Whilst smart room occupancy sensors track how many people are in a specific room, a motion sensor will detect movement and not necessarily how a room is filled. You may choose to track occupancy over movement in a room that needs to be heated according to how many people are present - the heating will go up in a colder climate with fewer people but may drop down slightly if more people are present due to the accumulative body heat that, in turn, makes the room warmer. When tracking motion, you may allow a sensor to tell a heating system to heat a room but you won't be able to drill down into the difference it should heat the room by based on how many people are within that room. That said, these systems can work in tandem to fully optimise your facility.

A smart occupancy sensor tracks how many people are present in a room or at a desk. You may want to track occupancy in your building in order to optimise other technical facets and save energy and money. For example, a room where occupancy tools detect no people will not need the lights to be on in most cases, nor will it need the heating or air conditioning to be turned on.