The Nexus Podcast

Latest Episodes:

🎧 #060: Jacinda Lofland on success with Tenant Engagement apps Jul 22, 2021

Show notes

“You have the people that are using the buildings and those are the people that we all spend time thinking about, but a lot of time it's just trying to guess at what they want.
And I just think that there's this real opportunity, with the technology that we have available today, to hear directly from them on what they want."
—Jacinda Lofland

Highlights

How real estate is changing: it's no longer just a box... it's a product people use (7:15)
How engagement was done in the past, what is net promoter score, and how apps can help (16:57)
Use cases for tenant engagement apps (21:39)
Two major criteria for success with tenant apps and keys to success (31:42)
Roadmap to rolling out a tenant app (38:41)
Perspective on getting people to actually use the app: more important that there's optionality (43:05)
Whether the back of the house tech should merge with front of the house tech (48:28)

You can find Jacinda Lofland on LinkedIn.
Watch on YouTube or read on the web.
Get full access to Nexus.

🎧 #059 - Cisco DeVries on gamifying grid flexibility and why fighting climate change depends on it Jul 15, 2021

Show notes

“If you get utility rate payers to act together like a symphony and reduce their energy a little bit at these key times, that net effect is actually remarkable."
-Cisco DeVries

Highlights

Cisco's response to John Oliver's segment on PACE (6:25)
What is OhmConnect? (12:38)
The two primary problems OhmConnect had to solve: engage consumers on one side and sell their aggregated demand on the other. (17:38)
Why grid interaction in California is mostly focused on residential buildings right now. (25:21)
The two reasons we need grid interaction and why every building will need to do it (28:15)
the public policy side of this and what needs to change to unlock this concept worldwide (45:40)

You can find Cisco DeVries on LinkedIn.
Watch on YouTube or read on the web.
Get full access to Nexus.

🎧 #058: Darlene Pope on the history of smart buildings, the 3-30-300 rule, and where we're headed Jul 08, 2021

Show notes

“So you start seeing this cross pollination, worlds colliding, the traditional digital workplace applications with the traditional smart building solutions.
We started working with our clients on helping them connect the dots on both sides of the house and the value. Not just from an operations standpoint, but from a space management standpoint,and most importantly, from an employee experience standpoint. That's when you start to really get to my definition of a smart building.
My definition of a smart building is everything's connected. It isn't just HVAC and lighting and elevators. It's not just base building and systems, but when you can connect into the workplace and more importantly, start connecting to the occupants, that's really when the smart experience starts to happen. "
—Darlene Pope

My Highlights

The first definition of a smart building (3:41)
The three early phases of our industry (11:16)
Darlene on the 3-30-300 rule and how to quantify the benefits of technology (14:41)
What Darlene learned at WeWork and how she pulled people and system silos together (27:14)
Why she joined Planon to knock down silos (31:56)
Defining IWMS (37:05)
What is Women in PropTech and how we can increase diversity in the industry (53:42)

You can find Darlene Pope on LinkedIn.
Watch on YouTube or read on the web.
Get full access to Nexus.

🎧 #057: Mandi Wedin on ESG+R as a driver for smart building technology Jul 01, 2021

Show notes

“We take that value creation reframe and we look at it through two ROI lenses. The traditional finance lens, which is return on investment, to understand the financial benefits.

And then the second is a relevance assessment lens, which is the risk of ignoring your risk of being left behind. And so when we apply these two ROI perspectives, you find opportunities to create the value, to innovate."
—Mandi Wedin

My Highlights

What is ESGR and what are some examples (6:01)
How ESG, and the E specifically, are changing real estate (12:38)
How the real estate technology community can be more inclusive (19:09)
How ESG is driving tech investments (23:59)
How real estate professionals think about buying technology (32:39)
The way to think about technology ROI in the ESG era (36:03)

You can find Mandi Wedin on LinkedIn.
Watch on YouTube or read on the web.
Get full access to Nexus.

