The Verdantix Green Quadrant is an independent, rigorous evaluation of vendors, assessing technical capabilities, market momentum, and customer impact. Planon’s placement reflects its comprehensive approach and success at addressing evolving market needs to remain at the forefront of smart building management.

Since the launch of the IWMS Green Quadrant in 2017, Planon has consistently been ranked as a “Leader.” The 2025 report highlights Planon’s superior performance across critical categories, including but not limited to configurability, ESG management, and occupant health and safety features.

Joy Trinquet, industry analyst at Verdantix, pointed out:

Planon’s performance in the 2025 Green Quadrant CPIP report demonstrates its strong capabilities across core IWMS functionality and its move towards CPIP. The company’s focus on occupant health and safety, ESG management, and property management positions it as a potential solution for organizations seeking to optimize their real estate portfolio and sustainable operations.

Peter Ankerstjerne, CEO of Planon, commented:

At Planon, we are proud to drive innovation that supports our clients in navigating the dynamic challenges of an ever-evolving industry. Being recognized as a Leader by Verdantix highlights our strategic commitment to integrating advanced technologies like AI and IoT while prioritizing sustainability and user-centric design. This acknowledgment reinforces our dedication to shaping the future of smart building management by delivering solutions that create both immediate impact and lasting value for our clients.

In the Green Quadrant analysis, Verdantix finds that Planon is the highest performer on both the capabilities and momentum axes, offering:

• Comprehensive and industry-leading technical and functional capabilities:
  Some of Planon’s highest-scoring functionalities included occupant health and safety, property management, space management, workplace services and ESG management.
• A roadmap centered on mobile use cases, ESG, and AI:
  Verdantix highlighted Planon’s commitment to continuous improvement in each of these high-impact areas, driven by strategic initiatives and technological advancements.
• Infinite configuration and customization tools:
  With Planon’s open platform, its no-code editor and low-code AppBuilder environment, the Planon solution offers unparalleled flexibility, allowing organizations to tailor applications and automate processes with ease. Its integration with business intelligence tools from Microsoft, Qlik and Tableau, and ERP systems such as SAP S/4HANA, give businesses greater insights, helping them to make the right decisions.

Download an excerpt of the Verdantix Green Quadrant: Connected Portfolio Intelligence Platforms (CPIP/IWMS) 2025 report here to learn more.

See also on FMLink: “Verdantix report reveals surging demand for connected CPIP/IWMS platforms to optimize real estate. See which platforms are harnessing AI.”

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Posted by Johann Nacario — October 7, 2024 — Envoy, an integrated workplace platform that connects people, spaces, and data, has just published its latest workplace trends guide in partnership with Hanover Research. The guide, which reveals inefficient data handling, includes data from 440+ surveyed executives and managers across various departments including workplace and facilities management, workplace security, information technology (IT), finance, and human resources (HR).

In recent years, organizations have faced significant shifts in workplace dynamics, pushing them to constantly adapt. However, many have relied on outdated and manual processes as short-term solutions, leading to inefficiencies in workplace management. Envoy’s new guide on solving workplace challenges reveals that as a result, nearly half (47%) of companies have had to delay critical business decisions due to complexities arising from remote or hybrid work policies. The reliance on inefficient workplace management practices are draining resources and impacting the bottom line.

Additional key findings are listed below.

The silent drain on resources

• Time-consuming reporting: Over 40% of organizations allocate 11+ hours monthly to generating space utilization reports, with some spending up to 40+ hours a month on this task alone.
• Manual data collection: 60% of workplace leaders still manually gather employee attendance data for real estate decisions, highlighting a significant inefficiency in data management.

‍Why partial insights hurt 

• Incomplete data insights: While 76% of companies rely on badge swipes or Wi-Fi access for attendance data, they lack comprehensive space utilization insights, limiting their ability to optimize workplace layouts effectively.
• Underutilized space: 17% of organizations report that over a quarter of their space is either unused or underutilized, indicating significant potential for space optimization and cost savings.

