6 Key Energy Management Platform Attributes

Why employ an energy management platform?

Building energy management systems bolster energy efficiency, systems integration and generate strategic benefits such as GHG reductions while providing the data required to help support decision-making.

What should I look for in an energy management platform?

An energy management platform should make energy data management easier by offering advanced analytics, user-friendly navigation, and offer insight into how to reach your energy management goals.

What benefits can I get out of an energy management platform?

Energy management systems should help you reduce administrative costs, reduce energy costs, validate energy conservation measures, explain energy budget variances, and more.

Energy monitoring and management can reduce energy costs and consumption, increase energy savings and simplify energy reporting. With several energy management platforms available to make energy management even easier, weigh these 6 key attributes to select the best energy management platform for your business.

Why Employ an Energy Management Platform

Building energy management systems (BEMS) bolster energy efficiency, systems integration and generate strategic benefits such as greenhouse gas reductions while providing data required to help support decision-making.

According to Navigant Research, the global BEMS market is expected to reach $2.4 billion in 2015 and grow to $10.8 billion by 2024.

Evolving to incorporate Internet of Things technology and address customer demand for cost-effective monitoring and control, energy management platform solutions typically differentiate in terms of:

visualization and reporting
fault detection and diagnostics
predictive maintenance
continuous improvement, and optimization.

Yet the solutions available address diverse customer needs. When selecting the best energy management platform for your business, consider these 6 key attributes.

Key Energy Management Platform Attributes:

The energy management platform solution market addresses several customer types, including enterprise/office, government, retail, hospitality, healthcare, and education. Nevertheless, across this diversity of needs there are some common components that can make one energy management platform a better fit

1. Ease of Use

Energy management platforms offer enhanced access to collected data. Yet the manager can only make the building smarter and see benefits from the platform investment when the data is accessible.

Select a system that makes it easy to use the data, create visual dashboards, chart changes and generate reports for stakeholders. With Excel-based reporting and integration of Excel spreadsheets into its platform, EnergyWatch simplifies the process.

2. Customization Capabilities

Just as each property in your portfolio has its own unique characteristics look for an energy management platform that recognizes each client’s distinctive traits. Think long-term and partner with a provider that suits your industry, but also has the capability to customize widgets or dashboard displays and incorporate proprietary data as needed.

3. Forecasting Fun

Monitoring usage of fuel, water and electricity can give businesses an edge. See payoffs in the short-term with more depth of data available in budgeting and EnergyWatch’s variance reporting helping to flag any concerns. An energy management platform that enables forecasting of trends and anticipating the impact of potential energy efficiency efficiencies can also net additional benefits beyond the real-time management rewards.

4. Industry Expertise

Energy management software platforms developed and supported by information technology (IT) professionals can help monitor and control energy efficiencies. Better still, though, is an energy management solution built and backed by professionals with a deep understanding of how customers manage buildings and the business importance of energy management data.

5. Third Party Perks

Look for a platform that incorporates relevant external information. For instance, along with connecting to smart meters, the platform might offer weather data or, as EnergyWatch does, provide contextual data enabling comparisons against over 800,000 buildings. With ready access to third party information and proprietary auditing and analysis, it’s easier to predict trends, monitor performance, and manage expenditures.

6. Utility Invoice Auditing

An added service available from the best energy management platforms takes some of the day-to-day worries off the manager’s plate. EnergyWatch, for example, offers utility invoice capture and auditing along with invoice data consolidation. Mapping all line items to billing components — such as consumption, demand,
Taxes — EnergyWatch brings all the relevant information together in a responsive, web-based management dashboard.

Energy management is multi-faceted. Decisions can’t be driven by dollars alone. The manager must also consider customer comfort, safety and satisfaction, be socially responsible and address an overarching need for efficiency and reliability. The right platform solution extends the energy manager’s abilities with actionable insight to optimize in all of these important areas.