🎧 #056: Sabine Lam unpacks Google's Building Operating System (BOS) program Jun 24, 2021

Show notes

"You feel like you're tackling an impossible problem because you're looking at such a broad set of solutions or in our case, now we're looking at such a broad set of manufacturers, and so many devices in our building, and every building is different. How can you ever address that?
We'll just address everything and then move forward with whomever is willing to move forward with you. It could be at a regional level or a certain manufacturer who understands what you want to accomplish, they totally buy into it, and they move forward.
Some others, not so much. You keep them up to date, but you don't hold back, you just move forward with whomever is willing to move forward. So that absolutely applies with the Building Operating System solution that we have today and our involvment with manufacturers and within Google as well.
We'll see how different regions move at different speeds, different construction teams move at different speeds, different facilities operation teams embrace the solution more than others. We're large enough that we always find someone who is interested.”
—Sabine Lam

My Highlights

How Sabine and Google helped change the building materials supply chain and how that is happening in building technology now (5:35)
The Google BOS mission statement (14:38)
The three specific goals of the BOS program and how it's being driven by cyber security (27:44)
Sabine's take on IT vs. OT. Hint: it's all on the IT network. (31:37)
The role of the MSI and contractors in setting up the BOS and our frustration with data mapping (40:15)

You can find Sabine Lam on LinkedIn.
Watch on YouTube or read on the web.
Get full access to Nexus.

🎧 #055: Ruairí Barnwell on designing and commissioning smart buildings and IAQ Jun 17, 2021

Show notes

"So you live or die by the data at the end of the day, not the sticker on the front door."
—Ruairi Barnwell

My Highlights

We need Building Intelligence Groups in every city (7:13)
How we can overcome the challenges with the traditional design process (21:00)
How owners are seeing the need for the IDL and how Nexus is spurring collaboration and community (26:08)
Summarizing the past year of IAQ and rating system confusion (31:45)
How building owners/landlords and tenants are investing in IAQ data (37:59)
IAQ snake oil, or as Aaron Lapsley says, Hygiene Theater (43:36)

You can find Ruairi Barnwell on LinkedIn.
Watch on YouTube or read on the web.
Get full access to Nexus.

🎧 #054: Ben Birnbaum on why solving climate means solving controls Jun 10, 2021

Show notes

"So that's how we got here... we were focused on enabling this massive energy retrofit opportunity or enabling people to implement this zero costs down energy savings. But then I realized there's no point if buildings don't have the infrastructure in place for that.”
—Ben Birnbaum

My Highlights

Why Ben is a superconnector (14:27)
Ben's 3 "Holy Grails" or massive opportunities: Project/Asset Financing, No CapEx Solutions, and Fixing Controls (26:24)
Why now is the time for this industry to transform (43:24)
Ben's advice to startups in our space (52:18)

You can find Ben Birnbaum on LinkedIn.
Watch on YouTube or read on the web.
Get full access to Nexus.

🎧 #053: Jim Whalen reflects on the past and future of Boston Properties' digital buildings program Jun 03, 2021

Show notes

“The point of Nirvana is to have a self-tuning, self-commissioning building that is completely adapting itself (based on) the outside conditions and internal conditions of a building. That is clearly an endgame here that we're all after, but that is only one aspect of what you're talking about in terms of the investment you make.”
—Jim Whalen

My Highlights

How Jim thinks about building tech in three interrelated buckets (13:49)
The landlord-tenant split incentive and how it makes technology a challenge and how we're very early in solving it (17:47)
A smart buildings endgame (23:44)
Boston Properties' data journey and how they've applied what they've learned and how they're looking for the next set of tools (30:38)
How Jim is thinking about analytics as the next toolset (43:50)
Jim's keys to the success they've had in the last 10 years digitizing buildings (52:10)

You can find Jim Whalen on LinkedIn.
Watch on YouTube or read on the web.
Get full access to Nexus.

🎧 #052: Rob Huntington on the shift to Converged Networks, MSIs, and the "sun setting on the BMS" May 27, 2021

Show notes

“The sun is setting on building management systems as we know it and change is coming through building operating systems and packaged equipment control, which when delivered will eliminate the need for field fitted BMS control altogether.”
—Rob Huntington

My Highlights

How Jim thinks about building tech in three interrelated buckets (13:49)
The landlord-tenant split incentive and how it makes technology a challenge and how we're very early in solving it (17:47)
A smart buildings endgame (23:44)
Boston Properties' data journey and how they've applied what they've learned and how they're looking for the next set of tools (30:38)
How Jim is thinking about analytics as the next toolset (43:50)
Jim's keys to the success they've had in the last 10 years digitizing buildings (52:10)

You can find Rob Huntington on LinkedIn.
Watch on YouTube or read on the web.
Get full access to Nexus.

🎧 #051: Rachel Kennedy on digital device discovery (Dx³) and reflections on teaching smart buildings May 20, 2021

Show notes

The digital readiness score is our way of quickly highlighting whether the building is ready (for new technology). We’re looking at network communication speed, the data density from the number of devices and points, the data accessibility based on the protocols, and the scope of the digital systems. And that's been allowing us to say, “yes, you’re digital ready”.

—Rachel Kennedy