SECURITY
for all sorts of sectors. But as regular stories in the mainstream press remind us, this intelligence can come at a price. The owner of four-star Seehotel in the Austrian Alps, for example, was hacked and held at ransom via the hotel’s electronic door system. The owners have since moved back to traditional metal keys!
Regardless of the teething problems, around 21bn "smart devices" will be in use by 2020, up from 6.4bn in 2016, according to research firm Gartner. The utilisation of the Internet of Things and connected devices in properties means that FM is now at the forefront of the fight against cyber-crime; and that’s why Urgent Technology decided to publish its most recent white paper ‘Cyber-threat and the FM solution’. We want to encourage FMs who are concerned that their systems might be vulnerable to take ownership of the cyber- security process by establishing the ways and means of safeguarding data.
QUICK OFF THE MARK
Paul Djuric, CEO at Urgent Technology,
examines the importance of expeditiously adopting new technologies that help
ensure buildings are not susceptible to unwarranted risks.
Workplace technology is changing faster than at any time in the history of facilities and maintenance management. Devices are getting smaller and more powerful, and battery power is lasting longer, meaning this tech can essentially wrap around our schedules, making life that little bit easier. We’re hearing more about smart buildings and smart cities. In fact, there’s now a global movement to ensure new commercial builds embrace technology, support connectivity and encourage data interchange between building systems, such as lighting, air conditioning and security, in order to boost efficiency.
The rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), connected devices and big data are offering FM teams the opportunity to collate and harness a flood of data that will, in turn, enable them to roll out a whole host of value-enhancing strategies. To truly appreciate and benefit from the business advantages that advances in facilities and maintenance technology can bring, facilities professionals need to be early adopters, driving change through their organisations by embracing the opportunities while playing to their strengths.
They also need to consider the threats before they can hope to address and improve any apparent or hidden weaknesses. FM has become more data-rich than ever before. In theory, this should present more opportunities
28 | TOMORROW’S FM “Around 21bn "smart devices"
will be in use by 2020, up from 6.4bn in 2016.”
The main takeaway from our report is that FMs and their organisations face significant challenges in the future in combating the cyber-threats posed by the convergence of physical assets within a building with data. This is why a wide-ranging and preventative approach should be taken to ensure that the FM can reap the indisputable benefits of building digitisation, while ensuring that facilities are not left open to undue risks. In the future, FM and IT must always remain alert to the latest cyber-threats, and must work together with their software supply chain to help reduce the likelihood of data breaches.
The IoT promises to be the business enabler that will help modernise the FM industry, estimated to be worth over £111bn a year to the UK economy. It’s all about making hard FM as ‘silent’ and as ‘invisible’ as possible. If FM is doing what it’s supposed to do, you shouldn’t even notice it – fixing things before they need fixing and working behind-the-scenes so the organisations we support can focus on operations.
If they haven’t already, all buildings will have an element of IoT in place, at least at a basic level, in the next few years. In future, new buildings will be designed with this tech in mind. FMs will still need to do what they’ve always done – and the fundamentals won’t change – so we don’t see this as a step change, more of a progressive shift. The potential of all these technological advancements are huge but it’s important to remember that we are at the early stage of the life cycle. We expect there to be some trial and error where companies experiment with what works and what doesn’t, particularly when it comes to establishing secure systems. That’s where we hope our research will help.
urgtech.com/cyber-threat-whitepaper/ twitter.com/TomorrowsFM
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