Bringing Buildings to Life: Where OT Meets IT

Buildings are waking up.

They sense movement, adjust airflow, balance energy, and track performance in real time. Yet for all the talk of “smart”, many still struggle to behave intelligently.

The problem isn’t the technology; it’s the gap between the systems that operate our buildings and the systems that inform our decisions.

That intersection - where OT meets IT - is where buildings truly begin to come alive. It’s the point where operational technology (OT) manages the physical environment, and information technology (IT) translates performance into insight and action. When these systems connect, buildings stop being static assets and start behaving like living systems.

It’s a shift that reveals something larger about digital transformation itself. In our last piece, “Where digital transformation is heading next. Lessons from the field,” we explored how success depends on discipline: aligning people, processes, and purpose.

Nowhere is that principle more visible, or more measurable, than in the built environment, where the connection between design intent, technology, and human experience is immediate.

Where operational systems meet digital intelligence, buildings begin to think, respond, and perform as one.

From systems to ecosystems

Until recently, building operations - HVAC, lighting, security, access - sat with facilities teams (OT). IT, meanwhile, managed networks, data, and enterprise systems. As building systems moved onto IP networks, deployed IoT sensors, and connected to cloud analytics, that line dissolved. We’ve entered a phase of converged infrastructure where air handlers, access readers, meters, and cameras are all nodes on the enterprise network¹.

For leaders across healthcare, local government, and complex asset-intensive environments, the lesson is familiar: when systems converge, governance of data, risk, and roles must converge too. Or the result is more dashboards and less decision-making. Evidence from campus digital twins and university estates shows that when OT and IT integrate against a shared data model, teams can coordinate comfort, energy, and maintenance as one system rather than many projects²³⁴.

The layer where systems start speaking the same language

Technical convergence means little if people, processes, and data ownership remain divided. This is the invisible layer that decides whether integration delivers value or noise.

• Perth commercial office (tenant experience uplift). A smart building consolidated climate, lighting, and personalised access onto a single integrated communications network, with operator tools and a tenant app on top. Outcomes included a 40 percent increase in tenant satisfaction and improved occupancy, but only after roles, data stewardship, and cybersecurity patterns were defined up front¹.

• Council House 2, Melbourne (course-correction through performance data). Australia’s pioneering 6-Star Green Star municipal office delivered excellent indoor environment quality but later underperformed on energy. A targeted program used live performance data and operational changes to close the gap. This serves as a reminder that “smart” is a management practice as much as a design claim⁵.

• Airports (OT asset visibility + cyber as precondition for integration). International airport case studies show that before higher-order optimisation is possible, operators must establish complete OT/IT asset inventories, configuration awareness, and continuous monitoring to manage risk on converged networks. These programs reduced cyber exposure and enabled safer integration of building systems, passenger devices, and operational IT⁶⁷⁸.

Across these examples the pattern repeats: once OT and IT share the same language of performance, risk, and data, buildings stop acting like collections of contracts and start behaving like coherent systems.

When technology begins to serve people

With integration and coordination in place, the focus can shift from technology to experience.

• Hospitals. Occupancy- and IAQ-aware control strategies adjust air changes and temperature by zone, improving comfort and safety while lowering energy. Industry guidance attributes meaningful savings to HVAC-centric optimisation when it’s fed by reliable occupancy and environmental data⁹.

• Universities and smart campuses. Digital twins (Modelling + IoT) let operators coordinate maintenance, energy, and comfort with a shared view for both building staff and occupants. This is a human-centric approach that raises service quality while cutting waste³⁴¹⁰.

• Commercial towers. Integrated platforms with predictive maintenance and occupancy-based controls have reported double-digit energy reductions while improving tenant satisfaction. This is demonstrating that experience and efficiency can move together when data is unified¹¹¹².

Zooming out, program-level evidence suggests that while isolated upgrades yield 5–15% savings, smart buildings with integrated systems realise 30–50% in otherwise inefficient stock and can participate in grid-interactive demand response for additional value¹³¹⁴.

This is the shift from automation to responsiveness. Operators move from chasing alarms to orchestrating outcomes. Occupants feel comfort and access that adapts to them. Owners see cost, carbon, and satisfaction improve together.

What unlocks the value (and what stalls it)

From the case evidence, three enablers show up reliably:

1. Shared data model and ownership. Decide who owns performance data, how it’s structured, and where golden sources live (BIM + time-series telemetry + CMMS). University and campus twins show this clearly²³⁴.

2. Coordinated risk and cyber posture. Converged networks expand the attack surface; programs that establish continuous OT asset visibility and incident playbooks enable safe integration and faster recovery. Airports provide the strongest current signal⁶⁷⁸.

3. Operator experience by design. Single-pane dashboards and workflow integration prevent “more screens, same problems.” Where operator UX improved, so did tenant experience and energy outcomes¹¹.

Conversely, initiatives stall when device proliferation outpaces strategy, when vendors guard data behind closed platforms, or when capital works and operations are funded and governed on separate islands.

From living buildings to strategic infrastructure

Bringing buildings to life through OT–IT convergence is more than a technical milestone; it’s a management transformation. It proves that the disciplines of digital transformation — clarity, coordination, and outcome focus — apply as powerfully to bricks and concrete as to software and data.

But the story doesn’t end at the building. Once individual assets act as ecosystems, the next question is scale: How do we orchestrate portfolios, precincts, and cities so that what we connect, how we govern it, and how we measure value all serve a strategic purpose?

That’s the bridge to our next piece: “Smart infrastructure isn’t about sensors, it’s about strategy.”

References

1.     Frame Group (2024). Converging Worlds: How IT/OT Integration Empowers Smarter Building Management (Perth case).

2.     MDPI (2024). Digital Twins for Smart Campuses and Estates.

3.     Springer (2024). Data Governance and Digital Building Ecosystems.

4.     ScienceDirect (2024). Human-Centric Digital Twins in Facility Management.

5.     City of Melbourne (2023). Council House 2 Performance Review.

6.     Armis (2024). Securing OT at Airports – Case Study.

7.     Dragos (2024). Airport Cyber Asset Visibility and Response.

8.     Black Box (2024). Operational Technology in Aviation Infrastructure.

9.     Climate Control News (2024). HVAC Optimisation through Occupancy Data.

10. University Digital Twin Pilot (2023). Integrated Operations for Campus Energy and Maintenance.

11. Oxmaint (2024). Predictive Maintenance in Commercial Towers.

12. Sustainability Magazine (2024). Occupancy-Based Controls and Tenant Satisfaction.

13. ACEEE (2023). Integrated Systems Savings Study.

14. Green Building Council of Australia (2024). Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings Program.