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Northern Arizona University has been quietly laying the groundwork for an AI-enabled smart campus—and this NexusCon 2025 presentation walks through how it’s actually working in practice. Steve Burrell, CIO at Northern Arizona University, joins Rick Szcodronski and Haley Neiman from Willow to explain how NAU connected data across three campuses, 175 buildings, and millions of square feet to support facilities operations.
The focus isn’t hype—it’s on real use cases like onboarding decades of building documentation, improving troubleshooting workflows, and giving facilities teams faster access to system context. This presentation shows how AI fits into a broader facilities transformation, not as a standalone tool but as part of a long-term operating model.
Behind the paywall, you’ll hear what surprised the team once they started applying AI to real facilities workflows—and where it delivered value faster than expected. The presenters break down how NAU saved thousands of hours during building data onboarding, how AI-assisted diagnostics are helping newer technicians ramp faster, and why summarization and context-building turned out to be more valuable than pure automation.
You’ll also learn where AI still needs guardrails, how accountability stays with people—not algorithms—and why use cases matter more than the technology itself. If you’re responsible for facilities, energy, or OT across a campus or portfolio, this recording offers a grounded look at what AI can (and can’t) realistically do today.
Watch the full recording inside Nexus Pro →
Northern Arizona University has been quietly laying the groundwork for an AI-enabled smart campus—and this NexusCon 2025 presentation walks through how it’s actually working in practice. Steve Burrell, CIO at Northern Arizona University, joins Rick Szcodronski and Haley Neiman from Willow to explain how NAU connected data across three campuses, 175 buildings, and millions of square feet to support facilities operations.
The focus isn’t hype—it’s on real use cases like onboarding decades of building documentation, improving troubleshooting workflows, and giving facilities teams faster access to system context. This presentation shows how AI fits into a broader facilities transformation, not as a standalone tool but as part of a long-term operating model.
Behind the paywall, you’ll hear what surprised the team once they started applying AI to real facilities workflows—and where it delivered value faster than expected. The presenters break down how NAU saved thousands of hours during building data onboarding, how AI-assisted diagnostics are helping newer technicians ramp faster, and why summarization and context-building turned out to be more valuable than pure automation.
You’ll also learn where AI still needs guardrails, how accountability stays with people—not algorithms—and why use cases matter more than the technology itself. If you’re responsible for facilities, energy, or OT across a campus or portfolio, this recording offers a grounded look at what AI can (and can’t) realistically do today.
Watch the full recording inside Nexus Pro →
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This is a great piece!
I agree.