Transcript: How Retail is Adapting to Customer Demands through Smart Building

Hello, hello everyone. It is Friday. I'm so excited to be here live streaming with you on YouTube on LinkedIn on Periscope on twitch and We're on Clubhouse too. So for those of you who are out there in virtual world I'm just so super excited to bring to you this conversation today You guys are in store for some really cool stuff around retail and technology and future Thinking but before I get into who our guest is today. I just wanted to ask you guys a question How's your day going?

Put it in the chat. Are you doing amazing? Are you ready for the weekend? I know I am just go ahead and put something in the chat and just say hey I'm ready for the weekend or I'm glad it's Friday or I'm still working and I'm eating lunch Like just let me know what you're doing. I'd love to hear from you I'm just really excited to be here today to talk with you and really um Get some conversation going Really really cool thing if you're on Clubhouse you can join on to the conversation and Be able to ask ask some questions from our guests So just letting you know not only can you pop it in the chat, but you can actually join the conversation Audio-wise if you're able to join on Clubhouse, so without further ado, my name is Brittany Campbell Turner.

I am the CEO and founder of Constructor and I am so excited to bring to you Anthony Varie he is the director of smart cities and wireless mobility at integrated network Concept he is a public speaker on smart cities and smart buildings his experience with BD He's you know, obviously out there spreading the word about smart technology So with that he's gonna be your resource today around IT IOT I IOT IOT LTE and wireless in terms of retail So with that we're gonna jump into the conversation first and foremost Anthony welcome to the constructor podcast Brittany thank you so much for having me on today.

Really excited to talk to you and to everybody who is attending Excellent. So first and foremost, I shared a little bit of an introduction for you Tell us how did you even get into the industry the building industry in the first place? So it's interesting because The building industry wasn't something that was on my radar when I was working in IT and wireless communications what had happened was the technology advanced to a point where the interest from the building world Had an appetite to see what was out there as far as technology wireless communication and how I could help the built world so from dealing with smart cities and traditional IT networks, I Started dabbling in with a lot of the smart technology building automation systems and then solutions that were using AI and even kovat solutions to help retail and commercial real estate Okay, so you kind of fell into this.

I find a lot of people kind of fall into this industry I was what I think I'm one of the very few that actually decided Yes, I'm gonna actually work with building nobody in my family whatsoever worked in construction Nothing like that. My parents are immigrants like they just you know, they they focused on education and science So me wanting to work in construction totally just ran Random thing for me to select but I was very focused and wanting to do that But many many people have told me falling into it is very very common Wow Well, that was my scenario as well So Anthony, um you know, we talked a little bit about what your experience has been and just kind of Not necessarily getting work around the smart city space Coming into 2020 due to the pandemic.

Yeah, what were what were some of the causes from what you? Seen and what you had communicated with some of your prior clients So what happened after the pandemic? Started really rooting down here in the US a lot of the smart city Projects and initiatives that put on hold or put on the shelf or completely cancelled and cities knew that there was going to be a wave of decreased budgets decreased money coming in from Income tax property tax sales tax that was going to be reduced from the initial shutdown that we had in March and April of 2020 and It wasn't going to end so they knew it was going to be long and They had to prepare for it.

Some cities made cuts to staff They had to quickly adapt and see a not only cities but enterprise Had to realize how can we still work with a lot of people working from home and working remotely? So That was a major concern and a major pain point initially in the beginning was getting everybody connected But then the scenarios and conversations started to change Anthony what can we do to open up these buildings safely? And how do we know if they're safe and healthy? Is there a way to track the performance in buildings and then also?

They were asking what solutions do you have that could help combat? Coronaviruses what can help purify the air? sanitize and disinfect surfaces and not only Doing that but can we validate that these solutions are actually working? I Man what I think that that part about validation Anthony. That's probably the part that From from conversations you and you and I have had that's the part that people have been getting wrong So if you've been able to help That I think that is a huge credit to you to be able to supply that to your to your clients now That they've been shifting their thinking like well, how do we do this?

And then how do we verify that what we're doing is right? So that that is very critical If you buy something and just rely on the marketing material that is pumped out to the public You have no way of knowing if the solutions act actually working or not and you you could have a false narrative that you're promoting That you have a safe healthy environment for people to come into and that may not be the case a lot of these solutions And I we've talked about this before that we've that I've tested with an infectious disease laboratory.

