6 Things to Know About Smart Buildings

Property Managers have more opportunities than ever to impact the end-to-end rental experience for tenants by positively leveraging the internet of things and smart devices. From self-touring to energy saving, improved security, using common spaces, and/or accessing the internet, property managers are maintaining stronger relationships with tenants through superior service while simultaneously creating massive efficiency gains—saving time and money.

The smart home revolution represents a unique, relatively new frontier of opportunity for property managers to deliver a differentiating, delightful and meaningful rental experience.

However, The smart home/building market is complex. A smart automation system incorporates several technologies, including hardware, software, and internet connectivity.

This guide will walk property managers through the opportunities – and potential pitfalls of investing in smart homes for passive and vacation rental in multifamily and single-family properties.

6 Things to Know About Smart Buildings

Six things to know about investing in smart buildings, smart devices, and the internet of things to create operational efficiencies and optimize the tenant experience.

Not all Application Interfaces (APIs) are created equal
Although device makers will claim that their device is “smart,” be aware that APIs expose different capabilities.
Wifi vs. Zigbee vs. Z-wave
Popular internet connectivity protocols include Z-wave, ZigBee, and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). Wifi is the most popular protocol. Zigbee and Z-wave both require a dedicated hub. Wifi does not.
Future-proofing your smart building offering
Since the IoT market is evolving rapidly, along with device capabilities to meet consumer demands, you will want to avoid being locked into smart device types or brands.
Invest in Traits-based IoT Platform
It’s critically important that your smart building software can adapt to new devices and device brands. Developing with traits-based IoT Platform is key.
What is a “traits-based” development model
The trait model homogenizes the interaction with smart home devices, regardless of the manufacturer. For property managers, this means you have a choice in what devices you select and use on your property. You can evolve the guest experience as the device market changes and integrate with legacy devices.

For software developers, adopting a traits model reduces the time to market as minimal redevelopment is required.
The impact of Matter
As a unifying standard, Matter will only improve the experience that device owners have with their smart devices

Benefits of Yonomi IoT Platform

Future proof your investment

Yonomi Platform is built on the traits-based model. So, your property management solution is extensible, flexible, and future-proofed.
Yonomi Platform also supports multiple bridges, hubs, and gateways.

Enterprise level support

Yonomi takes ownership of the relationship between vendor and developer and provides enterprise-level development support.

For example, Yonomi is responsible for managing changes to APIs, responding to vendor cloud downtime, following up on bugs and issues, and supporting developers directly in their development process from their first line of code to implementation and production versions.

Developer tools

Yonomi’s developer portal has extensive documentation and a playground where developers can test integrating devices.

Property market focus

While IoT applies to many businesses, 60% of our customer base is in property management, multifamily, and short-term rental. We know the space.

Next up, want to test integrating your devices on the Yonomi Platform? Create an account and try the platform here.

Ready to talk? Schedule a demonstration so that we can understand your unique business requirements and discuss whether the Yonomi Platform is a fit for your needs.