The global real estate industry is one of the biggest and most influential, worth multiple trillions. USA company OpticWise is helping property owners leverage the power of technology to meet tenant demands.
The world is constantly evolving, but one thing that will never change is that people will always need somewhere to live. As the global population continues to grow at an exponential rate, so too does the demand for housing – which makes real estate one of the biggest and most important markets.
Real Estate: The World’s Biggest Asset
The number of real estate brokers in the United States is predicted to have increased by 7% between 2018 and 2028, which shows the industry consistently outperforms others.
According to Forbes, property is the biggest asset class in the world, valued at $3.5 trillion in the United States alone. It’s a highly competitive market, both in terms of sales and rentals, and today’s property hunters have more choice than ever. In a world in which the average person now spends over six hours a day on the internet, connectivity is key to getting prospective tenants to sign on the dotted line.
Property Owners Must Meet Tenants’ Needs for Connectivity
Poor Wi-Fi and phone signal can make an otherwise perfect home completely lose its appeal, and renders commercial properties completely unviable. Property managers and agents have been forced to make connectivity a priority if they want to generate a decent income and present an appealing option to those in the market for a new place to work or live.
The demand for better technology has been growing for a while, but the pandemic is what really highlighted the need for constant connectivity. Having been given no option but to work from home, people embraced the new normal and remote working is now standard in a vast number of jobs. This has presented new opportunities for flexible working and transformed the way we connect on a daily basis – and the property market must reflect these new needs and expectations. It’s been a challenging time, but one that – with the right technology and support – opens up a new world of opportunities.
OpticWise: Innovating the Commercial Real Estate Market
OpticWise specialises in delivering fully managed PropTech connectivity & infrastructure solutions to the real estate sector, empowering property owners and agents to transform their offering to tenants through 24/7 connectivity.
Led by experienced entrepreneur Bill Douglas, the company is innovating the commercial real estate market with its 5S® user experience and the Building of Things™ strategy. OpticWise’s ground-breaking offering is giving real estate owners the chance to monetize their technology assets, resulting in huge returns while giving tenants more of what they want. The company pioneers PropTech for commercial and residential properties through world-class connectivity, leveraging the very best in mobile, Wi-Fi and security technology.
OpticWise offers a range of services, all revolving around the core offering: Monetizing Technology assets for CRE. Clients all enjoy extraordinary ROI and NOI, with core outcomes including premium market positioning, enhanced incomes and total control of systems and data.
Bill Douglas: The Resilience Guy
Bill Douglas is no stranger to bringing new ideas and services to market, having launched, acquired, sold and exited a range of successful firms. A graduate of the MIT Entrepreneurial Master’s Program and recipient of a U.S. patent, he has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech and has built an impressive reputation as a leader in his field.
He’s also survived two near-death encounters and life-threatening heath conditions over the years, earning the nickname “Resilience Guy.” We spoke to Bill about OpticWise’s journey so far, what it means to the real estate sector, and plans for the future.
Can you tell us a little about the history of OpticWise?
OpticWise was formed by technology genius Drew Hall over fifteen years ago. Drew and his team initially focused on solving tech problems in student housing, then when I joined six years ago our focus was shifted completely to multitenant commercial real estate (CRE) owners.
You’ve been recognised by Business Worldwide Magazine as one of the top 20 most innovative companies to watch out for. What does innovation look like at OpticWise?
We are CRE technology thought leaders, so innovation is at the heart of everything we do. We spend a huge amount on research & development (R&D) and all our team members are encouraged to spend time thinking about – and developing – better ways to serve our customers and stakeholders.
One of our core values is “Make it Better!”. This means no status quo and always have a hunger to gain & share knowledge. I don’t have to identify learning opportunities for our team. They are part of our culture and they want to learn. We give them full support in anything relating to learning.
What makes the OpticWise offering different to your competitors’?
Managing technology assets has traditionally been a complicated headache for CREs, but by managing the process and providing best-in-class solutions we present property owners with a genuine opportunity to turn it into a profitable endeavour. Our offering is also different because we focus on the tenant experience, at the same time as reducing OpEx, increasing resilience and driving NOI for owners. We listen to what our clients and their tenants need, creating solutions that are built around them and their properties.
Our core values and our highly scalable, robust SaaS platform really set us apart from the competition. We also have a great team who are all committed to delivering an outstanding service to our clients.
How do you work with your clients?
Our work is built around three main areas: resilience, protection, and the building-of-things™ strategies. Once we have a clear picture of those, we design the digital infrastructure(s) for their commercial real estate properties and work with them through every stage from delivery, installation, testing, and go live, before going on to manage the core technologies that impact tenants.
We only work with major manufacturing partners and integrate their software and equipment into our own bespoke platform. This enables tenants to successfully use our 5S® solution, which stands for:
- Seamless Mobility
- Security
- Speed
- Stability
- Service
What’s your philosophy, and how do you drive it forward throughout the organisation?
Our philosophy is simple: Take care of the client. It’s important to really listen to what their need and understand their pain points, so you can develop a solution that solves their problems and is built around their tenants’ needs. We are about delivering substantial value to all stakeholders, and we’re able to achieve this by hiring great people and nurturing a culture that’s built around our core values.
Data Protection and Privacy is more important than ever. How does OpticWise demonstrate commitment to this?
We never retain any user information and don’t monitor or collect activity data, nor do we monetize anything about the user at all. We see our end users as humans, not commodities, so everything a 5S® user does remains completely private.
Our Ultimate User Privacy Policy is provided in writing to clients and their users and applied in everything we do – which is completely unique in the market.
What does the future look like for OpticWise?
We are already a leader in our market, and we have seen significant, sustained growth even through challenging times. We continue to attract high-performing talent and clients, and in the coming years we will be planning some exciting new initiatives which will drive standards across the industry. Our aim is to benefit everyone, not just our immediate client base.
To find out more about OpticWise’s philosophy, team and services, visit https://www.opticwise.com/ Further information about Bill Douglas can be found on LinkedIn.