That's renowned a Lot of these solutions that were tested even before coming in were proven to work But then used in living labs and mock labs They they didn't perform and the efficacy of those solutions just weren't up to par Now some of that is related to engineering and the integration in the environment that they're being installed in if you're talking about UVC lighting if it's in building you have to look at the light propagation which is another difficult task because UVC light is not visible to the human eye you have to know the distance and how far the light is propagating and The intensity of those UVC lights So there's engineering that still needs to be done even after you buy a solution that is said to Work against coronaviruses.

So that's just UVC lighting but that applies to everything else in each fact if you're using needle point or bipolar needle point Ionization if you're using HEPA filters mer filters and Sometimes the more robust filters restrict airflow and that could cause The HVAC equipment to work harder. It could cause more failures and more repairs. So you have to look at it from a bird's-eye point of view and say How much are we spending on the solution? What's the ongoing optics cost? How are we going to validate that?

It's actually working Because when you're using Central HVAC to try to combat coronaviruses let's just take a scenario where a conference hall is pristine and clean and then you have a hundred people come in and Ten people have the corona virus How quickly is centrally HVAC able to take the virus out of the air? Filter it and get clean air back into that room The likelihood of doing that before somebody gets contaminated is very slim So we've always heard There's best case scenarios of ideal indoor Air quality that you're looking for and one is to bring in more outside air.

You always hear that But a lot of people haven't thought about you know Are we going to bring in outside air if there's forest fires a couple cities away and outside air isn't that clean to begin with or if you're in a downtown area and there's smog or there's a lot of industry that is polluting your air So outside air makes sense if the outside air is clean So you also have to pay attention to the AQI and the IAQ So we're talking about the air quality index and the indoor air quality So those are two things you want to monitor besides The solution that you're procuring for an in-building Solution for COVID or so these aren't just for COVID.

We also help eliminate other common viruses bacteria and germs Yeah, that's that's That's the real good beady stuff that I'm glad you got into I was gonna ask you for specifics on what what specific applications For for bettering your indoor air quality indoor air quality. Have you implemented and or gotten? The ability to validate whether they're working well or not. So I'm really super glad that you you dug into them I think those are common ones that we've been hearing about the UVC light the bipolar ionization and the additional fresh air intake So yeah, I think I think that's super good Of course people have been thinking about well, how do we manage for the virus itself?

You mentioned to me that one of your retail clients and I don't know if you can share anything more about them but you shared that they um were going Above and beyond now this thinking of what can we do to upgrade our system simply for the virus and They were thinking a little bit more long term So tell me tell me a little bit more about what took place here with this client So given the pandemic and how Much pain it's caused retail commercial. I you know retail here in the US and obviously around the world People were at home people weren't going out as much people were buying online from various sources and even food So how do you build the trust back with the public to get them back into the retail spaces?

That we were used to prior to the pandemic Yes, Amazon and eBay and Alibaba and other big retailers online Were already getting big but retail spaces were still used heavily so What they're trying to do is They use this time to look at solutions and to build a strategy to come out running when Everybody started going back and are gonna go to these retail spaces So to do that they wanted to make sure that people knew that they implemented some solutions and some solutions that would work and They were also very conscious of Energy they were looking at becoming more green It would help their bottom line it would lower their energy costs and it would also Create good rapport with the public that they were being conscious of a lot of big topics that The world is looking at so initially They had very old legacy each fact equipment

So they were upgrading that to new equipment and then we're looking at building automation systems so that they could do predictive and preventive maintenance on the equipment understand how it's performing and reduce energy costs and reduce maintenance on all these units that they had because they had Numerous properties across the US and then to get this equipment to work. They needed internet connectivity So I was I'm working with them to bring internet connectivity to all these sites that they previously had none and Then they're also looking at becoming the internet service provider for their tenants that occupy these retail spaces so before We do that.

I will be conducting feasibility studies at each of these properties to understand and show them The numbers if it makes sense to even pursue That opportunity if it is economically feasible and if there's revenue for them to be had Then above and beyond that they were looking at things that they could use on their windows there's solutions that will keep the windows cleaner longer than current practices and Some of these solutions that you use to clean the windows can also improve the indoor air quality So it sounds very odd.

