Cutting edge technology optimizes the operational efficiency of the building

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Realty+ talks to Gaurav Burman. He is the VP & APAC President of 75F India. His previous position was with Schneider Electric, as their Director – Marketing where he was also a part of the Management Team of Schneider Electric, South Asia. Gaurav has handled diverse portfolios in his career including product management, alliances, channel sales, and enterprise sales. What was the inspiration that led you to founding 75F? Deepinder Singh founded 75F in 2012 after he had designed some of the world’s fastest core networks for Tier 1 service providers like AT& T, NTT and Verizon. However, even then, he saw that there was a need to simplify the operational processes and create intuitive products. It’s this determination to challenge the status quo that forms the ethos of 75F, which is why we are the only brand today that can effectively address the energy, air quality and comfort issues of more than 99,000 commercial buildings in India and 15,000,000 worldwide. Eureka moment:Deepinder had moved to Minnesota, US with his family when his daughter was one year old. In the dead of winter, when temperatures are nearly -30 degree Celsius, his daughter used to wake up due to discomfort. He realised then that the thermostat was in the master bedroom and in her east facing bedroom the temperatures used to be 8-10 degrees cooler which the thermostat didn’t take into account. In his quest to fix this problem, Deepinder built the algorithms that consider temperature variances and thermal loads in different parts of the buildings. His personal experience inspired the inception of 75F, as Deepinder realised that the problem applies to many other buildings and wanted to make sure that everyone has access to equitable, comfortable temperatures. Tell us more about the services you are going to offer? 75F is a high-tech start-up disrupting the building systems industry by taking a fresh approach to HVAC, lighting and building controls. 75F’s solution is uniquely capable of Improving a commercial building’s Operational Efficiency and Occupant Experience, or (OE)2 Equipped with IoT and cloud computing data storage and processing power, 75F’s system is much more efficient than the standard building controls systems. We help commercial buildings save up to 50% on their HVAC and Lighting Energy bills! Due to the energy savings, utility rebates and ease of installation, the payback is typically less than 3 years. Simple, wireless installation can be done with little disruption. Cutting edge technology optimizes the operational efficiency of the building making it truly smart and automated. 75F's Building Intelligence System uses IoT and smart algorithms in the cloud not only to optimize energy efficiency but also uses the input from these sensors to proactively adjust HVAC, Indoor Air Quality and lighting settings to optimize occupant comfort and overall occupant experience. Studies show that each of these aspects significantly impacts occupant health, cognitive abilities, problem-solving capabilities, concentration, and ability to innovate. For e.g. as US Green Building Council points out, "Studies show that small changes such as improved ventilation will boost the productivity of workers by 11% while better lighting will spark a whopping 23% jump in efficiency." Another recent study states that overcooled offices negatively impact employee output by nearly 50% and extremely warm offices lead to an 18% drop in attendance and an increase in project turnaround times by 13%. Another highlight of 75F’s products is Facilisight, a futuristic energy management tool with a dynamic UI. Fascilight’s suite of web and mobile apps allow customers to manage temperature and lighting remotely and round the clock. It is an extremely user-friendly interface that has simplified the process of overseeing and managing 75F systems across sites irrespective of geographic location or complexity. It is compatible with iPhone, iPad and Android phones. What kind of cutting-edge technology is used by 75F to improve the indoor environment? 75F operates in the true confluence of Cloud Computing and IoT and it is the iniquitousness and pervasiveness of these technologies that is driving 75F. Using sensors spread across in a building 75F collects millions of data points from each building. The ability to process this data rests in the cloud where the data is analyzed to draw intelligent insights. This enables 75F to be able to proactively predict how the building is going to behave in conjunction with factors such as weather forecasts, the angle of the sun, etc. and determine the optimal control strategy in advance. There are three aspects of the indoor environment that truly impact an occupant’s ability to perform: Thermal Comfort, Indoor Air Quality and Lighting. Harnessing the power of IOT and Cloud Computing, 75F is uniquely able to control and optimally adjust each of these three aspects ensuring maximum occupant experience always while saving energy. How is the Indian market responding to 75F products? When we launched our India operations in August 2016, our focus was on some key verticals such as IT/ITeS, Healthcare and Hospitality in the four major metro cities. Today, we are a rapidly growing start-up and expect triple-digit growth this year. During the last two years, we have expanded our portfolio, entered new markets and have started catering to new verticals. We are presently managing more than 1.2 million square feet and our list of happy clients includes brands like Firstsource Solutions, Flipkart, Bennett-Coleman Group, L&T Infotech, Mercedes Benz, Maple Tree, Shell, Altisource and many more. We are looking at more avenues and profitable business verticals such as SMEs, BFSI, Co-working spaces and Retail. Factors like climate change, increasing air pollution and changing preferences of millennial employees in India has made it an ideal time to redefine things. 75F is well-placed to take care of this unfulfilled need. What are 75F’s goals for the next three years in the Indian market? The Indian subcontinent offers incredible growth potential for us. While new building deployments unlock a tremendous opportunity, the potential for us is much bigger since our retrofit-friendly solution is suitable for the existing buildings too. Our plans are to establish a strong presence in certain verticals like IT/ITeS, BFSI, Healthcare, Retail, Co-working spaces and Hospitality etc., in the 4 major metro cities. We have ambitious expansion plans for the next 2 to 3 years. We are expanding our capacity to offer solutions to various vectors – making enhancements to the capabilities and the scope of the solution, bettering the services suite, deploying additional market ready channels and a lot more!