Commercial real estate owners are making a costly mistake by treating operational technology (OT) as an extension of information technology (IT), according to Bill Douglas, CEO of OpticWise. This confusion is leading to inefficiencies, wasted expenses, and lost data that could otherwise improve building performance and profitability.
Douglas explains that IT and OT serve fundamentally different purposes. IT manages organizational infrastructure like servers, email, and cybersecurity, while OT controls building systems such as HVAC, lighting, access control, and leak detection. When owners ask who handles building technology, IT managers often volunteer because low-voltage wiring falls under their purview. Property managers also step in, as buildings are their responsibility, and asset managers focus on financial reports. The result is that no one truly owns OT, creating a vacuum where inefficiency thrives.
“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.”
When no internal team owns OT, vendors fill the gap. After construction, technology decisions often fall to overstretched property managers who buy standalone solutions at trade shows without a broader strategy. Over time, a typical quarter-million-square-foot building accumulates a dozen disconnected systems, redundant networks, and data locked in vendor platforms. “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.”
This lack of oversight leads to direct financial consequences. Utility savings are missed because energy consumption data is not analyzed. Insurance premiums remain high without documented maintenance history. Tenant satisfaction suffers when systems fail unpredictably. Lights stay on in empty buildings, water damage goes undetected, and systems run on default settings for years.
Douglas compares the situation to sports: “You would not ask your pitcher to be your pinch hitter. You would not ask a running back to play middle linebacker.” Similarly, property managers should not be expected to manage networks they never designed. OT requires a digital strategy, a digital architect, and accountability for the data it produces—roles that can be filled by internal teams or external partners.
The Peak Property Performance framework, developed by Douglas and OpticWise founder Drew Hall, offers a structured process for auditing existing systems, connecting them, collecting data, and using it to improve performance and profitability. By recognizing OT as its own discipline, owners can reduce expenses, drive revenue, and prepare their properties for AI-ready systems.
“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 being generated by systems the owner paid for—the key is having someone in a position to use it.
