New Tech Enables Custom Office Comfort

IRVINE, CA-Twelve-year-old software firm Genea Energy Partners has developed a smartphone app that dramatically changes the way office tenants and property managers deal with after-hours services. The software, which the firm refers to as its ACS (after-hours control system) cloud platform, allows tenants to set temperature and lighting controls in their office space after hours and on weekends as needed without going through property management.

“In a high-rise building, typically a tenant will sign a lease that includes air conditioning and heating during office hours—maybe 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday,” Michael Wong, president and CEO of Genea, tells GlobeSt.com. “If they needed A/C or heating after hours, they needed to request it from the property-management team, which can be a labor-intensive process involving a touch-tone telephone and a system embedded in a computer that's connected to an energy-management system. That was the old ACS.”

When the Irvine Co. asked Genea to host a system that took the process out of computers, a lightbulb went on, says Wong, who came from the private-equity industry. “We developed a cloud-based solution so that instead of boxes, users can connect via the Internet to the energy-management system. This greatly enhanced service since tenants can access the system on their own after hours, via their iPhone or Android. It's another way of driving tenant satisfaction.”

Tenants can program in advance a certain number of hours of service on a certain day on their zone or floor, depending on how service is broken down, and are billed separately for the extra energy use. This prevents the cost from being passed on to her tenants who aren't using the office during that time. If, for some reason, the system doesn't turn on as ordered, the software notifies the property-management team, who can attend to the problem before the tenant is even aware there is one.

“What we really did was develop the software so that large real estate owners can have a best-practices way of providing tenants with services after hours,” says Wong. The firm is responsible for these controls for 30 million square feet of the Irvine Co.'s portfolio and is also working with other large, sophisticated real estate companies including Equity Office Properties, KBS and Jones Lang LaSalle.

Genea is also working on an automated meter-reading and billing software system that will handle submetering in large office buildings. “Customer service hasn't been a great point of emphasis for this industry, so we are striving to be the Ritz Carlton for this industry,” says Wong. “Owners, managers and tenants are our three customers, and we strive to be very responsive.”