Creating Secure, Connected, and Revenue-Generating Office Buildings

Speaker A: Hello everyone and welcome back to Peak Property Performance. Before I introduce our guest, I want to remind everybody to like follow, subscribe the show, forward it to somebody, you know, invite them to listen. We've gotten a lot of applications to be on the show and I encourage you to continue to do that. That's how we're going to find more and better and interesting conversations to be on the show. So today's theme, Today's show theme. The property manager's perspective. When technology helps and when, God forbid, it gets in the way. So today our guest is Mary Pat.

Speaker A: Ha. Mary Pat, say hello before I read your introduction.

Mary Pat Hawes: Hello, Doug. Thank you so much.

Speaker A: Today on Peak Property Performance, we're joined by Mary Pat Hawes, a commercial property manager with Boxer Property. She oversees the day to day operations of a multi tenant office property in Denver, Colorado. Property managers, as we all know, sit at the intersection of ownership, tenants, vendors and building systems, giving them one of the most practical perspectives in all of commercial real estate. In this episode we'll explore how technology is changing property management. What owners often overlook about building operations, how connected systems can improve both efficiency and tenant satisfaction, and what today's tenants expect from modern commercial buildings. So again, Mary Pat, welcome to the show. Glad to have you. We finally get to do this.

Mary Pat Hawes: Yeah. Thank you so much, Bill. I'm glad to be on the show. Thank you so much for the invitation.

Speaker A: Yeah, it's been a pleasure to work with you over the years. So the modern property manager has become a technology manager. I don't think that was intentional as much as you're often left being the last one holding the bag, standing in front of a tenant that needs something. So property management has obviously changed dramatically over the last decade. How has it changed what your job looks like on a typical day?

Mary Pat Hawes: Absolutely. You know, I think with industry renaissation, it's a little different with my position as a property manager, but I do see vast changes within how my priorities have changed as well, especially changing different management companies. I think it really depends on who's actually managing the asset of the company and how it's fits in with my day to day. But I do know for me it changed drastically when we lost a very great IT specialist here at the building that kind of helped run all of our system and infrastructure. So now I've kind of left, but I've gained a lot of education, a lot of knowledge on it, just having to be the one that's on site dealing with any issues that rarely come about. But when they do well, how much

Speaker A: of your day now depends on technology.

Mary Pat Hawes: All of it.

Speaker A: All of it. Wow.

Mary Pat Hawes: I would say all of it. With our building specifically my day, would we? I feel like we kind of have a smart building per se and everything. Like our H Vac, you know, the way our conference rooms are ran, everything. It's all based on, you know, connectivity.

Speaker A: Well, you've been with the building since it went live, right? Since it opened?

Mary Pat Hawes: No, I've only been since 2023.

Speaker A: 23. Okay. So what's different today versus when you started with that property relative to technology? Like, I mean, the market has changed. That was post pandemic, which was driving a lot of change. You've seen tenancy change, occupanc change. How has technology changed in what you intend to do with it and how you actually use it versus just what you're being told to use? Right. Or what the buzzwords say. AI is everywhere.

Speaker A: We're not talking about AI. I mean technology as in what you actually use to do your job in taking care of tenants.

Mary Pat Hawes: Absolutely. That one's kind of a tough one for me to think about right now, to be honest, of how it's really changed. I feel like it hasn't changed much for me, to be honest, with my day to day, technology wise, we haven't. I mean, besides having to get rid of certain platforms that we'd used in the past, besides getting rid of those, it hasn't changed that much.

Speaker A: Maybe I could ask, do you have any examples of when technology made life easier and when it actually created more work? Well, how about this? When that building engineer moved on and he's no longer there, the one that was technologically advanced, did anybody fill the spot or were you expected to fill that spot?

Mary Pat Hawes: I was expected to fill a spot. At that time we were looking for somebody to potentially fill that spot. We never actually did. So I have worked with certain vendors, such as yourself, to really gain knowledge on how our systems do work. I'm calling more vendors, that's for sure. Not having somebody that you know tech based at the building. So that, that part has been difficult. Especially when I get stuck here.

