Commercial real estate asset managers are routinely making decisions with incomplete data, missing opportunities to improve net operating income by hundreds of thousands of dollars per property, according to Bill Douglas, CEO of OpticWise, a commercial real estate digital infrastructure firm.
Douglas argues that a structural problem hides in plain sight across portfolios: operational data from building systems—such as lighting controls, HVAC, and access logs—is siloed within vendor platforms and never reaches the people responsible for portfolio performance. "Properties send management what they are asked for—nothing more," Douglas said. "Asset managers receive what they requested, but they often do not know what else to ask for."
The standard monthly report from property management systems shows leasing data and rent rolls but omits operational drivers like utility demand curves, insurance risk documentation, and occupancy patterns. Douglas identifies three major levers 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 consumption becomes guesswork. On insurance, a property that can demonstrate standard operating procedures with actual system logs presents a different risk profile to underwriters. Most properties cannot produce that documentation. On occupancy, systems can show lease rates but not which areas are underutilized or how parking demand fluctuates—key revenue and experience drivers.
When ownership groups recognize a data gap, they typically hand the problem to the IT manager, property manager, or asset manager—none of whom are suited for the task. IT managers focus on information technology, not operational technology. Property managers lease space; they do not manage network architecture. Asset managers are financial analysts, not data scientists. "The wrong people are being asked to do the right tasks," Douglas said.
A practical data strategy begins with an honest inventory of existing data, where it lives, and who has access to it—a data and digital infrastructure audit. From there, the process is sequential: identify which systems generate uncollected data with the highest value, and implement quick wins within 90 days. One client saved $70,000 in 12 months simply by activating an already-installed lighting control system that had never been turned on.
"The same logic applies to dynamic parking pricing, sub-metering by tenant, leak detection, and HVAC demand management," Douglas said. "None of these are exotic solutions. All require data. And in most portfolios, that data is being generated right now—it is just not in anyone's hands."
The cost of inaction is substantial. 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 primary path to value creation. Owners who address the data gap now can recover costs, renegotiate insurance terms, and improve NOI without waiting on market conditions. Those who do not are leaving income on the table year after year.
