Interview with Mr. Gaurav Burman

VP & Country President, India, 75F 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. Prior to Marketing, Gaurav spent 20 years of his life in Sales and worked with companies like PCL, IBM, L&T, APC, and Schneider Electric.   Question 1: Please tell us about the inception of 75F, whose brainchild was it and how the concept of it was formed? Deepinder Singh founded 75F in 2012 after he designed some of the world’s fastest corenetworks for Tier 1 service providers like AT&T, NTT and Verizon. Armed with over 25 years’of experience in electronics and computing, he has introduced a range of embedded products inthe market. His key goal in every endeavour was to simplify operational complexity and to makeproducts intuitive. That is what prompted him to create 75F, an intelligent building automation solution that utilizesthe Internet of Things and the latest in cloud computing to create systems that predict,monitor and manage the HVAC needs of commercial buildings.The name of ‘75F’ was inspired by a United Nations initiative in 2008 to make its conference rooms greener by raising summer thermostats from 70 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit which was identified as the optimal temperature. Deepinder’s determination to create intuitive technology and challenge the status quo forms the ethos of 75F. Which is why 75F is one of the few brands today, that can effectively address the energy, air quality and comfort issues of more than 99,000 commercial buildings in India and over 15,000,000 worldwide. 75F is also the only player today to offer a predictive solution for solving the comfort and energy challenges of the commercial building market. The solution considershundreds of data points like weather forecast, building orientation, angle of the sun, humidity, air quality and mean radiant temperature. 75F deployments delivers a balanced work area with better air quality, significant energy savings and predictive maintenance – all contributing to increased employee productivity (social), reduced energy usage (environment) and increased profit (economic).   What is the USP of 75F? 75F creates solutions that harness the power of IoT (Internet of Things) and cloud computing to predict a commercial building’s energy needs and to then manage them proactively, making buildings more energy-efficient, automated, smart and comfortable. We believe in the promise of IoT to improve our lives by designing systems that work so well that you forget they are there. We started with one of the most serious problems in commercial buildings – HVAC – because it represents the largest single cost of operating a building. Beyond HVAC, there is a need to harness the power of connected devices to better control and optimize all systems inside a building like lighting, security, water usage and more. Another advantage we offer is that currently 75F is the only brand to provide full stack building intelligence solutions to our clients in India. From the hardware, to the sensors, to data analytics, to the user interface, we take care of it from the design to the servicing of our products.We strive to provide smart systems that are both easy to deploy and easy to use, thus giving building owners and facility managers insights into how their buildings are performing in real-time while giving them the power to manage and optimize their building resources remotely from anywhere in the world.   How receptive are Indian real estate players toward IoT? Many experts predict that India will be the place to look for IoT growth in the years to come. NASSCOM estimates that the Indian IoT market is expected to grow to be a $15 bn market, i.e. roughly 5% of the global market, by 2020. Disruptive innovations in the technology space such as IoT and cloud computing are driving the growth of the smart real estate market. There is a huge progression in sensors and devices that are being used to collect data. In India, smart buildings/ cities are projected to be a catalyst in refining working standards and initiating a transformation in the real estate segment specifically in urban regions. Indian facility managers are increasingly becoming energy conscious while at the same time prioritizing occupant comfort and safety. IoT powered Building Automation solutions can be truly predictive, pro-active and self-learning, driving away inefficiencies while increasing their bottom line and customers see value in investing in such technologies In my view, IoT will prove to be a game changer in this industry in the years to come.With increasing quality of life, booming industrialization and fast-growing awareness about the advantages of Building Automation & Control Systems (BACS), the Indian BACS market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of more than 22% in the period of 2015 to 2020, according to the “India Building Automation and Control Systems Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2020”.   How IoT will play a big role in changing the landscape of real estate in future? Internet of Things (IoT) is paving the way for Next-Gen Building Automation. Energy efficiency, profitability, business continuity, physical security and surveillance, etc. all form an integral part of today’sfunctional requirements when it comes to commercial buildings. IoT enables all of these at a much lower cost and in a more user-friendly manner than before. IoT is a platform of connected devices which have the ability to transfer data seamlessly without any human intervention. Therefore, it is no surprise that IoT is impacting various industries and is catching on rapidly in India. IoT-powered Building Automation Systems automate a multitude of significant tasks like monitoring and analytics; and make available complete and real-time views into entire operating environments within a building. Systems such as HVAC, lighting control & automation, security and surveillance, monitoring utilities, energy management, and other specific tasks such as parking garage fare management, etc. are efficiently managed with these systems. It gathers and analyses data, formulates and recommends future actions making the building automated and truly smart. We believe in the promise of Internet of Things to improve our lives and deliver energy savings without sacrificing comfort. We started with HVAC and Lighting because they represent the largest energy consumption for a commercial building. We aim to make a difference while refocusing the industry on why buildings are built in the first place: to provide an environment in which occupants can thrive comfortably.   Your Vision for the company? We want to empower people to work better and fulfil their desire for comfort. We are proud that our solution, which can contribute up to 38 LEEDv4 credits, is helping to construct a more sustainable world. Globally, buildings are responsible for up to 30% of all energy related greenhouse gas emissions. We hope to make more and more buildings in India and worldwide energy efficient, smart and connected through IoT and thereby increase occupancy comfort for thousands of people. With our solution, comfort need not be at the cost of energy efficiency anymore. Our unique contribution is that we contribute to our customer’s triple bottom line in a smarter, more intuitive way & at a lower cost: ? Increase employee productivity (social), ? Reduce energy usage (environment) and, ? Increase profit (economic).     ###