Smart buildings are on the rise and companies like ABB are playing an important role in ensuring installers and system- integrators are ready for this trend.
At the recent Light + Building show in Frankfurt, Germany, we caught up with Adalbert Neumann, Head of Global Marketing and Sales for Building Products at
ABB to discuss current trends in the smart buildings market and the importance of education for installers and system integrators (SIs).
Looking for efficiency
While security, comfort and safety are all critical elements of a smart building, Neumann named energy efficiency as one of the key drivers in this expanding market, particularly in large scale / commercial buildings. “If you are looking into smart buildings, the bigger ones, the trend is purely toward energy efficiency,” he said. Committed to continuous innovation in the smarter building sector, ABB is broadening its reach into KNX-automated HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning) with its new ClimaECO offering. Combining newly-developed products with ABB i-bus KNX system, the new ClimaECO offering presents a holistic solution for HVAC applications in modern buildings, from central HVAC down to individual room temperature control. ClimaECO is designed to improve energy efficiency by up to 30 percent in small to medium sized commercial buildings, fulfilling requirements for class A EU standard EN15232.
Configurable and customized solutions are another trend he pointed to. Flexibility is a key feature of ABB products to ensure that building functions can be fully customized. To underline the commitment to develop smart products for smarter buildings, ABB launched ABB-tacteo KNX sensor. This latest sensor is an individually-configurable control element for intelligent building management. Functions such as heating, blinds, lighting or comfort scenes can be controlled to create unique living and working environments.
Offering added-value
ABB does not provide plug-and-play solutions. Instead, Neumann explained, “Our value chain means that we are typically selling via technical distributors to installers and Sis, and they are generating value-add via their knowledge and their discussions with the end customers. They find out what= the needs and requirements of the customer are, and recommend the most effective products.”
Importance of educating installers/SIs
Technology is advancing faster than ever. The introduction of the IoT and artificial intelligence has meant installers and SIs must be up-to-date in their knowledge of these technologies in order to best help end users (not to mention stay competitive).
“It is important to educate the installer,” Neumann emphasized. “You still have plug-and-play business in the market, but if you are comparing the growth of the business all-in-all B2B2C business is growing much faster. This is because there is so much knowledge from the SIs side that fulfillment is simply what the customer needs,” Neumann said.
ABB provides education programs for installers as well as training. “We are offering training to help the installer better understand how to provide solutions once they know the requirements from the customers. Customers can define their requirements and needs, then working in partnership with ABB the installers can provide the best possible solutions. This training is something we are doing in all countries.”
In terms of the IoT, he said, “Today a lack of product knowledge is not so difficult for installers because we are at the starting phase of the IoT. In the future the challenge will be to meet the requirements from customers to provide solutions from a combination of different companies. At ABB we are driving the future of interoperability in the smarter homes and buildings sector, utilizing open platforms powered by ABB Ability, the company’s cloud-based, industry-leading portfolio of digital solutions, which supports the integration of multiple services and solutions from both within ABB and external parties.”
Busch-VoiceControl KNX is a new voice-activated KNX control system capable of managing up to 99 building functions. It is the first to be compatible with the big three market leaders in voice control devices – Amazon, Google and Apple. Meanwhile, the new MyBuildings portal allows customers to manage and control a wide range of automated home and building services, including ABB i-bus KNX, ABB-free@home and ABB-Welcome.