CRE Owners Keep Asking IT Managers to Solve an Operations Problem. It Is Not Working.

Written by:

Heather Hook

Date:

04 Jun 2026

KeyCrew Studio

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There are two completely different categories of technology inside a commercial real estate building. Most ownership groups treat them as one. That mistake is costing them more than they realize.

Bill Douglas, CEO of OpticWise, has spent years watching property owners hand operational technology decisions to people who were never trained for them. And according to Douglas, it is one of the most consistent and expensive blind spots in the industry.

“IT is very skilled and very necessary at running the organization’s systems, financials, security, access, and all of that,” Douglas said. “But operational technology is a completely different thing. And most ownership groups have no idea these two categories exist.”

IT and OT Are Not the Same Thing

Information Technology manages the organizational infrastructure: servers, email, identity management, firewall policy, directory services. It is the layer that connects employees to their tools and protects corporate data.

Operational Technology is the layer that runs the building itself: HVAC systems, lighting controllers, access control, parking management, leak detection sensors, elevators, and the data all of those systems generate. OT is what makes a building function. It is also what makes it efficient, or wasteful.

The problem is that when ownership groups ask who is responsible for the technology in their properties, IT managers raise their hand, because low voltage wiring in a rack looks like their domain. Property managers raise their hand, because the building is their responsibility. Asset managers stay quiet, because they are looking at financial reports, not building systems.

Nobody is actually owning OT, and that vacuum is where the inefficiency lives.

What Happens When Vendors Fill the Gap

When no one inside the organization owns OT, vendors do. A general contractor finishes a building and hands technology decisions to a property manager who is already stretched thin managing leases and tenant relationships. The property manager needs solutions fast, goes to a trade show, sees a compelling demo, and buys something that solves one problem without fitting into any broader strategy.

Over time, a typical quarter-million square foot building ends up with a dozen or more disconnected systems, multiple redundant networks nobody planned for, and data scattered across vendor platforms the owner cannot access.

“They have strategies to build properties, to buy properties, to sell properties, to lease up, to increase rent roll,” Douglas said. “But they often just ignore the digital. So the vendors run the roost.”

The consequence is not just inefficiency. It is a loss of data. Every one of those systems is generating operational data that belongs to the property owner. When vendors manage the system, they hold the data. The owner is paying for a service and receiving none of the intelligence it could produce.

Right Person, Wrong Seat

Douglas is direct about what he sees happening across the industry. Property managers, IT managers, and asset managers are all very capable people. They are simply being asked to do things outside their training, staffing, and skill set.

“We are asking the wrong people to do the right tasks,” he said. “A property manager’s job is to take care of tenants and lease up the building. Not to manage networks they never designed and probably cannot document.”

The analogy he uses is sports. You would not ask your pitcher to be your pinch hitter. You would not ask a running back to play middle linebacker. They might technically be able to stand in that position. They will not perform like a specialist.

OT management requires a digital strategy, a digital architect, and someone accountable for the data it produces. Those roles do not need to be internal. They can be a partner. But they need to exist somewhere, or the gap stays unfilled.

The Peak Property Performance framework, developed by Douglas and OpticWise founder Drew Hall, gives owners a structured process for auditing what they have, connecting the right systems, collecting the data they own, and using it to improve both performance and profitability.

What Gets Lost When OT Is Unmanaged

The clearest way to understand the cost of ignoring OT is to look at what a managed OT layer actually produces.

Utility savings come from knowing when and how energy is being consumed, not from instructing a property manager to use less. Insurance rates go down when owners can document maintenance history, response protocols, and system performance. Tenant experience improves when the building operates reliably and problems are caught before they affect anyone.

When OT is unmanaged, none of that happens. Lights stay on in empty buildings because no one programmed the lighting controller. Water damage goes undetected until it becomes visible. Systems installed at construction run on default settings, or sometimes no settings at all, for years.

“You lose control of your expenses,” Douglas said. “And you lose the data you should be able to use to operate more efficiently and drive more revenue.”

The data is already there. It is being produced right now by systems the owner paid for. The question is whether anyone is in a position to use it.

That is not an IT problem. It is not a property management problem. It is a strategy problem, and it starts with recognizing that OT is its own discipline, with its own requirements, and its own return.

About OpticWise: OpticWise is a digital infrastructure and data strategy firm focused on commercial real estate. The company helps owners and operators take ownership of their building data, reduce operating expenses, and build the foundation needed for AI-ready properties.

This article is based on information provided by the expert source cited above. It is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or real estate advice. Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified professionals before making any real estate or financial decisions.

Disclosure: Individuals or companies mentioned may have a commercial relationship with KeyCrew.