Mary Pat Hawes: I am, you know, constantly emailing object wise. Hey, can you reset this for me remotely? Like, do you have any idea what's going on? Can you look of these for me, please? That, that's been difficult.

Speaker A: I know from that property specifically is the things that are diagrammed and monitored work very well. The things that are rogue that somebody added without making it part of a strategic plan or part of an overarching Diagram that and, and a system that is monitored, then it's a nightmare. It's a, it's wait. It's just something waiting to fail and then you learn about it when it fails. So yes we're to all the listeners, no matter what you put in your building, document it somewhere, make sure everybody knows about it and how to who has login credentials if it fails, who to contact. It's simple sops that are very tedious now they're not hard to do but they're very tedious. But it makes the building operate better because those systems are all going to fail. They just do and that's part of the business.

Speaker A: So I'm encouraging everybody to build the contact list like you have. But when the building systems work together, everybody wins. Right. So buildings have. We see. We used to say a few, now we say dozens of connected systems. So from a property manager's perspective, what happens when those systems actually work together? Tell me about some wins that you've seen benefits from systems adding value to you and your tenants.

Mary Pat Hawes: I was about to say adds value to the tenants that's for sure when they do work and it makes it more seamless and it to be honest makes me look like I really know what I'm doing when it comes to some of our different platforms that we use.

Speaker A: You mentioned building automation. Talk about other systems like access controls or the cameras or the parking controls there at the facility. What are some other things that you've. You really enjoy the systems because they actually work and make life better. Trying to think, well it's a good thing that you have an enterprise firewall at the head end of your connectivity at that property. Yeah, yeah. And there is a network monitoring platform to know when all the devices and the systems are up or down. So that is being proactive.

Speaker A: Let's talk about, you mentioned building engines earlier and some other of the work order systems. Is that going well? Like is that improving tenants lives? Is connectivity improving tenants lives? H Vac, is it, Are there lighting controls there? Anything that systems that you enjoy? Because number one they reduce expenses. Well maybe that's number two. Number one, they make a tenant's life better. Number two, they reduce expenses.

Mary Pat Hawes: Absolutely. With H Vac definitely it's all you know, I use my laptop to go in and change any type of temperature if I want to have a space occupied or unoccupied. That is all me going on to an app in my or to a website in my computer and controlling it that way. We do have thermometers, but throughout the building, but those just are showing the actual temperature, and they don't control the RTUs themselves. So it's very important that we do have that connectivity, or else I wouldn't be able to control the temperatures throughout the building. H VAC in general, also, they're connected, so if one needs troubleshooting or we're getting alarms, any type of alerts, those come through to me via email, and I get all those alerts saying, something's wrong with One of the RTUs, you know, on the roof.

Speaker A: Well, I like that. So it's saving you time. You're having faster troubleshooting and a better tenant experience, right?

Mary Pat Hawes: Yeah, the tenants love it. All they have to do is shoot me an email saying, hey, can you, you know, bump the temperature down in the training room for us? You know, a few notches, so it's. It's very easy for them. And then, boom, it takes me 30 seconds to do it.

Speaker A: I like that. The connectivity in that building is really good. But not all of the systems are connected to share data. Is that because it was just built prior to this wave of integration and data sharing, or is that because the owners don't want to? Which one is it?

Mary Pat Hawes: I think it's the owners don't want to. At this point, we had brought in so many different platforms, and I think it just got a little messy where beforehand they all did work together. They all talked to each other, and now I'm having to use multiple platforms because they're no longer syncing.

Speaker A: We have a ongoing joke on the show about how many dashboards do you have? How many dashboards do you have to log in to see? And when somebody asks us, can you show me the dashboard? We say, well, dashboard to us means whatever you want it to be. You know, how do you want to see your data? And a dashboard is not necessarily the. The best way to do it. It's great. It looks showy, but it's not part of true autonomy and making the building act on its own. You know, smart is one thing, seeing the data and sensing it, but autonomy means if this happens, then that, like, if it was warm in that spot, then adjusted automatically instead of having to call Mary Pat. So I look forward to when that level of autonomy hits the building. It'll happen.

