We make data accessible and understandable, with real-time data, bespoke charts, graphs and analytics – all via one source. By driving building efficiency, we help companies to reduce costs and emissions and improve their bottom line.
Michael Grant, COO at Metrikus
Understanding how to optimize the environment, maintenance and usage of their facilities is key to the success of any organization. And visualization software provider and Microsoft partner Metrikus is developing software to help companies to do just that.
“Metrikus provides revolutionary insights, making spaces smarter, safer and more sustainable,” says Michael Grant, COO at Metrikus. “We make data accessible and understandable, with real-time data, bespoke charts, graphs and analytics – all via one source. By driving building efficiency, we help companies to reduce costs and emissions and improve their bottom line.”
Metrikus is a registered Microsoft independent software vendor (ISV) partner and member of Microsoft for Startups. Its platform is built using a range of technologies on Azure, including Azure IoT Hub and Azure Digital Twin.
“By leveraging Azure, we can gather real-time reliable data using the platform as a service tool, allowing us to reduce our operational costs,” says Grant. “Azure is now the backbone of our platform and we have conducted a range of technical training sessions with Microsoft’s ISV FastTrack team that have been immensely valuable. We have gone from being uncertain about the way that the different tools work, to Azure being the default choice for technology decisions.”
The company uses the internet of things (IoT) to help customers across the financial services, manufacturing, retail and public sectors connect thousands of assets and sensors in one digital platform. This enables financial services institutions to share data collected from components with shareholders and stakeholders to increase collaboration while manufacturing companies can use data insights to reduce asset failures, downtime and maintenance costs.
“We ensure factories are safe, healthy and compliant environments, all while lowering costs and increasing profits,” says Grant. “We can also help retailers to improve the customer experience with real-time occupancy and indoor air quality monitoring, ensuring stores are safe and healthy environments.
We ensure factories are safe, healthy and compliant environments, all while lowering costs and increasing profits. We can also help retailers to improve the customer experience with real-time occupancy and indoor air quality monitoring, ensuring stores are safe and healthy environments.
“Meanwhile, healthcare providers can benefit from asset tracking, automated cold storage, risk management and smart cleaning, all of which are enabled through Metrikus’ healthcare and smart cleaning solutions.”
Metrikus has also developed an environmental, social and governance (ESG) solution to help businesses become more sustainable to combat the impact of global warming and climate change. The ESG solution combines multiple data sources and sensors to provide insights into how to improve the energy efficiency of a building.
A great example of this is the work that Metrikus did with Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU). MMU had recently built a state-of-the-art Business School. As the Business School was a very expensive project geared towards responsible and sustainable consumption, MMU partnered with Metrikus to fully understand and optimize their energy use. Metrikus deployed sensors and overlaid the occupancy data with energy use. MMU was immediately able to see that a high amount of energy was being used compared to the occupancy levels.
Off the back of this data, MMU was able to optimize BMS settings and reduce operational hours depending on which areas of the building were occupied in line with footfall data. This quickly helped them to significantly reduce their carbon emissions and make their space more sustainable.
More recently Metrikus has worked with a multinational consultancy firm on their estate in Spain. Understanding how their people use their offices combined with air quality data allowed them to reduce heating by two hours per day, preserving occupants’ comfort and saving energy at the same time.
“We empower companies with the data they need to reduce their building’s energy usage, overlapping multiple data sets to identify hotspots and opportunities for reduction,” says Grant. “This enables them to reduce their emissions by up to 25 percent, so they can reach their sustainability targets and comply with ESG regulations.”
Interview by Alice Chambers.First published in Issue 24 of the Microsoft Technology Record.