Commercial real estate asset managers routinely make decisions on net operating income (NOI), insurance renewals, utility spend, and occupancy with incomplete or delayed data, according to Bill Douglas, CEO of OpticWise, a commercial real estate digital infrastructure firm. Douglas, who has spent over a decade auditing properties, argues that the operational data driving outcomes is locked inside building systems and vendor platforms, inaccessible to portfolio decision-makers.
The standard monthly or quarterly summary report from property management systems shows leasing data and financial KPIs but omits operational data behind the numbers. Douglas says the problem goes deeper: properties send only what they are asked for, and asset managers often do not know what else to request. The systems that track lighting, air conditioning demand, and access control logs generate data that never reaches the asset manager in a usable form.
Douglas identifies three major areas where asset managers lack visibility: utilities, insurance, and occupancy. On utilities, understanding the demand curve is key; without data on peak power draw or utility rate structures, reducing bills becomes guesswork. For insurance, properties that can demonstrate standard operating procedures backed by system logs present a lower risk profile, yet most cannot produce the documentation. On occupancy, data on underutilized areas, gym usage, or parking demand is invisible, missing revenue opportunities.
The typical response to the data gap is to hand the problem to an IT manager, property manager, or asset manager—each ill-suited for the task. IT managers handle information technology, not operational technology; property managers focus on leasing and tenant service; asset managers are financial analysts. Douglas argues the wrong people are being asked, resulting in audits never happening and recoverable income flowing away from owners.
A practical data strategy starts with an inventory of existing data, where it lives, and who has access—a data and digital infrastructure audit. The process is sequential, targeting high-value systems for improved visibility. Douglas cites a client whose lighting control system, installed but never activated, saved $70,000 in electricity over 12 months after activation—no new hardware needed.
The cost of inaction is significant. A 400-unit apartment portfolio generating an additional $500 per door per year in NOI passes on $200,000 annually. An office building with 250,000 rentable square feet recovering 50 cents per square foot forgoes $125,000. With rent growth projected at 1 percent in 2026, optimization is the path to value creation, and optimization requires data most portfolios lack. Owners who address the data gap now can improve NOI without waiting on market conditions; those who do not are choosing to leave income on the table year after year.
