AI updates weekly. Cyber threats evolve daily. Yet most commercial buildings still run on spreadsheets, siloed teams, and 30-year capital plans. The smart building operating model, as it exists today, is not keeping up, and the consequences are becoming harder to ignore.
In Episode 47 of our podcast Sh*t You Wish Your Building Did, Rick Huijbregts joins host James McHale and co-host Rob Murchison to unpack the growing tension between fast-moving digital forces and the slow-moving world of commercial real estate. Their conclusion? The technology isn’t the bottleneck. The real barrier is getting owners, operators, IT, facilities, and security teams to work from the same version of reality.
Here are three critical shifts the industry needs to make.
Shift 1: Fix the Data Before You Deploy the AI
The first shift is deceptively simple: get the data right. Rob Murchison describes a “three-ring” problem that undermines almost every smart building initiative.
The outer ring is knowing what buildings an organization owns, which is harder than it sounds. The middle ring is the recorded data about those assets. The inner ring, and the most critical, is the operational truth: what is actually happening inside the building right now.
Rob used a concrete example to make the point. One building reports gross square footage, another reports leasable, and a third reports usable. When these inconsistent metrics become the denominator in cost-per-square-foot calculations, every decision built on that data is skewed. Consequently, AI is only as useful as the inputs it receives. If the industry can’t trust the inputs, it certainly can’t trust the outputs.
Therefore, any serious effort to modernize the smart building operating model must begin with a data baseline, agreed definitions, consistent measurement, and confidence in the numbers before layering on analytics or automation.
Shift 2: Redesign the Smart Building Operating Model Around Outcomes
The second shift goes deeper. Both Rick and Rob argue that today’s operating model is, in many cases, built around the imperfection of the data. Entire business models exist to profit from information asymmetry. As AI helps democratize building data, however, that dynamic will shift, and the organizations that move first will gain a significant advantage.
Rick pointed to a persistent gap in the building lifecycle. After a building receives its certificate of occupancy, there is often a wall between the design and construction teams and the people who actually operate the building. There is no clean handoff. Additionally, there is no shared smart building operating model connecting IT, facilities, security, and operations around common outcomes.
A listener named Jack reinforced this point during the live session. He noted that buildings are more complicated than necessary because they operate in separate silos. Linking systems like HVAC with thermal mass storage, for example, can deliver better energy performance and comfort. The technology exists. The barrier is organizational alignment and mindset.
The smart building operating model needs cross-functional teams, shared data governance, and a relentless focus on the outcomes that actually matter to building owners, whether that is net operating income, reduced operating costs, or improved tenant experience.
Shift 3: Decouple Digital Speed from Physical Asset Timelines
The third shift addresses procurement and timing. Rob shared a striking example from his current work: buildings going live in 2026 with technology purchased in 2021, equipment already at or near end of life before the building even opens. Nothing illustrates the speed mismatch more clearly than that.
This isn’t a technology failure. It is a supply chain and procurement problem driven by how deals are structured and commissions are earned. Somewhere in the chain, a salesperson earned a commission on a 2021 sale, and nobody revisited the decision before installation.
The fix isn’t necessarily buying the newest hardware. Perfectly functioning 10-year-old control systems exist and serve their purpose well. Rather, the industry needs procurement models flexible enough to account for the pace of digital change. Contracts should allow technology decisions to be made closer to deployment, not locked in years ahead of time.
As a result, a modern smart building operating model should treat digital infrastructure the way it treats any other utility, with ongoing governance, regular review, and an awareness that if the digital layer “leaks,” the consequences can be just as damaging as a burst pipe. Rob drew an explicit parallel to cybersecurity risk, noting that misaligned stakeholders and poorly managed digital infrastructure create compounding vulnerabilities.
What This Means for Owners & Operators
If you’re an owner or operator trying to figure out where to start, both Rick and Rob offered the same advice: don’t lead with technology.
Start by aligning your stakeholders around the specific problem you are trying to solve. Establish what data you actually have. Identify the gaps. Bring different voices to the table, data analysts, technologists, innovators, not just traditional real estate professionals.
The future of commercial real estate won’t belong to whoever deploys the most sensors. It will belong to organizations that connect physical assets, digital systems, and human behavior into a unified smart building operating model. That means safer spaces, healthier spaces, greener spaces, and better experiences for the people who actually use these buildings every day.
Don’t try to eat the elephant in one bite. But don’t wait another decade to take the first one.