Speaker A: It'll. It'll get there.

Mary Pat Hawes: Absolutely.

Speaker A: So let's shift the conversation to what property managers wish owners understood about technology. Give you a hypothetical. If you could sit down with any building owner for five minutes, what would you want them to Understand about technology from your property management perspective.

Mary Pat Hawes: I want to say understand how we can build revenue off of the whole Optic Wise, that five Eyes platform. I wish owners understood that or took the time to understand rather than seeing the invoice that we're getting.

Speaker A: There's a revenue to more than offset the expense is what you're saying, for the services. And the services include the data and the digital infrastructure management, but it's monetized in a way that makes it profitable, is that what you're saying?

Mary Pat Hawes: Yes. And if they under. If they took the time to truly understand how it works?

Speaker A: Well, the irony is that the owner that built the property understood it.

Mary Pat Hawes: Absolutely.

Speaker A: And then they sold it and then the new owners look at it as an expense line item. So how would you recommend the a new owner, not this one, but just a hypothetical new owner, look at data and digital and technology when they're buying a property instead of after. Like, is there a way to explain the benefit before they take ownership of the new building?

Mary Pat Hawes: Absolutely. I think it would be so beneficial for every building owner if they're taking over an asset or building a new asset. Right when you're doing all the contract work or construction per se, so that the vendor that you're going to choose to use, such as Optic Wise, they know the building inside and out. I mean, Optic Wise knew the building better than I did. Obviously, when I came on, I feel, you know, you guys still do know the building better than I do when it comes to the infrastructure, WI fi per se. But.

Speaker A: Well, it's all the connected systems. The WI fi is how you monetize that, like how you pay for the whole thing. But the connected systems, a lot of it does not WI fi, but they are connected and monitored. So the intent is to make your life better because it makes the tenant's life better.

Mary Pat Hawes: It absolutely makes the tenant's life better.

Speaker A: We have talked about on the show so many times how property managers are left holding a technology bag. And like, just as, you know, you know what we do, just as I'm a technician, I wouldn't want to do property management. I see so many property managers forced to do technology. And I don't mean just picking it and buying it, I mean managing it. Like you're having to do that. Not that you can't, but it's. You've not been trained on it and it's outside your skill set and it's one more thing to do. So it's a common theme on the show is how do we make the Property manager's life easier without making them the technical contact to to as well as you know.

Speaker A: So would you have anything to add about experience or. I wish they would kind of stuff.

Mary Pat Hawes: Well, with Optic Wise itself, I don't think I've ever waited more than five minutes to get a response from the support team. So that's very helpful for me since do not. I mean yes, I know the systems but I don't have, you know, our engineer here anymore that can troubleshoot for me. So it's been so helpful. Again, that's another benefit of opticwise is how responsive the entire team is. And that's not just your support team. The entire team has been so helpful. You guys are such a great company to work with what I heard you

Speaker A: say and I want to make the point one more time and it's not self serving but I was going to ask you the question. I think you've already answered it but maybe you want to add to it. What technology investment or investments have you seen deliver more operational value than the owners realize the tenants and the property managers do. But specifically what are owners not seeing valuable that's being delivered by technology?

Mary Pat Hawes: How the tenants utilize or how much easier it is? With Optic Wise they each have their own personal domain. They're not having to get with property management. If they want to off board or onboard a new employee. It's just easy for them to go in. And if they're having issues, a lot of the times opticwise is already notified. Right. If there's, you know, connectivity, something slow. But it's, it's very beneficial that tenants love it because they are able to kind of control their own domain versus if it were Comcast.

Mary Pat Hawes: I don't.

Speaker A: Well, I know from firsthand experience there that most of your tenants have integrated their active directory or their Google domain or whatever their directory services isn't directly to the platform. So they don't. The tenant doesn't have to do anything. Once they give an employee an account, they're automatically engaged.

