Commercial real estate owners are making a costly mistake by lumping operational technology (OT) into the same category as information technology (IT), according to Bill Douglas, CEO of OpticWise. Douglas argues that this confusion is leading to inefficiency, wasted data, and lost revenue.
IT manages organizational infrastructure like servers, email, and cybersecurity. OT, on the other hand, runs the building itself: HVAC, lighting, access control, parking, leak detection, and elevators. These are fundamentally different disciplines, but many ownership groups treat them as one, leaving OT without a dedicated owner.
When no one owns OT, vendors fill the gap. A property manager, already stretched thin, might buy a system that solves one problem but doesn't fit a broader strategy. Over time, a typical 250,000-square-foot building accumulates a dozen disconnected systems, redundant networks, and data locked in vendor platforms. The owner pays for services but gets none of the intelligence the data could provide.
Douglas notes that property managers, IT managers, and asset managers are all capable but are being asked to handle tasks outside their expertise. "We are asking the wrong people to do the right tasks," he said. OT requires a digital strategy and an accountable owner, whether internal or a partner.
The Peak Property Performance framework, developed by Douglas and OpticWise founder Drew Hall, provides a structured process for auditing systems, connecting them, collecting data, and using it to improve performance and profitability.
Managed OT yields utility savings, lower insurance rates, and better tenant experiences. Unmanaged OT leads to lights on in empty buildings, undetected water damage, and systems running on default settings for years. "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 there, produced by systems the owner paid for. The question is whether anyone is positioned to use it. Recognizing OT as its own discipline is the first step toward solving this strategy problem.
