Commercial real estate asset managers are making critical decisions about portfolio performance with incomplete data, despite the fact that the operational information they need is already being generated by their buildings. According to Bill Douglas, CEO of OpticWise, a commercial real estate digital infrastructure firm, a structural problem persists across portfolios: the data that drives net operating income (NOI) — from utility consumption to insurance risk to occupancy patterns — sits locked inside building systems and vendor platforms, inaccessible to the people who need it most.
Douglas, who has spent over a decade auditing properties, observes that property owners invest in systems and collect data but never use it. The standard monthly or quarterly summary reports from property management systems show leasing data, rent rolls, and basic financial KPIs. What they do not show is the operational data behind the numbers — how the lighting control system is operating, how air conditioning demand is trending, or what access control logs reveal about space utilization. Asset managers are measuring outcomes without seeing the inputs that drive them.
Douglas identifies three major expense and revenue drivers that asset managers consistently lack visibility into: utilities, insurance, and occupancy. On utilities, the challenge is not simply reducing consumption but understanding the demand curve. Without knowing when large motors draw peak power or what the utility rate structure looks like for surge demand, reducing the utility bill becomes guesswork. On insurance, most owners walk into annual renewal reviews without a coherent data package. A property that can demonstrate standard operating procedures around water leak detection, alarm response, and occupancy management — backed by actual system logs — presents a meaningfully different risk profile than one that cannot. On occupancy, the property management system can show lease rates but not which areas of the building are underutilized, what gym usage patterns look like, or how parking availability compares to demand.
When ownership groups recognize the data gap, they typically hand the problem to the IT manager, property manager, or asset manager — none of whom are equipped to solve it. IT managers focus on information technology, not operational technology. 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. Douglas argues that the wrong people are being asked to do the right tasks, so audits never happen, data continues to sit inside vendor systems, and recoverable income keeps flowing away from owners.
Douglas recommends starting with an honest inventory of what data exists, where it lives, and who has access to it — what he calls a data and digital infrastructure audit. From there, the process should be sequential, targeting highest-value systems first. He offers a concrete example: one client had a lighting control system installed that had never been activated. When OpticWise completed the audit and turned the system on, that property saved $70,000 in the following 12 months on electricity alone — no new hardware, no significant capital outlay.
The same logic applies to dynamic parking pricing, sub-metering by tenant, leak detection, and HVAC demand management. None are exotic solutions; all require data. In most portfolios, that data is being generated right now but is not in anyone's hands. Douglas notes that commercial real estate owners in 2026 cannot rely on rent increases to drive returns, with most looking at 1 percent rent growth. The path to value creation runs through optimization, and optimization requires data that most portfolios still do not have. 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. Those who do not are leaving income on the table year after year.