These findings underscore how the reliance on outdated systems for workplace management is not just inefficient but is actively hindering progress. By adopting automated and more efficient processes for data collection and reporting, companies can reduce delays and make decisions with great speed and accuracy. This shift will free up valuable time, allowing teams to focus on more strategic initiatives while keeping pace with the evolving workplace landscape.

Review Envoy’s interactive guide to gain deeper insight into where organizations can automate workplace operations and eliminate inefficiencies.

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Chris Gaudreau, Gordian’s chief technology officer and chief product officer, stated:

Facilities executives are constantly faced with the challenge of verifying construction costs, auditing past work or projecting future budgets. Our new Portfolio Analysis dashboard aligns with Gordian’s vision of transforming data insights into smarter decisions, offering an intuitive, real-time display of historical JOC project data and supporting executives in their critical decision-making processes.

The Portfolio Analysis dashboard extracts granular data from all completed JOC projects within a company’s portfolio and creates dynamic data visualizations that are segmented by project, job order, category, task or contractor. The dashboard is easy to navigate, and users can quickly drill down into any specific area of particular importance to them for a given project. This dashboard provides predictive cost tools for repricing historical projects for future budget and project bid validation.

Gordian’s Data Insights – Portfolio Analysis is offered as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution, available through an annual subscription on the Gordian Cloud Platform. This platform connects essential workflows and accelerates data-driven decision-making by providing customers with access to software tools and services to help them budget and execute projects.

Gaudreau continued:

This new offering is part of the continued advancement of Gordian Cloud Platform, which aims to connect workstreams across the building lifecycle. The Portfolio Analysis dashboard delivers access to all historical JOC project data, eliminating the need for manual research and data collection, and enables executives to make well-informed decisions about budget allocations based on past financial stewardship.

The new offering becomes the third product in the suite of Data Insights solutions that Gordian has rolled out this year. The previous two products were: Data Insights – Cost Trends, a cloud-native dashboard that offers users an intuitive interface for obtaining a comprehensive view into historical construction cost trends over the past 10 years; and Data Insights – Predictive Cost Trends, a cutting-edge tool that enables construction professionals to more accurately estimate construction budgets and plan future projects with predictive cost data up to three years into the future.

To learn more about Data Insights – Portfolio Analysis, visit Gordian.

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The physical workplace meets digital enablement 

Microsoft Places is a newly launched AI-powered connected workplace app with feature integration across Microsoft 365. It allows coworkers to coordinate in-person connection and provides a comprehensive view of how people are using the physical workplace, helping businesses manage their workplace. ISS has been selected to partner in the journey to reimagine the world of hybrid work.

Places will allow remote and hybrid employees to easily coordinate schedules and locations to take advantage of valuable in-person collaboration while also enabling managers to gain insights into how the physical workplace is being used for smarter scheduling and resource management.

Together, ISS and Microsoft will explore how employers can elevate the workplace experience through the data exchange between the ISS Workplace App and Microsoft Places. This interplay will help to explore the personal work preferences of in-office, roaming and remote employees, which can be used to develop more productive and engaging in-office company cultures that best fit employee needs.

Markus Sontheimer, Group chief information and digital officer, stated:

I appreciate that Microsoft has selected ISS to join their journey of reimagining the hybrid workplace experience. We know that while adjusting to the reality of hybrid work, many employers struggle with transforming workplaces into environments that drive collaboration, connection, and convenience. In teaming up with Microsoft, we are uniquely positioned to help our customers shape the world of work though technology that powers places that engage and energise people.

Leveraging the ISS commitment to data-driven building management 

The combination of aggregated data and insights from Microsoft Places and operational capabilities provided by ISS employees using the ISS Workplace App will deepen  understanding of how people and organizations are approaching the physical workplace, giving customers the information they need to continue to optimize work operations in their own digital workplace transformations.