It's very technical and I Deals with a lot of chemistry and so I should talk about that offline if anybody wants more details about that, but then Another important thing that they wanted to know you were paying for outside market research to understand customer traffic Who was coming and when and where and a lot of times they're paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for this information And by the time they get it, it's sort of outdated So another phase of this project is Building outdoor Wi-Fi and Bluetooth networks that will be able to Anonymously track customer behaviors When and what time they're coming in these parking lots where they're parking how many people are?

How many people are traversing are there areas of the parking lot that are never used or occupied then they can maybe repurpose that spot of the parking lot So there that was another phase and then also to bring in another revenue stream I open them up to the idea of leasing part of their land For some of the carriers and the cell carriers for small cell sites and I showed them some of the small cells that look like regular Parking pole lamps that they currently have So that's another phase for this.

So these are some of the beginning phases, but there's more but it just shows you that They're taking steps and being proactive and they're wanting information So by building the outdoor Wireless networks not only are they gathering real-time data? But then they'll be able to make better decisions in real time as well Yeah, you know Anthony you you dug into a lot there and I want to Know I know it's great I want to pick it apart a little bit because I mean we talk about retail But a lot of people when when they think about retail, they don't think about all of the types of property Um that one might need to manage in order for retail to be successful Especially now a lot it's a lot of warehousing It's I mean it's and people are having to up their real estate and warehousing because of the amount of deliveries

So just curious as to what kind of properties maybe above and beyond what I just mentioned Um, are you are you helping them to address with with the various ways of? implementing technology So when it comes to retail what you're seeing is some of the big box stores are using smaller spaces because of the change in human behaviors and purchasing behaviors because of the pandemic And the trend of more things being available online So the ability You know, we're in this very impatient world in society where we want things now and I don't want to say amazon sort of spoiled us in Their deliveries in one day sometimes same day delivery Uh, so retail is realizing hey We got stuff and we're close by the people that buy from us We could do same day delivery and or within an hour or two pick up

so to be able to deliver that and Specify parking but then to even know when those people come without having them to call a number or Take another action if you could simplify this process And make it repeatable rinse and repeat where you get people coming in parking and you deliver what they bought And they're off and running if they don't want to come in the store. It's a great way to keep your business up And not lose those customers to online retailers because we all know there are things that you need the same day That amazon can't always meet your needs on everything So this is a way that they could realize Real-time on-time delivery And still be relevant in uh in the market Excellent.

So before we move on to my next question to dig into uh, what you what we want to unpack here I'm just going to kind of give the audience maybe those who are just checking in a sense of what we're talking about today This is a constructor podcast. We are interviewing anthony very director of smart cities and wireless mobility At integrated network concepts and we're discussing right now how retail is adapting to customer demands through smart building technology, so we just talked a little bit about how Retail companies are thinking about how do they maximize the use of some smaller sites and may not necessarily be Big warehouse locations.

So I I think that's really cool. So the next question I wanted to ask you anthony Is only because I have a little experience in retail just just enough to be dangerous um I know that there has been a ton of research around customer activity particularly in store um in order to see how long people linger at particular locations looking at Um, you know a particular product that kind of thing is there a translation of that to now online or within the parking lot or anything like that that you're aware of so that Retailers are thinking about now.

How do they adapt to making sure that to your point they're they're taking out the They are taking out the points of failure or the points of risk in order for that customer to still maintain happiness Yeah, so i'll touch on the first part of your question where you said Retailers are paying attention to traffic inside their stores And they're doing that with wi-fi and bluetooth access points that can see where people are moving throughout their stores And if there's areas of something that they're buying they may move it to a different aisle a different shelf or height level if they see that some products aren't being seen or Purchased as frequently so this is great data for them to have and to Manipulate and make changes and then see fairly quickly if those changes actually improve the the scenario That they were looking at

so when it comes to the outside and delivery and pickups and purchases that way This is also new data that they're going to be looking to collect to see how they can optimize And maximize this data that they'll be collecting so it's still pretty new but there's also going to be ways to Cater to you know people who are riding e-bikes and e-scooters So there's areas that they can traverse and quickly pick up and whatever they need and so forth. So So what's interesting is as you see electric vehicles become more popular?

