Week 6: Why Most Tech Upgrades Fail to Improve NOI
Introduction
Welcome to Week 6 of our 52-week series exploring how CRE owners can unlock performance and profitability through digital infrastructure. I’m Bill Douglas, CEO of OpticWise and co-author of Peak Property Performance: Game-Changing AI and Digital Strategies for Commercial Real Estate. Today, we’re tackling a harsh truth: most building tech upgrades fail to deliver measurable returns. In fact, they often become sunk costs that drain resources and frustrate teams.
The Illusion of Progress
In recent years, the CRE industry has seen a flood of technology: Proptech, tenant apps, smart sensors, “AI-powered” building management systems. On paper, they promise efficiency and enhanced experience. But in practice, many owners see no meaningful increase in NOI or tenant satisfaction.
Why? Because they’ve invested in tools, not strategy. Tech is layered on top of old infrastructure, fragmented platforms, and vendor-controlled systems. Without a cohesive foundation, these upgrades can’t deliver integrated, scalable value.
PPP Insight: The ‘Connect’ Phase Comes First
In our book *Peak Property Performance*, we lay out the 5C™ Framework. The second step—**Connect**—is the digital backbone of the asset. Without owning and integrating your infrastructure first, every tech layer added is like painting over rust. Connectivity isn’t just about bandwidth. It’s about data flow, system interoperability, and owner control.
When upgrades happen without establishing that foundation, they may function in isolation but can’t contribute to holistic property intelligence or operational ROI.
A Familiar Scenario
A mid-sized office portfolio added a tenant experience app, only to find that less than 15% of tenants adopted it. Worse, the app provider owned the user data, and the building’s access control system didn’t integrate with the app’s workflow.
The result? Confused tenants, frustrated property managers, and a wasted budget. Only after completing an OpticWise PPP Digital Infrastructure + Data Ownership Audit did the owner understand the underlying issue: multiple vendors, no data interoperability, and no ownership of the connectivity layer. Fixing those gaps was the prerequisite to making any CRE tech truly work.
Why Owners Must Lead with Strategy, Not Tech
Building owners are often pitched solutions before identifying the actual problems. A new energy dashboard doesn’t help if your HVAC system isn’t connected to it. Smart lighting won’t move the needle if your occupancy sensors are inaccurate.
The issue isn’t technology—it’s misalignment. Tools are chosen before defining business goals. Digital infrastructure is treated as IT’s problem, rather than an owner-controlled asset.
Owners need to ask: “What’s the outcome we’re after—and what foundation must be in place for that outcome to be real?”
Call to Action
If your tech upgrades haven’t produced the value you expected, you’re not alone—and you’re not stuck.
**A PPP Digital Infrastructure + Data Ownership Audit** with OpticWise reveals whether your digital infrastructure is set up to support your goals. It gives you a roadmap—aligned to NOI, tenant experience, and strategic advantage.
Next week, we’ll shift to The Digital Infrastructure Audit That Pays for Itself, and explore whether your asset is structured to benefit from the coming wave of building intelligence
Breaking News –
Peak Property Maintenance – was published yesterday (24th of June) and it is already officially a best-seller and #1 in several categories already. I have been working with Bill and Drew at OpticWise for some years and I fully endorse this masterpiece, it shows how CRE operators and owners can monetise the commercial asset in a very different way,
“Having worked with numerous proptech founders with a combined market cap of $1.86B, I know what excellent and transformational looks like! Take it from me: Bill has the definitive roadmap for optimizing commercial real estate assets by re-imagining the legacy business models that CRE owners, investors, and operators have been using for decades, which leaves so many dollars on the table. Digital infrastructure, data ownership, and how to provide the finest UX for tenants are just some of the topics covered.”
Andrew Stanton CEO Proptech-PR to order your copy of this please use this LINK.
Andrew Stanton CEO Proptech-PR
Andrew Stanton Founder & Editor of 'PROPTECH-X' where his insights, connections, analysis and commentary on proptech and real estate are based on writing 1.3M words annually. Plus meeting 1,000 Proptech founders, critiquing 400 decks and having had 130 clients as CEO of 'PROPTECH-PR', a consultancy for Proptech founders seeking growth and exit strategies. He also acts as an advisory for major global real estate companies on sales, acquisitions, market positioning & operations. With 200K followers & readers, he is the 'Proptech Realestate Influencer.'
- Andrew Stantonhttps://proptech-x.com/author/andrew-stanton/
- Andrew Stantonhttps://proptech-x.com/author/andrew-stanton/
- Andrew Stantonhttps://proptech-x.com/author/andrew-stanton/
- Andrew Stantonhttps://proptech-x.com/author/andrew-stanton/