Lars Johnson, Microsoft general manager, Collaboration, remarked:

We’re excited to collaborate with ISS to bring their expertise in digitally enabled workplace services to the work we’re doing with Microsoft Places in order to improve the digital and physical spaces of our customers. We believe true flexibility is obtained by creating a connected workplace — bringing together software, hardware and people to improve productivity, enhance connection with colleagues, and enable better decision making.

Learn more about Microsoft Places and the ISS Workplace Experience App online. ISS Workplace is available on Google Play and in the Apple Store.

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Available from smart workplace management platform provider Planon, the roadmap can help you define an ESG strategy that works for you and hep build the business case for FM-driven sustainability initiatives. The report explains:

• The role of the facility manager: Understand the critical role of facility management (FM) in reducing CO2 emissions and improving the energy efficiency of your real estate portfolio. Facilities managers, real estate professionals, and FM service providers are vital for creating an effective and lasting corporate ESG strategy. Their knowledge of the organization’s building (services) portfolio and performance data is key as organizations investigate how new regulations around ESG will affect them.
• Strategic framework: The 6P Framework (Policies, Products, Processes, People/Personas, Partnerships, Platforms) helps you navigate the complex ESG landscape and find a strategy that works for you.
• The business case: Discover how high-quality facility management and an integrated workplace management system (IWMS) can lead to cost savings, competitive advantages and energy efficiency.

There are many changes, rumors, and priorities your organization must navigate before making decisions around ESG initiatives. In this report, Frost & Sullivan provides insights, tips, and tools like the 6P framework to help organizations understand six major impact areas of ESG on their business.

Inside, you’ll also find statistics and research that shows how technology-driven facility management and building operations can help your organization tackle ESG-related initiatives that will also improve business outcomes. For example, research from Frost & Sullivan, Bloomberg, and WTW shows that “35% of cost savings can be achieved through data-enabled predictive maintenance over reactive maintenance.”

Download A Path to Sustainable Building Operations now from Planon, and get access to important research and statistics that can help you build a stronger business case for the technology tools your real estate (RE) and FM teams need to support corporate ESG.

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The initiative focuses on leveraging Drawbase’s advanced capabilities to seamlessly integrate graphics and data from diverse legacy systems. This integration will enable critical infrastructure outage management across electrical, HVAC, fire safety, CCTV, and space management domains. Real-time simulation capabilities empower managers with the ability to visualize the impacts of planned and potential unplanned outages on vital staff and building systems, ensuring operational continuity and resilience.

Evan Kontos, president of Drawbase Software, stated:

Failure to effectively manage these systems can have significant operational implications. Drawbase Solutions empower agencies to proactively manage space, asset, and infrastructure, enhancing operational readiness and efficiency.

Drawbase Software’s flagship product, Drawbase, offers integrated enterprise infrastructure management capabilities encompassing space, occupancy, data center, and building infrastructure management. These solutions are highly configurable to meet specific user needs, facilitating seamless integration with existing and future enterprise asset management solutions (EAM/CMMS). This integration provides instant access to critical information, enabling strategic decision-making across the agency’s real estate, infrastructure, and asset portfolio.

Kontos added:

Our products’ ease of implementation and configuration ensures a powerful yet straightforward integration process. This capability is crucial for maximizing operational efficiency and achieving optimal return on investment.

Drawbase Software has provided integrated workplace management solutions (IWMS) since 1986. With over 17,000 licenses deployed worldwide, Drawbase Software collaborates with partners to deliver cutting-edge solutions to the facility management market. Drawbase
Software empowers clients with state-of-the-art technologies and industry best practices, supporting them in maximizing their investment in space and related assets. Key clients include Department of Defense Medical Health System, The World Bank, LabCorp, Concord Hospital, Agero and Canary Wharf.

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The Workplace Index combines proprietary data from Eptura’s worktech platform with more than 16.3 million users with independent research across 200 senior-level professionals at organizations with more than 1,000 employees.

