Drew DePriest, WELL AP

What kinds of projects are you working on?

Everything related to BMS, BOS, asset management, integration, data pipelines, analytics + viz layers, device management, network management, and more.

What are you excited about in the industry?

We're still moving toward the vision of the "anticipatory building." It might have taken longer than some of us would have liked, but we're still moving forward. Also, the growing commitment to workforce development and effort to attract new faces to our industry makes me very proud. Stacks + Joules, Smart Building Academy, and Nexus did not exist at their current state five years ago. I'm excited for their collective potential in helping us attract (and keep) a broader group of folks.

What do you think needs to change in the industry?

BMS and MSI providers need to think and operate more like enterprise technology teams, grounded in ops standards like ITIL and DevOps. The concept of the smart building does not stop once the facility goes live, and we must adapt our approaches to embody more of the digital facilities approach for the life of the assets within the portfolio.

What do you wish we all discussed more?

Failure. From an operational perspective, what worked and what didn't work. We need to embrace vulnerability and be willing to share these stories publicly so we can all learn together much more quickly.

What’s your hot take?  

🔥 Infosec, cybersecurity, and data compliance should be celebrated by BMS and MSI vendors, not lamented.🔥

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