SBT Alliance
Turning a New Leaf in the Lighting Industry

Ever since fluorescent bulbs were commercially released in 1938, lighting in commercial buildings has remained low tech, slow to develop, and provided little to no software connectivity. Fast-forward to the dawn of the smartphone, and the lighting industry has experienced a tech boom that no one saw coming. Today, two technologies permeate the lighting industry: LED and IoT (Internet of Things).

"We help clients streamline the process of integrating multiple systems in their buildings, so they are able to extract actionable data and insights to improve operations"

At the core of LED-based IoT systems is an advanced lighting control system (ALCS). There are several ALCSs on the market, each offering its own way of leveraging IoT technologies. Organizations can improve their sales, customer experience, operational efficiency and cost savings, and much more using advanced IoT solutions. That said, not many customers in the lighting industry realize the immense value that modern LED-based IoT solutions have to offer.

SBT Alliance is an IoT implementation company that empowers organizations to take full advantage of the IoT through highly integrated LED technologies. The mission is simple: to build robust, results-based, data-driven solutions that leverage IoT and LEDs. SBT goes a step further and applies energy savings, utility incentives, and tax credits to help pay for an otherwise unattainable IoT system. Under the leadership of Benjamin Buchanan, an industry veteran who has been working with lighting, HVAC, software, and machine to machine technology for over 20 years, SBT Alliance aims to accelerate the pace of innovation in the lighting industry, making LED-based IoT solutions accessible to all.

“Long before founding SBT Alliance, when I was a professional working in the advanced controls space, I observed that customers in the lighting industry overlooked advanced controls and IoT opportunities because of tight budgets,” says Buchanan, the CEO of the company. “While there were smart solutions available, integrating them with the existing systems and the building’s lighting infrastructure was intimidating. The lack of support from the lighting partners and software companies bore a negative impact on the overall results. And the same issues surfaced when talking with customers. The solutions pitched to them were fraught with integration problems, inadequate infrastructure, poorly configured lighting/network designs, and sub-par support. When you mix all of that, it spelled a recipe for disaster; customers ended up trading one inefficient system for another.”

With SBT Alliance, Buchanan and his team seek to alleviate these woes. He brought together the leading minds in the lighting industry by merging three companies, each playing a critical role in deploying LED-driven IoT solutions. While the first was a company dedicated to IoT commissioning and software development, the second was a manufacturing company focused on fixture-embedding IoT controls, and pre-commissioning LED luminaires. The third company specialized in sourcing cutting-edge, premium LED lighting fixtures from the domestic US and international manufacturers.

The leadership at SBT Alliance has decades of experience in the areas of advanced control systems design, installation, systems integration, lighting, HVAC, building management systems, and software development. This culmination of experience allows SBT to objectively review the latest products and services available in the lighting industry and develop the best possible solution for each client and their business goals. “We help clients streamline the process of integrating multiple systems in their buildings, so they are able to extract actionable data and insights to improve operations,” says Buchanan.

As an IoT solutions partner, SBT Alliance is building custom applications that help clients in different business areas outside of energy management, such as sales and customer experience, and intended to improve revenue and reduce costs. Currently, SBT Alliance is reimaging car dealerships through cutting-edge IoT applications. Traditionally, car dealership software systems have been more about a CRM rather than customer experience. SBT Alliance aims to flip the industry on its head by bringing objectivity into assessing the performance of the sales and customer services teams and overhaul client engagement strategies with a digital touch.