It's not going to change overnight. Everybody's not going to have you know, 100 electric vehicles in five years from now We'll have a lot more but it won't even become close. You still see today cars that are 10 15 20 years that are still on the road and that's going to happen even as dealerships sell only electric cars, let's say 15 years from now, you're still going to have your gasoline cars that will still need to be fixed gasoline stations will still need to be around and so forth but For that population that's changing and moving over to evs If you have some superchargers there and it only takes 15 minutes to get up to 80 Battery capacity on your vehicle You can park and charge and go into a store get what you need Or even wait there for your delivery to come out

More so than you would wait just at a gas station if they just replace their gas pumps with chargers So you're going to see the opportunity for retailers and you already see this already I've seen it at a few stores, you know, you've seen your walmarts Some Meyer is a grocery chain store in the midwest that they've been doing it as well. I've seen as many as 10 Charging stations and a grocery store nearby so it's pretty impressive that they're already Did some strategy and planning and they've already had this implemented.

So You're going to see more and more of this because people are trying to get I mean now people these companies and retailers are trying to get people To either charge their cars there or their e-bikes or their e-scooters and come shop in their box stores So you have to be proactive and you have to be innovative and you can't rest on your laurels of what worked in the past That's so fascinating. Anthony. Um, I was not even thinking about Ev stations, but we do have a comment coming through from edgar My organization has been piloting the various methods you mentioned and also conducting a lot of research and validation question Is there a device that can monitor or report?

Iaq indoor air quality that you're aware of in other words Would we see these devices? um I don't know what the rest of the statement is, but where would we see these devices? I guess so anthony, please take a stab at that question Yeah, because i'm in the industry it's easy for me To come across companies a lot of companies reach out to me Trying to do business with me. So i'm very familiar with a lot that have these types of sensors now A lot of you may have heard of building standards like lead well reset fit well some of these are also Advising to get sensor certified by them so that they will have approved sensors that um have been validated and Proven to work reliably not for a day not for a month, but for you know for years So it's important to make sure that you're not just buying a sensor that came over for china for a dollar

um Because a lot of times they won't they won't necessarily work or they'll be down or they'll they're not um Calibrated properly. So If you're getting wrong data, how good is that data if it's if it's not calibrated? So It's very important that you're getting reliable quality sensors So if anybody is interested in finding out about who these companies are that make good sensors for indoor air quality Feel free to connect with me and shoot me a message I'll be glad to share information with anyone awesome Thank you so much for the question edgar to your point, you know Finding out where to find the best information about sensors is probably one of the hardest things um, everybody's thinking about well, what kind of technology do I want to integrate and and pull into My bas system so I can actually assess everything that's going on and and have a pulse

um, and and lots of companies are now more Curious and almost demanding this because people are not in their facilities as often and they still want to have a pulse So yeah, I mean anthony, you know, what do you think about that? I know you and I have kind of dug into like what what the demand for it that is now Um, but how are you seeing that from your perspective? So The interest level is growing immensely But then there's the education process to learn What's quality?

And what actually works and how can you validate it? so When I have clients that are interested in some of these solutions or especially when it comes to improving indoor air quality It's one thing to validate and know if it's actually working whatever solution that you're procuring and integrating into your building um, but I I tell them it's important to go a step above and beyond that you want to Champion what you're doing and displaying this information so that people coming into your building See those results and the performance and it keeps you honest too So if it's not performing well, you know people are going to see that so you're going to want to stay on top of it and remedy any issues or any failures within your hvac or Within the building it could be lighting it could be access control.

It could be the elevator it could be internet connectivity So all these things do impact the health and well-being of the building but being able to display that in real time on a smart display or monitor It builds trust with the people coming in And it also promotes all the great work and money that you've spent to make these upgrades Obviously you could get Certifications with lead well fit well reset and so forth and put those on your buildings too, you know People are becoming more aware Of these building standards and it's going to make an impact of you know Where people may or may not want to go in the future Yeah So just to kind of give people a sense if you're passing by and scrolling through we're talking with anthony Barry he is the director of smart cities and wireless mobility at integrated network concepts and we are talking

retail we're talking how to integrate smart building technology As we're thinking About things post covid so anthony really dug into Uh what he's been doing to support one particular client I still want to pick your brain about some of the things that you mentioned earlier. So if you guys will Bear with me. I'm going to jump back to something anthony mentioned a little bit earlier He was talking about internet adding adding internet capabilities Um infrastructure into locations that didn't have it before um, what kind of locations are didn't have it before and um, what What is the Use case for bringing in internet now Okay, so I won't let i'll speak more generally so I won't give too many details about a client i'm working with but imagine A property owner that um Let's say owns a strip mall or a mall And you have tenants that occupy those spaces and you know, they could be in a space for a year or two

