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CLIENT
INDUSTRY
Higher education
FEATURING
Engineering and AI
Microsoft Fabric
~$10M
expected return on 5G investment
10+
disparate data sources unified into a single model
40+
high-value insights on campus experience and cost savings unlocked
PwC unified campus data so Syracuse could make smarter business decisions.
SITUATION
Creating a modern, connected campus
With costs rising and limited options to grow revenue without raising tuition, universities are often under pressure to stand out in an increasingly crowded, cost-constrained landscape. Syracuse University sets itself apart with innovation, from campus-wide AI solutions to launching the first Center for the Creator Economy in the country.
This focus meant Syracuse needed to invest early in next-gen campus connectivity. The university worked with infrastructure provider JMA Wireless to build one of the largest private 5G networks in the United States. Now, network users across its vast campus have reliable connectivity in-building as well as when outdoors.
But questions quickly followed: Could a state-of-the-art 5G network do more than connect? Could it help build a smarter campus?
Connectivity gets complex
Syracuse wanted to see its 5G network through a business lens. PwC helped the university uncover untapped ROI and deliver real operational value. Together, PwC and Syracuse moved fast to turn 5G capability into real-world impact.
More than 20 use cases emerged across transportation, space, custodial, and student experience. Syracuse leveraged PwC’s smart campus expertise to help curate a tailored list across functional groups at the university. The team chose trolley transportation as a low-friction proof point to show immediate value. The ask was simple: Surface actionable insight and fix wait-time frustrations.
To start, real-time cameras and GPS feeds revealed which trolleys were overcrowded and underused. PwC then translated the data into recommended action—improving routes, right-sizing the fleet, and reducing wait times. In three weeks, operational blind spots became measurable. And Syracuse had a data-backed plan to improve the trolley experience.
That proof shifted the conversation. Leadership saw broader potential. Could the team generate enough data to inform the business case for costly new building requests? With hybrid work breaking historical patterns, the previous assumptions about space no longer held true.
Space and occupancy became the priority. But unlike transportation, this use case would pull data from various sources. Addressing these meant more dashboards—and more fragmentation. To scale insight, Syracuse needed a unified data foundation.
SOLUTION
From assumption to data-backed decisions
With a pressing need to understand how campus buildings were being utilized, Syracuse moved its space and occupancy management (SOM) initiative forward—and the data platform to support it. The next step was to select the right scalable data solution.
Microsoft Fabric—an end-to-end platform that can ingest, govern, and analyze data—became the clear frontrunner. Other storage-centric options, like data lakes and warehouses, require additional tools for insights. Fabric did not. And it fit cleanly into Syracuse’s existing Microsoft environment. To make the transition even easier, the recent integration of Copilot AI enabled plain-language queries, reducing the need for, and expense of, third–party support.
A lesson in advanced data management
With the data management system decided, PwC—familiar with Fabric’s emerging real-time intelligence (RTI) and capabilities—returned to help bring Syracuse’s vision to life. We’d stand up Microsoft Fabric, then assess its ability to unify data and deliver insights with the space and occupancy initiative.
Syracuse started with what it already had—roughly 5,400 Wi-Fi access points generating occupancy signals across campus. That data helped, but only to a point. Accuracy plateaued at about 80%, falling short of the room-level insight the university needed.
To close the gap, Syracuse and JMA piloted IoT enabled thermal sensors and cameras in two buildings. Privacy was key. AI analyzed heat signatures and movement patterns to understand presence and usage. PwC brought the data together. Using Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, we routed real-time sensor and camera data into Microsoft Fabric, where it was cleansed, standardized, and unified with 10 cross-department data sources. Each data point was mapped to the right room, building, and moment in time. Power BI, Microsoft’s data visualization and reporting tool, translated that foundation into a single, real-time view, while Copilot AI made the data accessible through plain-language questions. A user could ask, “Which room is least used in the lab science building?” and receive an instant, trusted answer: “Room 309 which averages 10% usage of available capacity.”
Altogether, the tools formed one connected, holistic data ecosystem—physical signals in, governed insights out.
With the platform in place, the team put it to work with the SOM initiative. Insights surfaced fast and brought fresh clarity. In one building alone, data revealed that several rooms were used three hours a day or less, with some not used at all. Instead of building new structures, the university could pinpoint low-occupancy root causes and reclaim capacity to use the space it already had.
Syracuse gained reliable, scalable insight into how campus space was actually used—connecting the physical world to AI-governed intelligence. Microsoft Fabric provided a unified data backbone with a single dashboard. AI made it user-friendly. Together, they helped the university surge ahead of peer institutions.
RESULTS
A better use of time and space
Results were immediate and measurable. The new IoT sensors increased occupancy accuracy from 80% to 95%. That precision helped unlock more than 40 high-value connected campus insights—pinpointing space-use gaps, cost-avoidance opportunities, shared-service bottlenecks, and pain points in the student experience.
With Copilot, Syracuse has access to data instantly. What once took weeks of manual reporting and reconciliation now takes seconds. Trusted, AI-enabled insight replaced assumptions, changing how leaders explore data, test assumptions, and move from question to action.
Ahead of the class
The financial benefits are clear. Syracuse expects a $10 million return on its 5G investment from reduced energy and maintenance costs, buildings that won’t need to be built and more. The insights gained will continue to guide scheduling, custodial routing, and energy management decisions. Plus, capital projects can be assessed by actual space usage. Occupancy insights have already revealed one school could use untapped existing space to avoid costly new construction. With AI and 5G working in tandem, Syracuse is using campus data not just to connect but to guide smarter decisions long into the future.
The university and PwC are also discussing how to expand SOM plans beyond the initial two test buildings. Other future projects could include incorporating real-time trolly locations into the student app.
Whatever the future holds, Syracuse is ready to scale. Our teams transferred Fabric ownership and knowledge to the university, enabling university staff to operate, extend, and onboard new data sources. The tool is set up to support new intelligence layers, such as Microsoft’s emerging Fabric IQ with AI-driven proactive recommendations.
With AI supporting data-backed decisions, Syracuse is extending what makes its campus smart—turning connectivity into insight at scale.
“PwC and Microsoft Fabric helped us catch up to—and in some cases leapfrog—our peers. Before, departments held their data tight. But now that we’ve shown what’s possible by sharing it, people say yes. That’s when governance works.”
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