Seven vendors – Siemens, Schneider Electric, Johnson Controls, iviva by Eutech, Switch Automation, Accruent and Spacewell – lead the market for IoT platforms for smart buildings software, reflecting the highly competitive market environment. Independent research firm Verdantix assessed the capabilities of the 13 most prominent vendors in the market on their ability to meet customer demands for monitoring, analysing and controlling building services.

“Customers are looking for the holy grail,” commented Dennis Callaghan, principal analyst, Verdantix, “They want a single source view of their building data in order to generate money-saving insights and boost employee’s productivity. As a result, we’re seeing customers start with a single functional area solution and expand into broader platforms, which are set to account for a growing share of the $7.4bn real estate & facilities software market.”

The Verdantix Green Quadrant IoT Platforms For Smart Buildings 2019 is an independent benchmark of IoT platforms for Smart Buildings software vendors available. The study findings are based on a 108-point questionnaire, live product demonstrations and a survey of 304 real estate customers.

Key findings include:

  • Vendors leading the market for IoT platforms have been able to build out an impressive portfolio of IoT solutions covering various functional areas either by acquisition, such as Siemens of Comfy and Enlighted; or through partnerships such as Schneider Electric with ThoughtWire and KGS; or through in-house innovation like Johnson Controls.
  • Vendors are demonstrating various competitive advantages by focusing on specific verticals of clients and functionality areas, such as ThoughtWire in hospitals; Accruent and EcoEnergy Insights in the retail space; Envizi in energy management; GE Current in lighting optimisation; KGS Buildings on fault detection and diagnostics; and Facilio and Switch Automation in digitising facilities management.
  • The need to align solutions with rising customer priorities, such as employee wellbeing, is a key success factor for vendors, such as Spacewell and iviva by Eutech.

“The IoT market is entering a new phase of growth with customers just at the start of the journey,” continued Callaghan. “Digital twin will need to be part of the IoT agenda going forward, and a key success factor will be how firms translate this technology-centric trend into meaningful value for customers.”