Office of the Future: Bee’ah Collaborates with Johnson Controls and Microsoft

Executives from Johnson Controls, Microsoft and the Middle East’s sustainability pioneer, Bee’ah, recently announced an agreement to enhance Bee’ah’s new headquarters with a sweeping array of artificial intelligence and smart building solutions powered by Microsoft.
Johnson Controls will work with Microsoft to outfit the new building with intelligent edge systems and software designed to optimize energy efficiency and enhance productivity through a virtual AI persona.

Johnson Controls will use its Digital Vault offering and extended capabilities built on Microsoft Azure to perfect Bee’ah’s new headquarters in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Evoteq, Bee’ah’s digital venture, will serve as the technical project management partner for this unique project, deploying integrated solutions and enhanced digital capabilities for greater operational output.

A vision for the future
Employees and visitors at Bee’ah will experience a diverse range of cutting-edge AI features through multiple touchpoints including HR, customer care, procurement, administration, and mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems.

“Environmental sustainability and digital technologies are mutually inclusive factors in driving an economy of the future,” said HE Khaled Al Huraimel, Bee’ah’s Group CEO. “Our headquarters embodies our vision for this future and exemplifies the most sustainable solutions and advanced technologies, with no compromise on strategic partnerships, innovation or delivery. This will be the first building in the region, and one of the first in the world, to have full integration with AI to support new seamless experiences for optimization of efficiencies, performance and functionality. Our office of the future will manifest our commitment to the continual advancement of our valued staff body, and AI solutions will provide new avenues of employee development and operational convenience. We look forward to the gradual rollout of AI-powered smart building solutions at other Bee’ah offices and locations across the UAE.”

Bee’ah’s futuristic new headquarters was designed by the renowned Zaha Hadid Architects. The building will be fully powered by renewable energy and optimized for the sustainable use of resources to have zero net energy consumption and achieve a LEED platinum certification — the highest recognition awarded to green buildings.

Smart space for employees and visitors
Johnson Controls will deploy a technical infrastructure for the building capable of monitoring its entire environment virtually with Microsoft Azure Digital Twins and IoT technologies. The solution will enable Bee’ah to optimize building operations and drive efficiency.
As Bee’ah’s exclusive cloud provider, Microsoft will optimize the experience for people through technology and solutions. Intelligent concierge capabilities will engage visitors and employees to help locate available meeting spaces, book appointments, give directions, hail rides and support day-to-day tasks.

“Digital Vault and our building apps will give Bee’ah the power to make faster, intelligent data-driven decisions to run its headquarters more safely, efficiently and sustainably, and will increase productivity for the people working and visiting Bee’ah’s headquarters,” said Bill Jackson, president for Global Products at Johnson Controls. “In partnership with Microsoft, Johnson Controls is transforming traditional building systems with services that merge the physical and digital worlds. Through this project, we are showcasing how the cloud and AI can tap into data from physical spaces to drive better engagement with occupants and achieve new levels of efficiency and sustainability.”

“Together with Johnson Controls and Bee’ah, we are driving the digitization of smarter, more sustainable buildings and spaces,” said Scott Guthrie, executive vice president of the Cloud+AI Group at Microsoft. “Bee’ah’s iconic new headquarters will be among the first buildings globally to have end-to-end experiences designed and built on the Azure platform. Azure is the platform that can truly integrate across all the devices, systems and services required for such a large and diverse implementation. Microsoft has been able to reduce energy consumption by 20% on our own campus in Redmond by using machine learning on edge devices and in the cloud, and we can’t wait to see what Bee’ah is able to do by applying this approach to its ultramodern new headquarters in Sharjah.”

Sustainability and technology
Bee’ah has made ventures in industries ranging from Waste Management, to Environmental Consulting, Renewable Energy, Technology, Sustainable Transportation, and Training & Development. The company has executed a comprehensive strategy focused on sustainability and technology, which has reaped rich benefits in the form of the region’s highest waste diversion rates.