And then maybe move out or um, they might go to a bigger unit or they might close what have you So generally the tenant is responsible for getting their internet connectivity and they pick and choose what options are available and so When they didn't have any they didn't have any connectivity I mean their hvac was there for years and wasn't connected to the internet and they didn't have Any office on site and they didn't have any room or building. Um, it was at that location So they didn't have any reason to have any connectivity um, so that was where That interest came from is when they were upgrading their hvac and then When I was talking to him, I said there's an opportunity that i've helped other clients, but it was in a different space.

It was in multi-dwelling units To be the sole provider of the internet so you don't have different companies coming drilling in and out of your building exterior walls and putting in more equipment into Your it closet and whatnot And if you're able to deliver the internet at cheaper rates and supply everyone in your building That's another value add and another revenue stream So it may not work for every opportunity out there, but it's one to investigate and do a feasibility study And that's what i've been conducting with them and with others in the past Yeah, yeah, absolutely right.

I mean if there's if there's any um sort of uh, Console or or box coming into a retail location right like in order to provide a particular product type There's always a need for internet connectivity now, which is super interesting So I I think that's a a great idea to to evaluate how can Internet be supplied by uh the the major retailer who's owning the facility I love that idea and so something odd is that They didn't realize that I could also provide Is when they're looking to go green and to start looking at renewable energy sources to use for electricity and so forth That even if they don't have the cap actually the upfront capital investment to make in let's say uh solar on the rooftops I have the capability and partnerships with That we could actually Have that cost wiped away and be able to install those on the building rooftops

Free of charge and they would get some of the electricity for free Based on them giving up their rooftop space for us to install those so There's ways to meet your green initiatives Without having the cat parks, obviously you could still if you wanted to Own and operate your solar grid on the rooftop you can And I could give you pricing on that But there's ways around it if you don't have Uh the funds up front to do it, but you're very interested in it So there's you know, this is the tip of the iceberg of things that can happen when we're talking about smart technology wireless connectivity and uh green initiatives Yeah, that sounds like some fancy footwork as it relates to the green initiatives, but I know that I know that companies oftentimes uh will will uh lease roof space Um and and offer it up to other companies who are looking for you know, whatever the use case is for their roof spaces

So I think that's super cool Um and and and ethically doing it right because ultimately you're getting you're getting renewable energy You're able to reduce your carbon footprint, um, and and I think looking for those creative options Definitely is the way to go. That's super cool. Anthony I'll give one little caveat. Uh, so It does matter on the square footage in the space the larger the space, uh, the better the opportunity the further Uh south or the closer to the equator the better the opportunity so That being said I would say generally speaking if uh rooftop has over a hundred thousand square feet available um that would be a fairly good opportunity we're having uh That at zero cost is an option so Yeah, that's super cool.

Um, okay, right. So following up on another question here Um, we already talked a little bit about some of the the certification Capabilities, but I know you're passionate about this and you and you mentioned some already Um, what are your favorites? Uh lead well fit well reset you mentioned those before what are your favorites and why? um This is putting me on the line here But uh, I will have to uh side with uh two that I like That I favor i'm not saying that the others are bad But my favorites right now Are reset and fit well and the reason why I gravitate towards those more is because They deal more with performance actual real-time data of the building and their indoor or their health and performance of those buildings And using data to give certification not saying if you implement a b c and d you'll get this

accreditation Because then you don't know if these solutions are working or not or you know, or if it's just snake oil Yeah Yeah, uh and and that goes back to your earlier comment about why not put the performance out there for You know whoever is occupying the building to to see So that you can build trust I think it kind of kind of comes back all to building trust um on all of the contributors to actually bringing that space up to Meeting those performance levels, but also to the occupants, which is Super cool.

