of the technology part, the single biggest outcome that we provide that complements the technology is our end-to-end client experience. We have a team of incredible people that take the experience with KODE extremely seriously, from the first interaction forward. This has afforded us 0% churn since our founding which is something we are extremely proud of.
Do you have any general advice for building owners who are at the beginning of their journey to smart?
Yes, software leads hardware. Figure out the platform that you want to grow with. We are past the era of pilot training and two years of due diligence, it is time to start flying. The concept is proven and there are real companies, with real portfolios that are getting a return beyond anything they could have ever imagined. Buying 15 operating systems, and 15 different systems with their front-ends is only creating a new version of an old problem. If it sounds too complicated, takes too long, and costs too much, it isn’t the right solution. We’re in 2023 and there are companies that have a proven track record, zero churn, amazing references and real implementations that you need to talk to. KODE happens to be at the top of that list!