Insights from NexusCon 2026 on the future of building automation systems, data-driven service and connected building operations.
Smart building technology has advanced significantly over the past decade. What was once considered emerging technology is now proven, increasingly accessible and capable of helping building owners and operators address some of their most pressing operational challenges.
At NexusCon 2026 in Detroit, Albireo Energy’s Rudy Bohince and Rick Stehmeyer joined building owners, technology providers and industry experts to discuss how the industry is evolving and where the greatest opportunities lie.
A consistent theme emerged: the technology is available. The next challenge is putting it to work effectively, integrating it into building operations and translating its capabilities into measurable business outcomes.
Four themes stood out from the conversations:
1. Smarter Service Can Help Close the Workforce and Knowledge Gaps
Building owners and operators face a growing challenge: managing increasingly complex facilities with limited technical resources.
Experienced engineers and technicians possess decades of institutional knowledge about building systems, equipment performance and operational history. As these professionals retire or move into different roles, organizations face the challenge of transferring that knowledge to the next generation.
At the same time, building portfolios are becoming more sophisticated, with greater demands for efficiency, reliability, connectivity and performance. Smart building technology offers an opportunity to address both challenges.
Alarm management, building analytics like fault detection and diagnostics , remote building monitoring, and connected service platforms can help teams identify problems earlier, prioritize maintenance activities and make better use of available technical resources. These capabilities also give less-experienced technicians access to system information and insights that previously depended heavily on individual experience.
The opportunity extends beyond automating tasks. When properly implemented, technology can help organizations capture institutional knowledge, standardize troubleshooting approaches and enable technical teams to support more buildings without sacrificing service quality.
Technology alone cannot close the gap. Building owners need access to people who understand how to interpret the information, identify priorities and translate insights into action. One of the recurring discussions at NexusCon was the importance of having a dedicated expert, whether internal or through a service partner, who can help develop and manage a building technology and data roadmap.
For building owners, the question is increasingly how to combine technology and technical expertise to build a more sustainable service model.
2. Outcome-Based Service Needs to Move Beyond Energy Savings
The Building Automation Systems (BAS) industry continues to explore outcome-based service models, where customers purchase measurable results rather than simply a defined set of maintenance activities or technology solutions. This approach has the potential to help building owners adopt new technologies by creating clearer expectations for performance and reducing uncertainty around the investment.
Today, many outcome-based models remain heavily focused on energy savings.
Energy performance is important, particularly as building owners face rising operating costs, sustainability commitments and regulatory requirements. Yet it represents only one dimension of building performance. Other outcomes can be equally valuable, including improved equipment reliability, fewer unplanned disruptions, faster issue resolution, longer asset life and reduced operational risk.
For a healthcare facility, the priority may be maintaining reliable environmental conditions. For a data center, it may be protecting uptime and managing cooling performance. For a commercial property portfolio, it may be reducing recurring service calls and improving consistency across multiple buildings.
The challenge is defining these outcomes in ways that are measurable, achievable and clearly connected to the technology and services being delivered. That requires agreement on baseline conditions, performance indicators, tasks, and responsibilities and how results will be evaluated over time.
As outcome-based service models evolve, the industry has an opportunity to develop more comprehensive measures of value that reflect the operational priorities of different building types.
3. Building Automation System Networks Require Specialized Expertise and Active Management
As buildings become more connected, the networks supporting building automation systems are becoming increasingly important to overall building performance.
Modern building environments depend on communication between controllers, sensors, equipment, supervisory systems and other connected technologies. These networks enable the exchange of information that supports monitoring, control, analytics and service.
Network complexity is often underestimated.
Even widely adopted protocols like BACnet, which are designed to support interoperability, require careful configuration, management and troubleshooting. Communication issues, inconsistent device configurations, network congestion and integration challenges can affect system reliability and the quality of information available to building operators.
NexusCon discussions also highlighted the evolving relationship between information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) teams. IT organizations increasingly want visibility into and oversight of building networks, particularly as cybersecurity, connectivity and enterprise standards become more important.