Key findings

Measuring ROI and articulating the value of digitally connected workplaces

• Operational leaders project an average of 3-8% in expected incremental revenue from employees working effectively in the office. As they work to balance right-sizing real estate for current usage patterns while planning for future growth, companies with hybrid work models that successfully facilitate face-to-face connection are realizing the highest return on their workplace investments. Across the board, when employees are given the flexibility to lead the in-office collaboration days and policy, companies project a higher value to in-person collaboration.
• Globally, employees are now in the office three days per week on average. APAC had the biggest increase in people coming to the office at a 52% increase. EMEA saw a 31% rise, and the Americas had a 27% increase in people working from the office. Legal and business services organizations lead the number of in-office days at an average of 3.28 days per week, closely followed by energy and utility organizations at 3.21 days per week, with software and technology organizations at 2.13 days per week. Tuesday through Thursday remain the most popular days for in-office attendance, as the mid-week mountain trend persists across all industries.

Top areas for worktech investment

• The top three technologies businesses plan to invest in over the next 12 months are data analytics, integrated workplace solutions, and collaboration software. Businesses are increasingly evaluating how to consolidate complex tech stacks comprised of disconnected tools and systems that prevent them from taking full advantage of their operational data. Eptura respondents across all business areas prioritized the same three capabilities for their upcoming tech investments, indicating significant opportunity to realize efficiency by procuring connected systems that meet the needs of multiple teams.

Organizations continue to struggle to progress toward workplace digital transformation, unifying data, and achieving business objectives

• The top two barriers to meeting sustainability goals are 1) economic climate and 2) the cost of relevant technology. Buildings have a significant environmental impact, accounting for 39% of global carbon emissions, but many organizations struggle with the perceived cost of sustainability programs and technologies. By focusing efforts on centralizing data on built environment performance and usage, companies can identify and prioritize opportunities to increase energy efficiency and reduce their carbon footprint.
• The biggest obstacles to optimizing physical asset operations are siloed functions and incomplete data, per survey respondents. Real-time visibility into asset health and performance through integrated platforms can help operations managers implement structured preventive maintenance plans to increase asset uptime and avoid higher costs and emissions. Eptura’s data also demonstrates that reactive work orders take roughly double the time to complete versus preventive activities, indicating an opportunity for organizations to reduce labor hours by scheduling more planned maintenance.

Brandon Holden, CEO of Eptura, summed up the report findings:

Global leaders recognize the significant value that connected workplaces bring to their operations, impacting employee experiences, building management, and asset handling. These elements cannot be effectively managed in isolation, prompting businesses to adopt integrated platforms for a comprehensive view of their data. With workplace attendance stabilizing, our focus is now on enhancing operational efficiencies, optimizing processes, and improving the overall workplace environment for employees.

Eptura says its research provides clear evidence that digitally connected workplaces will be better positioned to streamline operations, from reducing costs and increasing asset revenue to advancing collaboration and sustainability outcomes.

Eptura’s latest Workplace Index report samples anonymous user data from more than 5,000 companies among its global customer base, including an analysis of over 19,000 buildings, 95.5M desk bookings, and 25M room bookings. In addition, Eptura commissioned an independent third-party survey of 200 global leaders (VP level and above) across operations, IT, HR, and finance roles at companies with over 1,000 employees. Thirty percent of respondents were from North America (US and Canada), 47% were from Europe (UK, Germany, and France), and 23% were from Asia Pacific (Australia and Singapore).

Download a complimentary copy of Eptura’s H1 2024  Workplace Index report.

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• New Distributed Control Node (DCN) software framework to help drive open automation
• Solution helps replace vendor-specific hardware with plug-and-produce offer
• Interoperability and portability support industrial innovation, reduce obsolescence

Posted by Janet B. Stroud — February 16, 2024 — Schneider Electric, a leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, in collaboration with the technology companies Intel and Red Hat, has just announced the release of a Distributed Control Node (DCN) software framework for industrial automation.

