Commercial property owners and asset managers frequently make decisions without the full picture because critical data is filtered out as it moves up the reporting chain, according to Bill Douglas, CEO of OpticWise. Each handoff—from building engineer to property manager to asset manager—strips away detail, leaving decision-makers with incomplete information. "It depends on how many filters get applied before a decision-maker gets it," Douglas said, noting that people naturally focus on the metrics they are measured on.
The result is that corporate teams, especially asset managers, often build their own spreadsheets to recapture lost data. But homegrown systems create new risks: information lives behind individual logins, and emailed copies quickly become outdated. When buyers or lenders request operating history during due diligence, the honest answer is often that it sits on someone's laptop. "Anything can happen. Bad optics," Douglas said. "Most commonly, people stop pursuing it." Such gaps can delay deals and affect pricing.
Douglas distinguishes between backward-looking financials and forward-looking KPIs. "If I want to change the NOI, if I want to change the utility expenses, what's the data that will actually make it change going forward?" he said. "I can't change my financials until I look at the inputs." He also cautions that dashboards provide visibility, not control. A person can track only six to 12 measures, while a building produces far more data. "Aggregated data tells you what happened. Source data helps you understand why," he said.
Real control comes from centralizing source data and using software to flag anomalies over time. Different stakeholders—from building engineers to CFOs—can then view the same data in ways relevant to their roles. Douglas emphasizes this does not replace staff; property managers remain essential. The value is in efficiency and better decisions. More on this approach is available on the OpticWise blog. Douglas is co-author of the best-selling book Peak Property Performance®: Game-Changing AI and Digital Strategies for Commercial Real Estate and host of the Peak Property Performance podcast.
