Meet your new team member: Why organizations should think of AI as an operational partner

Artificial intelligence has been part of smart building platforms for years.

Organizations already use AI to optimize equipment performance, detect faults, reduce energy consumption and generate operational insights. These capabilities deliver measurable value every day. But for the most part AI has been applied as an incremental feature layered onto existing solutions.

However, according to Dr. Irina Koitz, Senior Director of Product & AI at Johnson Controls, that is beginning to change.

During her keynote presentation at the Johnson Controls Digital Technology Conference, Dr. Koitz shared her vision for the next evolution of AI in facilities and workplace management. She envisions a future where AI moves beyond being an intelligent add-on to become an active operational partner.

Rather than simply providing insights, AI will increasingly work alongside people, helping them spend less time managing systems and more time delivering value.

AI is becoming a member of the team

To illustrate this shift, Dr. Koitz encouraged attendees not to think of AI as the technology behind better dashboards, search functions and analytics capabilities. Rather, it is an always-available teammate that understands context, recommends actions and carries out routine tasks.

“It's a team member that becomes an all-seeing and ever-learning ally. It has read all the manuals, knows your data, never sleeps and can interact with you using natural language,” said Dr. Koitz. “It can continuously optimize and it can even help our infrastructure self-heal. Last but not least, it can deliver that amazing occupant experience that boosts performance, productivity and outcomes.”

That shift in thinking is significant because it reframes AI from a tool that people use occasionally into an operational capability that works continuously in the background.

From data fatigue to driving business outcomes

Before digging into her vision of the future of AI, Dr. Koitz described how its application in facilities and workplace management has evolved to this point.

She pointed out that ten years ago organizations were overly focused on connecting systems and harmonizing data to gain greater visibility into building performance.

“We got connected, but dashboards kept on getting very busy,” Dr. Koitz explained. “There was quite a bit of data fatigue.”

Today, organizations are building on those capabilities to enable predictive insights, where AI transforms data into forecasts, recommendations and operational intelligence.

"We know how space is utilized and we can forecast things, which is great," Dr. Koitz said. "But that’s not enough. We should absolutely not stop here, because we can do so much more."

The next phase will see AI take a more active role – turning insights into meaningful action. Rather than simply presenting information and leaving people to determine the next step, AI is increasingly able to understand context, recommend actions and execute routine tasks. With these enhanced capabilities, organizations can move away from solely focusing on equipment-level metrics to looking at broader business objectives.

“My personal view is that we should be able to give these systems a business KPI such as a sustainability, energy efficiency or workplace experience goal,” said Dr. Koitz. “That should take us into autonomous mode.”

The magic of modern technology

Why is this happening now? Dr. Koitz offered a simple answer.

People have grown accustomed to technology that leverages vast amounts of data to anticipate their needs and make their life easier, often with little or no effort required. Navigation apps reroute around traffic automatically. Shopping platforms provide personalized recommendations. Digital assistants respond conversationally.

Those experiences have changed expectations for everyone including facility managers, workplace leaders and the building occupants that these professionals support.

“Why are we talking about AI right now? Because we’re human and humans expect magic,” Dr. Koitz explained. “We like things that bring joy and make life easier, and that’s what AI enables.”

People increasingly expect the technology they encounter inside buildings – whether it’s a workplace, hospital or classroom – to be as intuitive and responsive as the digital experiences they enjoy in their everyday lives.

Organizations may view intuitive, personalized occupant experiences as a luxury. However, meeting these evolving expectations benefits both the organization and the occupants. Frictionless buildings improve operational efficiency, support sustainability goals and strengthen competitiveness by attracting occupants and commanding premium value.

One of the tools organizations are using to bring the “magic” and facilitate better occupant experiences is agentic AI.

What agentic AI really means

The phrase "agentic AI" seems to be everywhere. However, many people still don’t understand what it means. Dr. Koitz pointed out that it comes down to allowing AI to complete routine work that would otherwise consume valuable time.

Sometimes a person delegates a task to an AI agent, such as creating and distributing reports. Other times, an AI agent may identify an emerging issue and alert the appropriate person to take action. Finally, AI agents may delegate tasks to one another to initiate actions autonomously. Advanced agentic AI implementations may do all these things concurrently, based on the situation and guardrails the organization has put in place.

Though their capabilities may seem impressive, Dr. Koitz stressed that these systems should be viewed as junior members of the team rather than replacements for experienced professionals.

“These agents are not facility managers. They can take over your tedious stuff, but they cannot take over your strategic thinking,” explained Dr. Koitz. “So, don't be afraid of them. Embrace them as somebody who can execute what you ask them to, and they should integrate in daily workflows.”

How we build agentic AI is just as important as what we apply it to

As AI becomes more capable, trust becomes even more important. Dr. Koitz emphasized that responsible AI is defined not only by what it can do, but by how it is designed.

• Ensuring that organizations retain ownership of their data
• Selecting algorithms that fit specific business needs rather than applying AI indiscriminately
• Keeping humans firmly in control
• Establishing clear guardrails around autonomous actions
• Making AI-generated insights and recommendations transparent
• Collecting feedback for continuous learning and improvement

"We build AI with a lot of care," said Dr. Koitz. "There's no shortage of technology and resources available to develop an endless number of AI solutions. We could dedicate enormous amounts of compute power just so we could say, 'Look, we're using agentic AI.' But that's not very smart. That's why our first step in designing an AI solution is to think about how it addresses the true business needs."

These principles help organizations adopt AI with confidence while ensuring the technology remains aligned with operational goals.

From passive infrastructure to responsive partner

Dr. Koitz’s vision represents a step beyond simply making buildings more intelligent. It's about changing the role they play in the lives of the people who manage and occupy them.

For years, organizations have invested in technology that improves visibility in facility operations, optimizes performance and generates better insights. As AI continues to evolve, there is a massive opportunity to build on these investments and create environments that harmonize disparate sources of data and help facility teams focus on strategic priorities.

“The most valuable thing AI gives you is not intelligence or fancy algorithms. The value is your time back, the uptime on your assets, your happiness and the happiness of those that are using these spaces, feeling more productive and less stressed, breathing good air, having the right temperature,” Dr. Koitz concluded. “That is the value – the joy. And joy isn't a soft metric. It's a performance strategy."

FAQs

What does it mean to think of AI as an operational partner for facilities management?

Thinking of AI as an operational partner means moving beyond dashboards and alerts to systems that help facility teams understand context, recommend actions and complete routine tasks. Instead of only surfacing insights, AI can support faster decision-making, reduce repetitive work and help teams focus on strategic priorities such as energy efficiency, uptime and occupant experience.

How can agentic AI support intelligent building operations?

Agentic AI can support intelligent building operations by helping automate time-consuming workflows, identify emerging issues and initiate appropriate next steps within defined guardrails. In facilities and workplace management, that may include generating reports, recommending maintenance actions, analyzing energy or space utilization data and helping systems respond more proactively to changing building conditions.

Will AI replace facility managers and workplace leaders?

No. AI is best understood as a teammate that can take on repetitive, data-heavy or time-sensitive tasks while people remain responsible for strategy, judgment and oversight. When implemented responsibly, AI helps facility managers and workplace leaders spend less time navigating systems and more time improving building performance, occupant experiences and business outcomes.