Facilio, a leading US facilities management technology start-up, said it has already established a strong foothold in Dubai across Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven applications designed to unify building performance in real-time, within its first year of operations in the Middle East.

The Atlanta-based Facilio is the world's first IoT and AI-driven facilities management solution that covers end-to-end building maintenance, operations, sustainability, and tenant experience, across portfolios.

Having established a successful footprint across Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the company now has its sights set on the massive yet nascent Saudi Arabian facilities and building management market, said a top official.

"Expanding its global footprint with a key focus on the Middle East, the company today announced several successful client wins in the region, acquired in the short span of a year since securing funding from international venture capitalists Accel, who have also funded ventures like Facebook, Dropbox & Flipkart," remarked Founder and CEO Prabhu Ramachandran.

Facilio has also on-boarded several global partners to offer joint solutions and services to Middle East’s burgeoning real estate sector, he noted.

The US company has secured a total of eight contracts globally, managing a substantial 20 million sq ft of built space within six months of its commercial product availability, said the statement from Facilio.

Despite billions of dollars’ worth of investments in automation of building management, there still continues to be massive scope for improving operational efficiencies, it added.

According to Facilio, harnessing innovative technologies to drive a continuous flow of efficiency and sustainability in building management was something that FM groups and corporate real estate (CRE) firms were already demanding.

Its solution addresses this compelling need-gap in the building management space, it added.

"Facilio has always aimed to take the complexity out of managing buildings. By bringing in tech-driven efficiency in building operations, we empower FMs and CREs by putting them in the driver’s seat, enabling them to focus on their core function by ensuring a superior customer experience for building users and creating greater economic value for owners through cost-effective and sustainable management of buildings," noted Prabhu.

"The solution ensures a superior customer experience for the tenants. Facilio increases the lifecycle of an asset by 20 to 25 per cent, and saves nearly 30 per cent on operating expenses," he added.

The market has welcomed a software-driven approach to deliver real-time, predictive maintenance and enhanced operational efficiencies by harnessing the intelligence potential of technologies like AI & IoT.

"Humans today spend nearly 80 per cent of their time inside buildings. This has brought into sharp focus, the need for efficient building operations due to its impact on the wellness of the billions of occupants and users, as well as the environment,” remarked Prabhu.

“Providing superior customer service while safeguarding the environment is a key objective in managing buildings in Dubai. And this progressive approach is evident in the leaderships’ Smart vision for the city," he explained.

"CRE owners, building managers and FMs have been eager to adopt advanced tech solutions to provide a seamless experience to their customers, while optimizing efficiencies. And the intelligent, real-time control that Facilio provides is exactly what they have been seeking," he added.

A recent analysis report by Verdantix, a leading global research consultancy specializing in energy, real estate, facilities and maintenance, estimates that the global market for software and related IT services in buildings is currently estimated at $8 billion, and is expected to reach $12 billion by 2022.

Globally, facilities management services spend stands at close to over $1 trillion  today and the energy spend is also close to the same. And it was this premise and sizeable market potential, along with the pedigree and two decades of tech experience of the founders that led Accel to fund the vision of Facilio.

"What convinced us was their shared belief in the power of technology to create a positive impact in the built environment, using optimized systems, and intelligent, real-time control over the use of resources," remarked Shekhar Kirani, the managing partner at Accel.

"The built environment has been slow in the adoption of tech-enabled efficiencies. IoT & ML can completely disrupt the sector. So the potential for the future is massive," he added.-TradeArabia News Service