Steve's review of Monday Live!

This event is one more way to help us get through the pandemic and prepare for a new normal in commercial buildings post-COVID.

The S4 Group, Inc. - Software Services and System Solutions for the Enterprise

Steven E. Jones

S4 strives to stay on top of industry trends and make sure that our products stay relevant by evolving to meet the needs of our partners. We share what we learn, through our Gateway Newsletter and other venues, to help you do the same.

Monday Live! is a weekly open conversation on Zoom with industry friends and colleagues, hosted by Anto Budiardjo. This event is one more way to help us get through the pandemic and prepare for a new normal in commercial buildings post-COVID.

Visit https://www.mondaylive.org/ for schedule details, recordings of past episodes, and a profile of panelists.

Each week the panelists take a deep dive into a different topic to share their views and insights. In addition, the panelists share important industry events and news that they have been following.

As an example, the discussion topic for one of the recent Monday Live! sessions was migration of our industry to a SaaS model. Here are my take-aways, in no order of priority.

• Building tenants will be pushing for confirmation that the spaces they occupy are healthy and safe. Not only on day one, but throughout the lease duration. The building owners are going to resist this.
• CAPEX vs. OPEX decisions drive a lot of the decisions. The only time that CAPEX investments are made is 1) when the building is purchased, 2) during a major renovation, or 3) when the building is sold. Far too often investments in HVAC and automation systems get deferred because of a more obvious need like repairing a leaky roof.
• The BAS Channel has not historically supported ongoing service contracts. In a lot of ways this points to a lack of sophistication in their business models. They typically go for instant gratification (i.e. cash influx) instead of building long term relationships.
• The discussion contrasted this to the sale of Cybersecurity products (anti-virus, anti-malware, anti-intruder, etc.) which always are sold under a subscription model. In this space the threats are always changing, and the products have to continually evolve to address the changing environment.
• Taking The long-term approach could result in increased revenues through adding an interest fee to your offering and continually looking for new things to offer the building owner as you build the relationship.

Overall, the consensus was that SaaS is a good thing but that it will take a lot of education to change the direction of the installation companies and BAS integrators.

I attend these sessions whenever my schedule allows. I highly recommend that you give it a try. I think you will find it as valuable as I have.

About Anto Budiardjo: He is the CEO of Padi.io and a veteran of building systems integration since 1990. In the 2000s, he created BuilConn, Connectivity Week, BuilSpec, and other influential conferences. Padi.io is a cloud-based integration platform for buildings in the Internet age.