At the same time, building automation system networks have operational requirements that differ from traditional enterprise IT environments. Changes to network architecture, access controls or communication settings can have unintended consequences for building systems if they are not evaluated with an understanding of those requirements. Successful network management requires coordination between IT teams, building operators and automation specialists, with clear ownership of responsibilities.
It also requires ongoing monitoring and access to specialized expertise. A network that functions properly at commissioning may change over time as equipment is added, systems are upgraded and operating requirements evolve. For building owners, network management should be considered an ongoing operational responsibility rather than a one-time installation activity.
4. Better Data Starts at the Design Phase
The ability to deliver smarter service depends heavily on the quality and consistency of building system data. Buildings generate significant amounts of information through automation systems, equipment controllers, sensors, meters and connected platforms. However, having access to large volumes of data does not necessarily mean that the information is useful.
Inconsistent naming conventions, incomplete equipment information, poorly structured data and disconnected systems can make it difficult to interpret performance, compare assets or apply analytics across multiple facilities.
These challenges become particularly significant for organizations managing large building portfolios. If similar equipment is identified differently from one building to another, it becomes harder to standardize monitoring, identify recurring issues or deploy technology consistently across sites.
A major takeaway from NexusCon was the importance of addressing data quality and structure much earlier in the building lifecycle. Data strategies should begin during initial design, when decisions about system architecture, equipment identification, naming conventions and integration requirements can establish a foundation for future use. Waiting until a building is operational to organize and clean its data can require substantial additional effort, particularly when multiple systems and vendors are involved.
For existing buildings, data normalization and cleanup are often necessary steps before advanced analytics or portfolio-wide service strategies can deliver their full value. Clean, structured and accessible data makes it easier to identify performance trends, support remote diagnostics, compare buildings and develop more proactive maintenance approaches. It also creates a stronger foundation for future technologies, including AI-enabled analytics and automated diagnostics.
The lesson is straightforward: data readiness should be treated as a core element of building system design and lifecycle management, rather than an afterthought.
From Technology Adoption to Operational Value
The conversations at NexusCon 2026 point to an important evolution in the smart building industry.
Over the past five to ten years, the industry has made significant progress in developing and proving technologies that can improve building performance. The next phase will be defined by how effectively those capabilities are incorporated into everyday operations.
That means addressing several interconnected challenges: developing the technical expertise needed to support increasingly sophisticated systems, defining meaningful service outcomes, managing complex building networks and establishing the data foundations required for smarter service.
These priorities cannot be addressed independently. Better analytics depend on reliable networks and quality data. Outcome-based service requires clear performance measures and the ability to act on system insights. Technology-enabled service depends on experienced professionals who can interpret information and resolve issues.
For building owners, the opportunity is to move beyond individual technology investments toward a coordinated strategy that connects building systems, data, people and service. The future of smart buildings will be shaped as much by how technology is managed and applied as by the technology itself.
At Albireo Energy, we see that connection every day through our work in building automation, systems integration, network management and lifecycle services. Our building automation solutions bring together technical expertise, reliable data and service strategies that evolve with customers’ operational needs.
As the industry moves forward, the focus will increasingly be on making existing technology work harder, smarter and more consistently for the people who depend on it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a building automation system?
A building automation system (BAS) provides automatic, centralized control of a building’s HVAC, lighting and other interrelated systems. Albireo Energy’s building automation solutions are designed to maximize energy efficiency, reduce maintenance costs and ensure tenant comfort.
What is alarm management?
Alarm management is how building teams sort and prioritize the alarms their systems generate so the most critical issues get a fast response. A building automation system can issue hundreds to thousands of alarms a day, which can easily overwhelm engineering teams. Albireo Energy’s Critical Alarm Messenger (CALM) focuses on the critical alarms building owners can’t afford to miss, sending 24/7 notifications and escalating any alarm that isn’t acknowledged.
