Buildings collect more data today than ever, but data by itself doesn’t save anyone money.

ISSA’s partnership with Smart Building Bootcamp gives cleaning and facility professionals a way to turn sensor readings, occupancy numbers and connected building systems into decisions that change staffing, energy use and contract terms.

Smart Building Bootcamp is an online training and video platform founded by Michael Grant, who has spent more than 10 years working in software and proptech. Grant built the platform after noticing companies across the building services industry wanted to learn about emerging technology but had nowhere to go for a common, jargon-free explanation.

“There was not one single place where they could go and get a common thread of information in a common language, removing the jargon,” Grant said.

How to join the program

ISSA members can reach the jointly branded site through a link on the ISSA website or by going directly to smartbuildingbootcamp.com. A handful of free courses let members test the material before committing, and paid access is organized into three tracks that can be taken individually or as a full course. Grant is offering a 10% discount code to anyone connected with ISSA; interested members can email him directly at [email protected].

“We’ve done a lot of the education and the training courses, so rather than trying to build it all from scratch, the partnership made sense,” Grant noted.

Occupancy data pays for itself

Grant pointed to a university client in Florida that saved $3 million on energy costs over three years simply by adjusting heating and cooling around real occupancy instead of assumed capacity. Another client cut cleaning frequency on its quietest day after occupancy data showed a building built for 450 people regularly held only 10 on Fridays, allowing one team instead of two to cover that shift.

Robotics and indoor air quality remain two areas Grant said building service contractors often overlook, despite falling equipment costs and mounting research linking air quality to occupant productivity.

What to check before signing on

Grant urged facility teams to settle on clear goals before choosing a platform, then insist on systems that share data openly rather than lock customers into a single vendor. He explained that the data a building generates belongs to the customer, not the software provider, and that any platform handling it should carry SOC 2 Type 2 or ISO 27001 compliance with annual, third-party penetration testing.

“Whatever platform people use, they should be looking at a platform that is open and connected to other platforms because you don’t want vendor lock-in,” Grant said.

Grant said Smart Building Bootcamp adds new courses based on what members ask for, including a recent course addressing workforce aging in the cleaning industry. ISSA members interested in the free courses or the partner discount can start at smartbuildingbootcamp.com.