Mary Pat Hawes: Right.

Speaker A: Anywhere on the property, not just you are leased space.

Mary Pat Hawes: Exactly. Yes. So thank you for. You said that better than I did.

Speaker A: Well for the listeners out there, that is when Mary Pat was talking about monetizing it. That is a billable service that makes the. The building money and it saves the tenant money. So everybody wins except for the vendors that used to do it. I mean but that's. This show is not about those vendors. So let's, let's continue to talk about the tenant. What do tenants expect? Like they're they the tenants specifically have changed their expectations significantly over the past several years.

Speaker A: You're in an office building, you probably joined when it was very dark. You know, post pandemic, not many tenants, even the lease spaces didn't have people and now they're largely coming back as a return to office. So what do tenants expect today that they didn't expect when you started?

Mary Pat Hawes: I get a lot, you know, I help with leasing a lot. So I'm on a lot of the tours and I'm the kind of point that our broker goes to. I'm the point of contact per se for the prospective tenants if they have any questions regarding WiFi and the connectivity throughout the building. I am seeing more and more prospective tenants asking about security. How secure is your network? And it's also important to them that they can go anywhere and throughout the entire building and still be connected into their own secure domain, which is very important. You know, just had a global legal law firm move in and that was a huge selling point, to be honest with the building was our, was Optic Wise. We just had another company that it's doing a full build out in the building right now and I know that they talked with Optic Wise before even signing a lease. That was just very, very important to them.

Mary Pat Hawes: And so I was, that I was seeing a lot more of what's your

Speaker A: tenant feedback from the connectivity experience there.

Mary Pat Hawes: I only get positive feedback. Everything works very quickly and they, it's just, it's seamless pretty much for them.

Speaker A: Do you ever have tenants that don't comprehend that they don't have to build out their own wi fi and their own network in their building and literally have to think about it or say no originally because they have a budget they want to spend already and then they realize they don't have to. Moving is cheaper and faster. Has that ever happened to you?

Mary Pat Hawes: Yes, it has. A good example is this new company that's doing a build out. I was not involved as much as I usually am when they were talking about this build out and they had budgeted for a rack for all this equipment. And I'm reading through the emails, I said can you please talk with them separately with Boxer Property, their development team asking them what, what kind of rack are you speaking on? What is that? What are you budgeting for a rack? I said we use Optic Wise. So I immediately put them in touch with Optic Wise. This is not something that you guys are needing a budget. This is, you know, part we already have that's going to have a rack for you. You're not going to have to build your own rack.

Mary Pat Hawes: That was very recent as well.

Speaker A: And to the listeners out there, this property has four closets with full racks in it. So the property rents out data center space. So it becomes another revenue line item. And the tenant loves it because it's a secure space and they don't have to give up lease space to do it. It's a lot less expensive them and more secure than having to carve out a piece and build a closet within their own space.

Mary Pat Hawes: Yes.

Speaker A: And that's what they're redundant dia Internet access behind an enterprise firewall.

Mary Pat Hawes: Yes.

Speaker A: So for the techies out there, that's the high level. If you want to know more, just reach out to us. But I. I love the way you explained it in words that everybody understands, not just. Not just people like Drew who are super technically smart. Right. I have to. I don't do what his team does here.

Speaker A: So I have to explain it in normal words. Is it safe to say when the tenants don't notice technology, it's actually the sign that it's working? Right.

Mary Pat Hawes: I would say. So there's no issues. They're not having to worry about it. Right.

Speaker A: Well, it just works is one of the favorite things I like to hear about technology. If it just works, it just works.

Mary Pat Hawes: That's at least I can count on our network and our infrastructure to always be working in the building. Not everything goes as planned day to day. Right. With how many systems that we have in place. But one thing I can always count on is having secured Internet connection that not failing.

Speaker A: I like hearing that that is a draw to leasing up the building.