An extension of Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure Automation Expert, this new framework enables industrial companies to move to a software-defined, plug-and-produce solution, allowing them to enhance their operations, ensure quality, reduce  complexity and optimize costs.

Next generation of industrial control

Aligned with the goals of the Open Process Automation Forum (OPAF), which is dedicated to driving interoperability and portability, the three collaborators have worked together to create a modern, network-based experience that will lead the way to the next generation of industrial control.

Nathalie Marcotte, senior vice president of Process Automation at Schneider Electric, stated:

This project is the culmination of two years of co-innovation to create efficient, future-proof distributed control systems. The DCN framework is key to fostering an open automation approach, enabling industrial businesses to grow and innovate for the future. Its interoperability and portability help our customers enjoy the freedom of shaping technology around their business needs — and not the other way around.

Red Hat, in collaboration with Intel, recently announced the creation of a new industrial edge platform that helps provide a modern approach to building and operating industrial controls. Since implementing this platform, Schneider Electric has now deployed Red Hat Device Edge in the new DCN software, in addition to Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform and Red Hat OpenShift at the compute layer for DCN deployments, combined with a control infrastructure from Schneider Electric and reference architecture from Intel.

The framework consists of two main components: an advanced computer platform (ACP), which supervises the control workload by providing the content control and automation capabilities needed to deploy workloads securely and programmatically, along with virtualization and monitoring functionalities; and the DCN, which are low-power, industrial systems using Intel Atom x6400E series processors, dedicated to running controls and designed for workloads of mixed-criticality.

Christine Boles, vice president of Intel’s Network and Edge Group and general manager for Federal and Industrial Solutions, remarked:

Open and interconnected commercial solutions will help usher in the transition from fixed function proprietary devices to flexible and dynamic software-based infrastructures. Intel has a long history of driving open system approaches across its ecosystem. This collaboration with Schneider Electric and Red Hat to develop a software-defined control system showcasing next-generation distributed control nodes built on general purpose compute and operating systems brings about this transition to the industrial sector.

Francis Chow, vice president and general manager of In-Vehicle Operating System and Edge at Red Hat, commented:

Red Hat is committed to helping manufacturers implement autonomous operations on the shop floor. By working closely with our partners like Schneider Electric and Intel, we can help build scalable, software-defined factories and operations capable of advanced automation and interoperability by utilizing a consistent platform approach. We’re excited about this collaboration, and this is only the beginning. By taking these steps now, we can help set the industrial sector up to explore all the possibilities AI, edge computing and more have to offer.

Find out more about Schneider Electric’s Distributed Control Node (DCN) software framework on the company’s  EcoStruxure Automation Expert page.

Related resources:

• Video: The Intelligent Edge: The Next Generation Smart Factory by Red Hat, Intel and Schneider Electric 
• Commentary by Domenico Napoli: Software-based, real-time high availability comes to industrial automation control systems
• Commentary by Josh Swanson: It’s arrived: Commoditization for industrial process control

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However, the vast computational power required for AI has the potential to impair organizational efforts toward decarbonization; its applications could come at a great cost if not integrated with care. Some experts have warned that AI could account for 3.5% of all global electricity consumption by 2030. This figure represents more than what the world’s workforce is responsible for now.

Many of these same corporations embracing AI-enabled technologies have also announced bold Net Zero goals. It is imperative that facility managers (FMs) at these organizations devise strategies to lessen the impact of AI’s intense energy draw. Sustainability-minded businesses are focusing on developing energy-efficient AI algorithms that use resources and power more efficiently to lessen the carbon impact. The Machine Learning Emissions Calculator is one resource that can gauge the carbon footprints of AI models by factoring in hardware, cloud provider, and geolocation.

Facilities managers who add AI technologies to their operational processes will see many benefits, including balancing tenant comfort with optimal energy management by automating areas such as window shade adjustment, lights and HVAC based on occupancy.

