Smart Elevators Spark Innovation 

In this Readers’ Platform, your author elaborates on the transformation of the smart elevator market in 2023.

Whether it’s daily-use products or luxury items, today’s customers are looking for safer, more convenient and digitally enhanced experiences. Smart digital solutions are being used to achieve each of these values — enhancing the customer experience, increasing convenience and effectively integrating safety. Across industries, the pandemic played a pivotal role in shaping how products and services are manufactured, marketed and delivered, and the elevator and escalator industry is no different: As the smart elevator market continues to transform in India and around the world, it will increasingly focus on three pillars — safety, convenience and an enhanced user experience.

Increased Safety Through Remote Maintenance

With smart, connected elevators, gone will be the days when technicians were called to the field for routine maintenance or showed up to a shutdown with no information to begin the diagnosis and repair. The vertical-transportation industry is investing heavily in digital ecosystems and tools that harness the power of real-time data, machine learning and computer analysis to prevent sudden shutdowns, enable remote servicing, notify field professionals before a potential issue occurs and provide fault data in the event of a shutdown. These connected elevators have safety benefits for passengers, customers and service technicians alike.

Convenience Through the Online Sale of Elevators

Innovation is at the core of many elevator and escalator businesses — not just in our products, but in how we engage customers. At Otis India, we recently launched a digital portal that allows customers to book an elevator completely online and is as easy to use as a food delivery app. Using the online portal, customers can customize their order, get a live quote and book their elevators from a mobile phone or laptop. This system is designed to best meet customer needs, especially customers in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities. And so, it is not just a booking website; it is a whole new business model for a smarter world.

Digitally Enhanced Sustainable Solutions

Building construction and operation in India is one of the biggest sources of CO₂ emissions. As each aspect of the building contributes to the overall score of Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED), elevators cannot be ignored.

Today’s more environmentally conscious customers prefer products that require fewer resources to build and operate. To keep up with these expectations, elevator designs now incorporate recycled and recyclable construction materials, water-soluble paint and are made in factories that are integrating digital technologies to reduce emissions. In elevator operation, green features such as regenerative drives, LED lights, sleep mode technology and destination dispatching all reduce energy consumption and enhance the user experience. 

When people think of a “smart building,” they often think of technology to monitor and control things like heating, lighting and security systems. That smart technology is available for elevators, too. The elevator and escalator industry moves billions of people in a day and is turning to smart technology to enhance safety, convenience and the user experience for passengers and customers alike.