Mary Pat Hawes: Oh, it absolutely is. It's one thing a lot of times

Speaker A: the leasing agents shove it under the rug and it being connectivity or technology or telephony or whatever else the tenant is going think about everything a tenant has to do in a normal TI process. And the more that a client, in our case a client owns the property, the more a client can do that for the tenant, the easier the move in is. And then you're selling more of an experience as a package rather than just renting space. So is one of the core values that we promote all the time, but is also part of big property performance and controlling your digital infrastructure. And that is the networks and the sensors and the data.

Mary Pat Hawes: Yes, it is wild how many new like perspective tenants on tours are bringing up our connection. And at this point I remember back when I first started here, I feel as if there wasn't as much talk on it Or I would just go through the bullet points that I knew and now I've grown to know and understand, understand the building a lot better and how opticwise runs. And so rather than just having these bullet points, it's nice to. Before they even move in, how about I just connect you straight with opticwise? They can answer any questions that you guys have. And then that's also when you are able to ask if they are needing any additional services. Rather than the broker or property manager trying to talk to them about that, I think it's very beneficial to just put them right in touch with opticwise to go over all the options that are available.

Speaker A: And again, the additional services save the tenant money, but also make the property money.

Mary Pat Hawes: Yep.

Speaker A: Because we basically remove the old school vendors that used to hold them hostage. Yeah, I'm a supply chain guy. I like to look at it in that light. Well, Mary Pat, at this point in the show we shift from talking about job and commercial real estate to letting the audience know you. So we call this the extra floor. I'm not going to ask a bunch of questions. It's just, it's three questions, but it's not conversational. It's all about Mary Pat so they can understand you.

Speaker A: Okay, so it's just gut reaction answer like you, like you would like. What's the best piece of career or life advice you have ever received?

Mary Pat Hawes: It's a difficult one that I've ever

Speaker A: received or your favorite any of that.

Mary Pat Hawes: Like, I guess this might be a little cliche, but always that, you know, that is a good piece of advice is under promise over deliver always, regardless of what you know, career route you're taking. I've had a completely. I, I made a major shift during COVID with my career and that is the one piece of advice that just always will fit. It always works well.

Speaker A: You embody that. So it's not cliche at all when you live it. What's one habit or practice that consistently makes you more effective?

Mary Pat Hawes: Communication with my team at the property level that makes me more effective. I don't know about them. It might be asking too much to always be communicating with me about the even smallest things, but that helps me tremendously to just always be in communication, especially with the engineers, just to know what's going on with the building.

Speaker A: That's a common thread for almost all the property managers I talk to is they're the good ones, are great communicators.

Mary Pat Hawes: Yeah.

Speaker A: So last one, super easy. Are you an early bird or a night owl?

Mary Pat Hawes: Both.

Speaker A: Both. Wow. Burning the candle.

Mary Pat Hawes: I am both. I tend to be a night owl, definitely, but I also rise early. I have to. I just automatically do. If I don't, my dog wakes me up.

Speaker A: Well, I know you and I both love live music, and you can't do that if you're just an early bird, so. I understand that.

Mary Pat Hawes: Absolutely. That is a good point.

Speaker A: Well, thank you very much for the time, for the. For the advice, the input, the sharing, the wins and losses stories. And everybody else out there, like I said at the beginning of the show, please forward this to somebody. Introduce them to Mary Pat. Oh, how would you like people to reach out to you? What's the best way to reach you? We'll put this in the show notes. But how would you like people to contact you via email or can I put your LinkedIn up there, too?

Mary Pat Hawes: Oh, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker A: Okay.

Mary Pat Hawes: Yeah, like any type of message.

Speaker A: All right, I'll put them both up there. We will put them both up there. Not me. And like, follow, subscribe, forward it to somebody. If you know somebody you think would be great on the show, reach out. There's an application on the website, which is peak propertyperformance.com Again, everybody, thank you, and we'll look forward to seeing you on the next episode.

Mary Pat Hawes: Thank you, Bill.

Speaker A: Thank you.