The Power of Collaboration: Smart Building Technology Providers Are Strengthening In-House Capabilities and Portfolios Through Strategic Alliances and Acquisitions

The smart building industry is undergoing a wave of transformation as established solution providers are streamlining product offerings, internally focusing now on the targeted customer base, in-house capabilities, and acquiring Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with niche capabilities.

• Bosch Group acquired Johnson Controls International’s Residential and Light Commercial (R&LC), cementing its market share in the commercial Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) domain.
• Honeywell acquired Carrier Global Corporation's Global Access Solutions business for US$4.9 billion as the company prepares to become a leading provider of security solutions.
• Siemens acquired Danfoss Fire Safety to expand its data center offerings. Additionally, Siemens, Enlighted, and the Zumtobel Group announced a partnership to advance smart building solutions through technical integration of Enlighted Smart Sensors into the Zumtobel Group’s lighting portfolio. The complementary partnership will expand Zumtobel’s presence in North America and Enlighted into Europe to further capture government grants and increase adoption in commercial buildings’ typologies, specifically hospitals, education facilities, and hospitality buildings.
• LG Electronics acquired 80% of Netherlands-based smart home company, Athom to enhance connectivity and Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities within smart home ecosystems.
• Schneider Electric acquired 75% of Motivair for US$850 million, strengthening its data center portfolio with Motivair’s specialty in liquid cooling and thermal management tech for High-Performance Computing (HPC) systems.

Already, 80% of 2050’s building stock is built. Existing buildings and infrastructure are aging at a rapid rate. Building owners and operators are actively trying to secure large capital investment to upgrade existing hardware and digitize portfolios to comply with government regulations. Additionally, local and national authorities are creating grants and pressing building operators to measure energy, water, and waste consumption, and to reduce resource footprints and carbon emissions to reap long-term operational savings. Globally, building operators are facing a shortage of labor, technical know-how, and knowledge to control and maintain intelligent building systems. A by-product of the labor shortage is significant downtime of building assets, which affects occupant well-being, daily operations, asset value, and brand perception. Lastly, smart buildings host a variety of equipment and servers, and store large confidential datasets, which is a critical concern for data privacy, safety, and security. With an array of ransom cyberattacks resulting in data theft and losses in millions, Information Technology (IT) experts, security consultants, architects, and system integrators are now roped in at the design stage to understand evolving technologies and secure building assets.

As awareness of decarbonization and green buildings increases, building developers and operators are now open to pilot new technologies. For smart commercial building solutions to scale and provide value for Facility Managers (FMs), ABI Research offers the following recommendations for technology providers to support the transition from analog to digital:

• Base business models on cost savings that support building operators to establish quantifiable and achievable performance targets in line with green building standards to track energy, water, waste, or indoor environment.
• Ensure interoperability of hardware, software, and systems to prevent data silos and support multi-vendor implementation.
• Accelerate product lines to digitize or support upgrading existing and legacy hardware through after-sales service that supports continuous repair to ensure customer retention.
• Publish real-world projects to demonstrate quantifiable metrics that reduce operational cost savings and solutions to overcome challenges faced.
• Introduce real-time asset monitoring platforms to extend equipment life span, support trouble shooting, and decrease downtime.
• Provide in-house training for FMs and building operators on upcoming product lines, and the benefits of interoperability, connectivity, and tools for increased adoption, thus easing the labor shortage gap.

For more information on the latest trends in the built environment, see ABI Research’s Smart Building 2025 Trends (PT-3215).