Commercial real estate asset managers are making critical decisions about net operating income (NOI), insurance renewals, utility spend, and occupancy trends with incomplete or vendor-controlled data, according to Bill Douglas, CEO of OpticWise, a commercial real estate digital infrastructure firm. The operational data that drives these outcomes sits locked inside building systems and inaccessible to portfolio decision-makers.
Douglas, who has spent over a decade auditing properties, identifies a structural problem: property owners invest in systems, collect data, but never use it. The standard monthly or quarterly summary report from property management systems shows leasing data, rent rolls, and basic financial KPIs, but omits the operational data behind the numbers. "Properties send management what they are asked for – nothing more," Douglas explains. "Asset managers receive what they requested, but they often do not know what else to ask for."
Douglas highlights three major expense and revenue drivers that asset managers consistently lack visibility into: utilities, insurance, and occupancy. On utilities, the challenge is understanding the demand curve; without knowing when large motors draw peak power or the utility rate structure, reducing the bill becomes guesswork. For insurance, most owners enter renewal reviews without a coherent data package. A property that can demonstrate standard operating procedures backed by actual system logs – such as water leak detection, alarm response, and occupancy management – presents a different risk profile to underwriters. On occupancy, property management systems track lease rates but cannot show underutilized areas, gym usage patterns, or parking demand, which are revenue and experience drivers.
When ownership groups recognize the data gap, they typically hand the problem to the IT manager, property manager, or asset manager. Douglas argues none of these are workable solutions. IT managers focus on information technology, not operational technology that runs buildings. Property managers are hired to lease space, not manage network architecture. Asset managers are financial analysts; running analysis across a data lake is not their skill set. "The wrong people are being asked to do the right tasks," Douglas says. The result is that audits never happen, data remains inside vendor systems, and recoverable income flows away from owners.
A practical data strategy starts with an honest inventory of existing data, where it lives, and who has access – what Douglas calls a data and digital infrastructure audit. The process should be sequential, identifying which systems generate uncollected data and represent the highest-value targets. A concrete example: one client had a lighting control system that was never activated. After OpticWise completed the audit and turned the system on, the property saved $70,000 in the following 12 months on electricity alone, with no new hardware or significant capital outlay. The same logic applies to dynamic parking pricing, sub-metering by tenant, leak detection, and HVAC demand management.
The cost of inaction is significant. A 400-unit apartment portfolio that could generate an additional $500 per door per year in NOI is passing on $200,000 annually. An office building with 250,000 rentable square feet that could recover 50 cents per square foot is forgoing $125,000. With commercial real estate owners in 2026 facing only 1 percent rent growth, optimization becomes key. "Owners who address the data gap now are better positioned to act on cost recovery, renegotiate insurance terms, and improve NOI without waiting on market conditions," Douglas concludes. "Those who do not are choosing to leave income on the table year after year."