Super fascinating Yeah, and you know, it's funny there were a lot of solutions available before the pandemic that People in construction and the owners of these buildings and property management companies We're not using to save a few dollars and what like i'm talking about is door handles and Levers that can be antimicrobial based on the metal that is used on them but to save three or four dollars per handle or doorknob, uh, they went the other route and Even though that sounds minimal if you're buying a thousand, uh, you know That could be a five thousand dollar difference.

So they said well, it's the same handle We don't care but now looking at it after a pandemic people are thinking. Oh, it's only five dollars I'll pay that extra five dollars. So Yeah, that's crazy. I mean the the types of things on That we're having to consider now um, you know, it's it's just so completely different simply because We you know risk risk reduction For this crazy pandemic that we're living in so, you know to reduce sickness to reduce, uh, The spread of the virus.

That's the most important thing So, you know, it's it's where do you push and pull the dollars so that you get the biggest? Impact, you know a lot of people want to say impact the bottom line or get your biggest bang for your buck It's more about quality and value to your occupants Um, yeah, that's that's and making sure that performance that you planned for you designed for Is what you're getting So britney, I have a question for you So this is great, I always like to ask questions even if i'm being interviewed or even if i'm on a panel and whatnot So have you ever been to a public restroom where either the water faucet didn't work or the paper towels were out?

um Absolutely. Yes So this is where iot and industrial iot can help to where we could have sensors that will tell us when Paper towels are getting low and need to be replenished when soap needs to be replenished even before they're out and uh, this is where uh those eye sensors and motion sensors detect, um When to turn on and off water faucets and there's water valves and water sensors that can tell maintenance if there's an issue with any of the faucets or any of the toilets so these are ways that we could make less contact with handles and knobs and faucets for the future and these are simple ways and simple little projects that could Have immediate gains and also improve customer satisfaction Yeah, I love that so much um, you know one of one of my previous uh podcasts or uh guests some time ago peter anchor sterny he is uh

Really really a great guy anthony if you don't know him. I think you might like him. Um, he's he's Affiliated with the international facilities management association Okay, uh he On his interview with me was talking about How we can implement technology in order to not only value Um How we support our spaces value the employees who support our spaces Um at a at a higher level at a humanistic level just care about them more and and also Ask for them to you know Support whether it be through cleaning replacing supplies, whatever that is during the day so you get to know Who's taking care of your spaces?

So he was he was super excited about that but also implementing technology to say well How many times are people using just I have a little occupancy sensor of how many the? Times the door swings open to go into the restroom to say, okay Well, well if it's been used this many times, it's more than likely that you should probably You know, it's it's it's whatever. Um It's time to clean it right like at the end of the day like this is this many times you should you should go Ahead and clean it.

But why would you go in there every hour if it's only been used twice? Right. So just technology again to support the people who are serving the space The people in the space but also to support the people so that they're adequately supported through technology So I love that Um what you just suggested about those really key small things like toilet paper, you know um paper towels soap Really really integral things to making sure that you have exactly what you need to stay safe and to stay clean Especially this pandemic but also valuing the people who are involved For sure so anthony Yes, have anything else that you wanted to share that we did not get a chance to talk about?

Good question. Uh, there's always so much interesting stuff out there Um between smart buildings smart cities iot industrial iot I guess what I would say The biggest benefit and the questions I always ask that help um are Don't look at the shiny silver object or the headline grabbers of you know flying drones autonomous vehicles What are you trying to solve? What's your business case? and then you know experts and um Sales and pre-sales engineers can then help you design an engineer a solution that will help you overcome those problems If you're just looking at a solution and trying to fit it in and hope that it might solve a problem That's usually the wrong way to go about it and it usually doesn't end up successful or a long long-term gain so that's one bit of advice I would give anybody out there is Understand fully the problem that you're trying to solve or the problem that is at hand

And then present that to whoever you're working with That'll give them better insight on planning and engineering a solution that will work for you I'd also probably say that There's been a pick up of interest in solutions that were around before the pandemic a lot of touchless access control And we've all seen Touchless faucets Air hand dryer in restrooms Restrooms that don't have doors that you have to push or touch to open access control to buildings that have Magic eyes to open up entries into buildings and now there's the ability It's crazy in the beginning of the pandemic.

