24 Sep 2026 By: Kate Figg
We were thrilled to host our first Alliot LIVE! Partner Day just a couple of weeks ago. Now that the dust has settled, we’ve had a chance to reflect on the day - what we heard, what surprised us, what our partners and customers told us, and, perhaps most importantly, what we’ve learned about where the IoT market is heading.
So, what did we discover? Read on to find out.
Alliot LIVE! marked the first event we’ve hosted ourselves, so naturally, there were a few nerves in the build-up.
Will people turn up? Will the content resonate? Will we be able to deliver the experience our sponsors and partners deserve?
And when you have a dozen partners travelling to join you for the day, there’s a definite sense of responsibility to make sure it’s worthwhile for everyone.
Thankfully, we had nothing to worry about.
The response from both attendees and sponsors was fantastic, and the feedback we received throughout the day and since has reinforced that there is a real appetite for this type of event.
Our sponsors included Adeunis, Daizy, Fludia, LORIOT, Kerlink, MClimate, Milesight, Netmore, Nexelec, Wattsense, WATTECO and Synetica, who all brought their expertise, products and insight to the day.
Rather than simply showcasing products, the event was about creating opportunities for conversations. Our sponsors could demonstrate what their products can do, while attendees could ask questions. Our Gold Sponsor partners hosted their own workshops to offer a flexible agenda for the day; enabling attendees to make the day their own, explore use cases and, importantly, talk openly about the challenges they are facing in their own businesses.
And that’s where things became particularly interesting.
One of the biggest benefits of hosting an event like this is being able to step away from our desks and actually listen to the people working with IoT every day.
We had conversations around everything from smart buildings and energy efficiency to compliance, environmental monitoring and the practicalities of integrating IoT into existing systems.
There were plenty of individual discussions, but several themes came through particularly strongly.
 |
The smart building sector continues to gather momentum, with a growing focus on how IoT can work alongside existing Building Management Systems (BMS) to provide greater visibility, control and efficiency. For system integrators and facilities teams, the opportunity isn't necessarily about replacing existing infrastructure. Instead, it’s about using IoT to fill the gaps - adding data and insight where traditional systems may not reach. That creates a particularly interesting opportunity for our partners as more organisations look for practical ways to improve the performance of their buildings without undertaking huge infrastructure projects. Retrofit is most definitely still a keyword! |
While larger commercial buildings are an obvious market for smart building technology, our conversations also highlighted the significant opportunity in smaller premises that don't have a BMS at all.
Offices, smaller commercial properties and other buildings can still benefit from monitoring environmental conditions, energy consumption, occupancy and other key metrics - but
the proposition needs to be simple, accessible and, importantly, deliver a clear return on investment.
There is also more work to do around rented and leased premises, where the person paying for the technology may not own the building or have control over its infrastructure.
For us, that presents an interesting challenge: how do we make the benefits of IoT clear to businesses that may not have traditionally considered themselves a natural fit for smart building technology?
That's something we'll be exploring further.
