Using Web Services To Change Your Business for the Better

Johnson Controls, a leading manufacturer of HVAC equipment and control systems, is using Microsoft’s .NET technologies and Web services to create a new facility management system called Metasys, which runs on nontraditional hardware embedded on vents, temperature sensors, and other HVAC equipment. In an industry in which proprietary technology is still the norm, Johnson Controls has decided to build its next-generation platform on more standard technology.

The Bottom Line: The move to Web services cuts short-term costs and creates a long-term strategic advantage.

What It Means: As a result of making the change to a new architecture, the company has already identified four benefits for itself and its customers:

• Long-Term Cost Cutting--Using Windows XP as the foundation for future development, Johnson Controls eliminated the expense and overhead of writing and maintaining custom operating systems for its facility management technology.
• Shorter Development Time--Using the Microsoft tool set, the company cut development time in half.
• Standardized Integration--Web services provides a standard integration technology, making it easier for Johnson Controls’ technicians to implement new systems and integrate to competitors’ products.
• Standardized Access--This new application is browser-based and accessible from any networked PC, making it easier for facilities personnel to administer.

Beyond the short-term benefits, the technology decision entails larger, more strategic implications. In addition to selling and installing control systems, Johnson Controls provides outsourced facilities management services to customers. By delivering a mechanism for centralized control, standards-based Web service technology improves the efficiency of managing outsourced operations.

The company also recognizes a convergence of facilities management and IT. Sharing common technology infrastructure between the facilities systems and IT can help centralize control, improve asset utilization, increase employee efficiency, and lower costs. One company has incorporated the facilities function under IT reporting to the CIO. The belief is that both groups are responsible for delivering services to the employees, so the company created a single point of contact for all requests, including telecommunications, building systems, and IT.

Conclusion: For many, Web services are still a novel technology looking for a problem to solve. Too often, IT organizations get bogged down in the wow factor of a new technology and fail to apply it to the right business problems. But here’s a great example of how new technology is employed for the right reasons: delivering short-term benefits to the developers and acting as a competitive weapon for Johnson Controls.

AMR Research originally published this article on 17 September 2003.