You saw a lot of touchless Temperature scanners they were handheld and then you saw them on a station that you had to walk by And now they have the capability of doing multiple people at once And they don't even realize that their temperature is being scanned So the technology is advancing so fast. It's it's pretty crazy So if you're looking at any smart technology solution or any solutions geared towards covid I would say just do your due diligence Look at multiple vendors read as much up on these solutions as you can If you're reading reviews Don't read the good reviews.

That's just like the marketing read the bad reviews so you can understand What obstacles or shortcomings these solutions may have sometimes it might be something small and you're like, okay If that's the worst, you know, this isn't going to be a problem for us So I usually find more value in the bad reviews than I do the good reviews Yeah, actually that's something marcus taught me too. I 100 agree with you on that Um, so so with that I want to open it up for questions if those of you who are listening in the audience have a question For anthony you want something specific?

Uh, do you want to learn about iot smart building technology? I'm opening up the chat go ahead and put a question in the chat We did get something from from edgar a little bit earlier and I know we have josh in the room on clubhouse If you do have a question for anthony We are talking about how retail is adapting to customer demands through smart building Smart building technology and they're thinking about post covid not just reacting but thinking long term What is that long term life cycle?

So those of you who are interested Feel free to to put put a comment whatever platform you're watching on we are on youtube or on twitter Or periscope we are on linked in we're on clubhouse We are super excited to be on all these platforms sharing the message that there are unique and creative ways to use technologies to support making sure that we have long-term impact and Making sure that we're achieving exactly The long-term goals that we're looking for so looks like josh just came up on the stage josh.

Do you have a question for anthony? Of hi everyone, thanks for inviting me. Um, i'm not sure because I joined late i'm not sure exactly what specific um, uh You know, uh sector we're talking about when it comes to retail, but I heard you mention Uh construction, I believe i'm not sure Uh, but could you just elaborate a little bit more? Yeah, absolutely anthony. Did you want to take that one?

so I don't know what part of construction that you might have a question in but we were Really talking about smart technology wireless technology in retail Uh existing retail space It could be in new retail construction space as well a lot of these technologies Actually are cheaper when designed and implemented in new construction because you're not cutting open walls and ceilings and so forth So it can be a little bit easier To install and the price could be relatively a little bit lower with less labor And less repair of existing walls or ceilings so if you want To specify your question in construction go ahead and britney and I should be able to answer it Josh did yeah, we're definitely talking about construction design and construction and how to upgrade buildings Well, uh, you know as an uh upcoming architect an urban planner.

Um, I was thinking, you know Because the buildings of tomorrow will require Lots of sensors, you know when building smart in a smart way to monitor Temperature, you know and everything like everyday life to to make better Decisions when it comes to you know design development and you know Facilitating the way of life for for people so i'm just thinking when it comes to sensors specifically The demand for sensors in everything that we build today Um how the demand is booming and how we might even face kind of a you know, uh Shortfall when it comes to providing those resources I'm just thinking could you talk maybe about that specifically when it comes to sensors and how they're implemented in everything that we We make today Yeah, just just as a clarification are you talking about sensors and centers and cities like maybe like a town square or something like that?

I'm talking about the sensors for you know, uh machines uh buildings uh, you know not just Sensors that monitor temperature in buildings i'm talking about sensors for you know, um on solar panels on you know cars Everything pretty much. Okay. Thank you. I was miss I was misunderstanding your your your uh, your word You were saying sensors not centers. So anthony take it away Okay Yeah, so when it's dealing with real estate or buildings And especially if you're in architecture or engineering of new buildings or new construction Wired Is always going to be a little bit better than wireless wireless has the opportunity more chances of losing connectivity Interference there's a lot of radio waves out there In frequencies that are unlicensed that anybody can use So if you are on the side of architecture, I work That's the perfect opportunity for a guy like me is to work with architectural and engineering firms

Where the owner is looking at smart technology that way I could work with them and tell them the type of wiring Uh the cat six or cabling that I need the more cat six in the building the better That could be at every door every Elevator every Bathroom You name it if we could get connectivity wired with a cat six cable The better it'll be Obviously some of the sensors are Very cheap and can run on batteries some of them for a few to several years So some of those don't aren't connected with ethernet cable or even wiring for power But there are a lot that are So depending on the sensor that plays into the connectivity paradigm there But i'll tell you what sensors are going to be everywhere.