Artificial intelligence also can help FMs save time and money by correlating efforts with holistic equipment care. Preventive maintenance averts costly surprise breakdowns and attendant shutdowns, and can lower operational and equipment costs. AI tools are powerful resources for compiling information about all facility processes and equipment, including HVAC, water use, security and planning, and climate control. By processing voluminous data sets in real time and recognizing patterns and trends, AI flags problems and offers proactive solutions.

To incorporate artificial intelligence platforms responsibly, facility managers who keep resource optimization at the forefront of planning while incorporating power-hungry AI will reap the benefits of this game-changing technology. Switching from fossil-based fuels to renewable energy will lower the impact of AI’s energy draws. AI processors are a growing footprint in data centers, which have extensive cooling requirements to offset the heat generated by the thousands of servers running 24/7. Industrial HVAC and water coolers are part of data center infrastructure; to lower the intense environments temperatures, developers are seeking colder climates to construct new facilities and take advantage of natural conditions.

The Energy Efficiency Act in Germany, which would transpose the updated EU Energy Efficiency Directive into national law, proposes that data centers use 100% renewable energy by 2027 and capture and reuse residual heat to warm other nearby housing and other facilities. In fact, while AI requires enormous energy to operate, its ability to process vast reams of data in real time and automate energy allocation for optimal use offers sustainable solutions to this problem. Data analytics experts estimate that AI used for climate mitigation alone could add up to $5.2 trillion to the global economy by 2030 and greatly enhance sustainability efforts.

Leading efforts to use AI carefully include Google, which has developed its own AI “DeepMind” to reduce the energy consumption of its data centers by 40%. Amazon, a prime data center operator, has announced plans to use 100% renewable energy, lengthen server life spans through enhanced maintenance, and be at a water-positive status by 2030 (more water returned to communities than used by facilities). Microsoft’s Azure data centers are aiming for carbon negative status by 2030 through more efficient data centers, clean energy, and environmental caretaking. As these organizations yield a powerful influence and others adopt similar measures, the AIplatform’s energy use will become more manageable.

Facilities operations represent a quarter of all carbon emissions, and employing AI-enabled technologies to automatically manage lighting, energy systems, and customer operations are just a few ways AI can improve resource allocation. With targeted investments that can responsibly balance energy use with occupant and business needs, facility managers can both harness the power of AI while making progress on decarbonization goals.

The increased usage of AI-enabled technologies has spawned legions of enthusiasts as well as doomsayers, but its promise lies somewhere in between those saying it will solve all of society’s challenges and those anticipating new problems. The technology cycle is early, and there will likely be much discussion and upheavals as society grapples with how AI will be used and applied in a fair, energy-conscious and ethical manner.

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The integration allows Tenna customers to view their Sunbelt Rentals assets along with their owned assets across all job sites. This integration improves visibility and project management processes and helps contractors maximize profits with more efficient management of both owned and rented assets on one platform.

Tenna’s native integration with Sunbelt Rentals is compliant with AEMP standards and enables construction businesses to view location and utilization information provided by Sunbelt Rentals. Whether rented or owned, contractors need to understand how an asset is used, how it affects productivity and profits, and if it is needed again. By capturing side-by-side data from rented and owned assets, Tenna users can track which rented assets are most frequently requested and which owned assets are not.

Over time, Tenna predicts that its customers using Sunbelt Rentals will be able to make more informed rental and purchasing decisions that will help them control project costs, improve cash flow, and reduce storage and disposal costs.

Jose Cueva, co-founder, and vice president of product at Tenna, explained:

Tenna customers now have access to valuable utilization and location data from both owned and rented assets integrated into one system with AEMP compliance. With this integration with Sunbelt Rentals, Tenna continues to lead the field in integrations and product developments that simplify project, resource, and budget management for the construction industry.

Learn more about Tenna’s OEM integration with Sunbelt Rentals online.

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