Rida Klink, CEO of Augment, thinks that connected objects in combination with fifth generation cell phone standards will revolutionize facility management with its increased efficiency and real-time improvements.
Founded in July 2019, the Lebanese-born, Luxembourg-based startup Augment is on a mission to bring facility management into the digital age through innovation and collaboration.
The goal of the 11-person startup is to support facility managers in their daily service offering, through an efficient and user-friendly information platform.
In concrete terms, Augment compiles the available data of the building, those of its own technical database, as well as the dronaic images of the exterior and scanned images of the interior.
This information, which includes data on the building, its spaces equipment and occupants, is then accessible via a home application with 3D representation of the building and visualization of the object and its technical specifications in augmented reality mode.
Based on cloud technology and accessible via a web browser, the application is interactive – the information can be shared – and is interoperable with other software. Augment also offers a hosting package, which includes storage of the model on its servers, customer and technical support, and data updates.
For Rida Klink, one of the 3 founders of the company, 5G, AI, 3D (Building Information Modelling) and augmented reality technologies will revolutionize the traditional jobs of the facility manager, especially maintenance and management.
“Today, we talk about ’meche technology’ with the networking of several connected objects.”
Rida Klink
What are the benefits of connected objects for building management?
A facility manager needs to have a reliable real-time image of the building, its operation, its spaces and its equipment. Technology already provides him with a digital twin of the building. But to get the full picture, he currently has to use different systems and databases – for contract management, for maintenance, for cleaning, etc. – that are not connected to each other.
Advances in IoT and the billions of connected objects that are coming in the future, will enable more secure and accurate building management and maintenance. In concrete terms, the facility manager will be able to benefit from real-time information feedback to his system, to analyze data, but also to control the equipment in his building, thanks to web-based automation.
Today, we talk about ’meche technology’ with the networking of several connected objects, for example, 3 lamps connected together via the Internet. Via one of the lamps, we can manage the other lamps, and thus reduce the constraints and installation costs of these objects. However, 4G cannot support such technological developments.
What progress will 5G bring to the facility manager?
5G will connect all objects and equipment together, and make them communicate with each other. The facility manager will then have a single management system for everything, which he will control via a central platform hosted on a single site, which can be linked to external applications via APIs. He will use these connected objects as he wishes, according to his needs.
Similarly, a connected object can have several different sensors and meters, which can be individually activated or deactivated via the network.
Also, maintenance and repair needs will be notified in real time to the facility manager; security processes and reporting will be in real time. Information on the operation of the building will also be more detailed. Similarly, better documentation of systems will reduce disputes between owners, tenants and facility managers. IoT and the advent of 5G will revolutionize facility management!
This article was first published in Silicon Luxembourg magazine. Get your copy.