You're going to see more and more We already have have had sensors on our cars. You're just going to see more and more sensors that are trying to get Uh acceleration environment temperature weather conditions road conditions They're using sensors and thermal imaging lidar Vehicle to vehicle communication vehicle to grid communication vehicle to person So there are going to be so many sensors and radio waves and that are traversing data To try to make it safer and more secure and healthier for for humans So It's on an upward swing and I don't see it decreasing Anytime in the next 10 years Yeah, anthony I would I would second that too What what i've been doing over the years?

in office build outs or office renovations is we've been adding tons of cable Just everywhere extra cable in order to anticipate and future proof Whatever we possibly can according to what we can conceive of in order to support whether it be sensor technology or anticipated uh audio visual technology because there's I mean Absolutely coming out of the pandemic There's going to nest there's going to be a need for people to be working in a hybrid way People are going to be working remotely people are going to be working in the office that connectivity needs to be there So that's just something simple that we've been aware of a long time But to your point about the sensors there's going to be questions about are these Rooms are the meeting rooms are the focus rooms are you know the huddles are these rooms being utilized?

What about the open office areas, right? Are those open office areas being utilized? We talked a little bit about retail today um, and you know, I don't think josh you on the conversation at that time but Just uh, you know, how how are the cars pulling into the parking line in order to pick up their? Their items from that retailer, you know, just making sure that we have data on that retailers have data on that that can really support business decisions so really really Great ask.

Thank you so much for the question Brittany to your point that's great about i'm glad you mentioned that that I bring up future proofing building so you're putting in more Cat 6 cabling for everything you need now and down the road So you don't know what's coming down the road. Is there going to be more ar and vr? Yes Is there going to be more video? Uh smart displays? Yes so Put in extra cabling um Poe led lighting systems Are becoming more popular and They're powered and run data of the sensors in those light fixtures over Ethernet cables So in new construction that would only make sense.

Um, you also save On union labor costs. You don't need a union electrician to wear the lights because they're just ethernet cables So you're getting their power and you're getting data all in one Where if you retrofit a building now, there's a lot of light fixtures that are led And they'll have sensors in them, but they rely on the sensor data via a wireless network So that's what you're seeing currently but poe led lighting is the future and To give one quick shout out to a company that I know called edor They do poe led lighting but also They do poe led lighting but also uvc lighting so they have poe uvc lighting options as well Pretty innovative and uh, I I just there's so much technology out there that I love.

I just can't talk about it all Oh, it's so fun. Um Well, just we have I think we have time for one more question anthony. Are you good on time? Yes, I am, okay we have time for one more question if those are there listening on YouTube on linkedin on on periscope feel free to pop something in the chat if you have any more questions anthony i'd like to give you the opportunity to To share a little bit about you know what you're looking to Do What you're looking to do people you're you're looking to work with what kind of services you you offer So when it comes to anything with wireless technology wireless networks smart technology And now even solutions that help combat covid and coronaviruses I do a lot in consultation designing engineering of these technologies Um again, I do have my lean six sigma black belt.

So I really understand the business side And the economic side of being profitable and making sure that solutions Will either meet an roi for the money that you're investing And also explain the benefits or the savings are they hard savings or are they soft savings sometimes? some of the solutions will deliver soft savings such as Security improve security improve safety improve cleanliness So sometimes you're not going to see that hard dollar savings But you're going to get that soft savings and create a better customer experience and better customer Satisfaction so if you're interested in any of these things or need any help or if you need even help You know disseminating the differences between company a b or c When it comes to these advanced technology solutions, feel free to reach out to me You can find me on linkedin.

I am on twitter as well and on clubhouse Awesome. Awesome. Thank you for sharing those Places where people can get a hold of you I don't see any more questions in the chat. So we will wrap up our conversation today. Thank you Thank you so much anthony.

I so very much appreciate you and what you bring to this community Um, thank you so much for talking with us today and being on the podcast Brittany, I appreciate you and having this platform for me to be able to speak with you It's been great and i've enjoyed our conversations on clubhouse as well Yeah, awesome. Thank you so much. And with that. Bye. Bye everyone.

Happy friday See you later