Why Property Managers Need a Technology Partner in Modern CRE Operations

Why Property Managers Are Carrying More Technology Responsibility

Drew: Welcome back to the Peak Property Performance Podcast. I am your co-host, Drew Hall, and with me today, co-host Bill Douglas. Welcome, Bill.

Bill: Hey, bud. Glad to be here, as always. Thanks to everybody for listening.

Drew: Today's a little bit different. We're not going to have a guest with us today. We're going to talk internally because we got to chatting this week and realized there's a lot we could talk about with regard to property management. They're such an important component of commercial real estate operations, and they've got a lot on their plates. I feel like we've learned a lot over the years, and I think we've got some great stories and helpful insights that would make for a great podcast episode.

Bill: You and I were talking about this last week and again this week, and I'm glad we're sharing it. Think about everything the property manager has to do on a site. I don't even know everything they have to do, but I know it's a lot more than I know. Relative to technology, look at how much has changed in the past five to ten years at any commercial real estate property. Property managers are expected to keep track of all of it and make decisions around all of it, and they're not technicians. There's a whole industry around this operational technology problem, and property managers are the ones taking the lumps from tenants when things don't work or information can't be found.

The "Hairball" of Operational Technology in CRE

Drew: Even when things are steady state, it's busy enough. If you walk an entire building wall to wall, floor to ceiling, every space, every common area, there are so many components that fall under property management responsibility. They're left holding the bag so many times. Buildings are living, breathing things over time. Ownership changes, management changes, tenants change, systems change.

Bill: Sometimes the management company changes and the people stay. Sometimes the opposite happens. Sometimes both happen. Every time we deal with a new property management relationship, this conversation comes up again. Property managers have been handed this hairball of operational technology. You can call it prop tech, telecom, digital infrastructure — whatever you want — but it's all become their responsibility because they deal with the property management system, and that system is critical to leases and rent flow. But there's so much more technology beyond the PMS.

Bill: We see property management systems change all the time when a new management firm comes in. But they don't change the hardware. They don't change the underlying infrastructure. So many operational technology systems are glued together, undocumented, and nobody knows where they are or what they cost.

Why Documentation Matters in Commercial Real Estate Operations

Drew: I think it starts with simply knowing what is there. Just this week, we saw a tenant move into a space where they were subleasing from another tenant. There were questions about door access and sub panels. Who has the documentation? Who understands the relationship between systems? In that case, there was enough documentation for things to go smoothly.

Bill: The reason that situation went smoothly for the property manager is because there was documentation. The property manager was grateful because they were focused on signing leases, moving tenants in, making sure TI work was completed, and managing deadlines. They had a trusted technology partner to turn to.

Bill: The opposite happens all the time too. The tenant thinks the property manager should know everything about the building, but they don't have the information or support. Then the tenant experience suffers because the property manager is standing there without answers.

How Technology Partnerships Reduce Tenant Friction

Bill: Remember that apartment complex where the property management changed and they wanted to know how tenants got Internet service? We explained that as soon as the lease was signed, the tenant already had connectivity. If they had a problem, they just called support directly. Within three weeks, the property management team became raving fans because they no longer had to spend hours every week dealing with tenant Internet issues.

Drew: That's exactly right. It's almost like property managers sometimes have a hard time accepting the gift. They step into these properties and think, "Oh no, now we're responsible for all this technology." But we explain that they don't have to be. They just need to know the systems are functioning and that there's a team managing them.

Bill: The same property manager later realized there was a unified digital backbone throughout the property. They had never seen anything like it before. That's where the relationship changes from vendor to partner.

Unified Building Networks and Vendor Integration

Drew: Another example was a property bringing in a new parking management vendor. Their initial request involved installing new hardware and making changes across the parking structure. Management immediately brought us into the conversation as their technology team.

Bill: We were able to simplify the entire process. No new network infrastructure was required. The owner avoided at least $50,000 in unnecessary capital expense because the digital infrastructure already existed.

Drew: The vendor initially thought the environment was unusual because they normally build isolated systems from scratch. But once we helped them identify their actual requirements, they realized the building already supported everything they needed.

Bill: That's the old world versus the new world. The old way was to let every vendor build their own network and infrastructure. That creates security risks, operational chaos, and unnecessary cost.

Why CRE Technology Should Be Treated as an Asset

Bill: One of the reasons we wrote the Peak Property Performance book was to share strategies that worked and strategies that failed so others could learn from them. We want the commercial real estate industry to improve.

Bill: Property managers are carrying an enormous technology burden. Layer one is simply keeping the building running — the connectivity, the infrastructure, the operational systems. Then layer two is all the data generated by those systems. Most property managers are just trying to survive layer one.

Drew: Another thing we share with property management teams is that we ultimately have the same customer: ownership. Our job is to help ownership improve building performance and create a better tenant experience.

Bill: Technology is often treated like an expense, but it should be viewed as an asset. If technology is generating operational efficiency, tenant retention, or revenue, then it's an asset that should produce measurable return.

Faster Tenant Connectivity and Better Building Operations

Drew: We had a tenant recently ask how quickly they could activate connectivity in a suite. Because the building had already been documented and structured properly, we could answer immediately. The infrastructure was already there. They just needed to complete the paperwork and the service could be activated within hours.

Bill: And the property manager had to do absolutely nothing.

Drew: Exactly. The management team simply pointed the tenant to the technology team. That's it.

Bill: In the old model, tenants would wait weeks for a carrier to install new services. We've seen tenants delay occupancy because they couldn't get Internet access. That's a ridiculous operational problem to still have.

"Spin Your Chair" — The Best Advice for Property Managers

Drew: Another recent example involved a high-powered tenant working with a nearby university research department. They needed to make major connectivity changes and initially believed the entire campus might experience downtime.

Bill: But once we analyzed the situation, we realized the changes would only affect that tenant's isolated environment and would have no impact on the rest of the campus.

Drew: That's where the phrase "spin your chair" comes from. Property managers are dealing with a thousand responsibilities already. The moment technology becomes part of the conversation, spin your chair and bring in your technology team.

Bill: We say the same thing internally about staying in your lane. We don't do property management. Property managers don't need to become network engineers. But together, the building performs at a much higher level.

Extra Floor — Early Bird or Night Owl?

Bill: We'll close with one Extra Floor question. Night owl or early bird?

Drew: I used to be way more of an early bird, but I've become more of a night owl over time. I think I value sleep much more than I used to.

Bill: Sleep is definitely not underrated. I'm still an early bird, but I go to bed earlier because I value sleep too. I function much better in the mornings.

Bill: We also want to encourage listeners to reach out if you'd like to be on the show or if there are topics you'd like us to discuss. This podcast is about shared experiences that make commercial real estate better through data, digital infrastructure, and technology — with one rule: no selling allowed.

Drew: The possibilities for these conversations are practically endless once you stop long enough to think about them.

Bill: Agreed. Thanks, Drew. Thanks to everybody for listening, and we'll see you on the next episode of Peak Property Performance.