Intelligent lighting networks can save up to 90% of expenses with Light as a Service (LaaS) providers set to hit the market.

With the smart office of the future always online, industry insiders are predicting that smart lighting systems could potentially save up to 90% of electricity costs.

Worldwide, smart lighting installed in offices and industrial sites is projected to grow from 46 million units in 2015 to 2.54 billion units in 2020.

Experts also foresee smart lighting in the global commercial space to be 600 million to one billion square feet by the end of 2015, doubling last year’s figures.

To achieve the lowest electricity cost, lighting product managers at technology and service providers are urged to implement five key strategic phases of smart lighting: LED lighting, Sensors and controls, Connectivity, Analytics and Intelligence.

Most installations stop at the Connectivity phase, leading to the loss of data and analytics that can deliver cost savings.

Deployment of an Analytics base with the dashboard in the cloud, will allow building managers to potentially operate multiple lighting operations from a central point, giving clients tailored lighting programs to reduce expenses and energy wastage.

Building owners can make their systems more Intelligent with automation, where the analytic system looks at the data and creates predictive models.

Setting up LaaS will enable the lighting provider to maintain the system and keep it up to date, while minimising the cash outlay for the smart lighting system.

Dean Freeman, research VP at Gartner, said: "Smart solid-state lighting in office buildings and industrial installations has the potential to reduce energy costs by 90 percent; however, achieving these costs takes more than just installing light-emitting diode (LED) lighting."