Trane Trends: Adapting to new building priorities

Each Trane employee views our industry through a personal lens of career and life experiences. It makes us stronger as a whole.

As we talk to customers today, it’s easy to recognize they’re being asked to think differently. Our products and services must also morph to meet these new challenges and opportunities. What used to be a seemingly endless drive towards energy efficiency is now a balance between indoor air quality and energy efficiency – and connectivity will play a huge role in achieving this goal. How will we offset the costs of conditioning this extra outside air?

Trane has been an early adopter in connectivity for remote access and data analytics. These capabilities allow us to pivot fairly quickly to the new expectations of our customers. In some cases, this connectivity has enabled our customers and service teams to shift on-site tasks to remote tasks. In other cases, we have been able to utilize analytics, reports and remote connectivity to help identify areas where customers can stay productive while working remotely and to assist our customers with re-opening their buildings when they are ready and able.

Now it is clear there will be long-lasting effects of this change. At a minimum, society will be more aware of the need for risk-mitigation should this type of pandemic occur again. This experience will accelerate connectivity, remote access and corresponding cyber security best practices within all industries.

While it is too early to tell exactly how many of the recent changes will survive once things get “back to normal,” it is fairly clear that the world has been changed in ways that will not be undone for the foreseeable future. The new normal won’t simply back up the calendar to how things used to be, it will emerge with a combination of the best of what has changed and the best of what always has been.