Dean Stanberry explores the shift in facility management from physical oversight to digital integration. He tackles data quality, tech proficiency, and the need for Building Lifecycle Management to align facility operations across the entire building lifespan.
In today's episode, Dean Stanberry, a past chair of IFMA's Global Board of Directors, discusses the evolution of facility management from managing physical assets to dealing with digital systems. He highlights the challenges of data quality, low technology proficiency, and data literacy within the Commercial Real Estate (CRE) sector. He advocates for Building Lifecycle Management emphasizing its role in integrating operations from design to deconstruction.
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Dean Stanberry: [00:00:00] There is a disconnect of potential. We have the tools, but not the thread. What we ended up with were buildings that were technically smart, but operationally disconnected.
Each system might have value, but without an inherent interoperability, without a common data structure, without lifecycle thinking, those tools became silos of their own.
Host: Welcome to Connected fm, a podcast connecting you to the latest insights, tools, and resources to help you succeed in facility management. This podcast is brought to you by ifma, the leading professional association for facility managers. If you're ready to grow your network and advance in your career, go to ifma.org to get started.
In today's episode to Dean Standbury, a past chair of imas Global Board of Directors discusses the evolution of facility management from managing physical assets to dealing with digital systems. He highlights the [00:01:00] challenges of data quality, low technology proficiency, and data literacy. Within the commercial real estate sector, he advocates for building lifecycle management, emphasizing its role in integrating operations from design to deconstruction.
Plus, if you're attending World Workplace this year in Minneapolis. Make sure to check out Dean's session Building Lifecycle Management Initiative explained on September 18th at 4:00 PM Now let's get into it.
Dean Stanberry: Hi, i'm Dean Stanberry, a past chair of ifma s Gold Board of Directors, and today's podcast speaker. As a fellow practitioner in facility management, I spent my career watching the industry evolve, and one thing is clear.
We are no longer in the bricks and mortar business. We're in the data business whether we're ready for it or not. What used to be a physical asset problem? Square footage's [00:02:00] concrete and HVAC has become a digital systems problem. Instead of managing just boilers or leases, we now manage systems that rely on data.
We inherit data from architects. We troubleshoot software installed by contractors. We're expected to interpret energy dashboards, support cybersecurity planning, and coordinate with stakeholders who have different goals in different systems, but share the same building all while physical buildings stand tall.
This fragmentation underneath is growing harder to ignore. And that's why today's conversation is not about what's broken. It's about what's next and how we move together from fragmented silos to connected systems through building lifecycle management.
Let's ground this in a bit of history. Our history, CRE's legacy of siloed success. Commercial real estate has long been a sector [00:03:00] shaped by the transaction, and insert the air quotes here. Brokerages, developers, owners, each focused on their portion of the value chain. Facility management matured in this world as a cost center, keep the lights on, manage vendors, and uptime.
That model made sense when buildings were static, but things started to change. Outsourcing grew, tenant expectations shifted. Buildings got smarter, or at least more automated. Yet, while technology's advanced, our industry model didn't. Systems were layered on without strategy. Architects used one tool, engineers another, and contractors and fms often brought in late or not at all.
We built digital islands that mirrored organizational ones today. This is our legacy, an industry rich in experience, but burdened by fragmentation. [00:04:00] We've reached a tipping point. We have smart buildings, but they're missing crucial foundations. Don't get me wrong, the promise of smart buildings is real.
Digital twins, IOT sensors, AI driven maintenance. These aren't science fiction. These are in our buildings today, but here's the hard truth. Most organizations are not ready to use them effectively. We're seeing a widespread awakening, not just about tech, but what it takes to make use of it. Poor data quality is undermining automation.
Technology systems are deployed without skills to operate them. Data is collected but no one trusts it. The result, smart building projects fail to deliver the ROI and facility teams are stuck. Firefighting instead of optimizing. It is not that we don't have the tools, [00:05:00] it's that we haven't built the operational foundation to use them.
There's been a digital awakening one where technology leapt ahead, but our data practices didn't. So with much trepidation, the CRE industry embraced technology, the sensors, the automation systems, and the AI based platforms. Suddenly we had smart buildings. But here's the problem. We ran into. Smart buildings aren't smart by default.
They're only as smart as the data we feed feeding them and the people interpreting that data. And what we found across portfolios, sectors and teams was a set of challenges that many of you will recognize. So what did we discover the digital skills gap. The first was data quality. Too often we found asset inventories that were incomplete [00:06:00] data locked inside PDFs and naming conventions that varied building to building.
Second was low technology proficiency. Many FM teams were handed new tools, but weren't brought into the selection setup or integration process. And third, perhaps most importantly, limited data literacy. Not just knowing how to use a system, but understanding how to interpret the building data, how to question it, how to act on it.
These are individual failings. These are systemic gaps in how we prepared our profession to operate in a digitized environment. There is a disconnect of potential. We have the tools, but not the thread. What we ended up with were buildings that were technically smart, but operationally disconnected.
Each system might have value, but without an inherent [00:07:00]interoperability, without a common data structure, without lifecycle thinking, those tools became silos of their own. This is where the standards community has tried to step in. The ISO 19,650 BIM Standard gives us a model for managing, building information throughout its life.
Oscar pushes for a common real estate data definitions, and ASHRAE continues to refine what performance looked like, not just in at design, but at operation. But unless we, as FM professionals and operations leaders take ownership of how data flows through the building lifecycle. It won't flow at all. The real takeaway here is this technology isn't, the transformation mindset is we can have all the tools in the world, but if we're still working in silos, if we're still treating operations as something separate from planning, [00:08:00] design, and renewal, then we're missing the point.
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Dean Stanberry: The buildings we manage today are too complex, too integrated, and too consequential to leave any phase disconnected from the others, and that's why we need a different approach. That's where building Lifecycle Management or BLM for short comes in at its core building Lifecycle [00:09:00] management is not a technology, it's a mindset and a method.
It means managing a building is not a series of handoffs, but as a connected systems of people, processes, and data from concept to deconstruction. It means engaging operations early in design decisions using shared data standards like ISO 19 6 50, or the Oscar models, treating data as an asset, not a byproduct.
Training our teams, not just in systems, but how to think about data lifecycle management lets us shift from reactive to strategic, from cost center to performance driver. It's not a silver bullet, but it is a blueprint and it's one we can shape together. Let's talk about what a different future looks like.
Building lifecycle management gives us a way out of the [00:10:00] fragmentation we've all experienced. Instead of handing off information between project phases like a relay race, BLM envisions continuity across the lifecycle. It recognizes that what happens in design affects operations, that construction choices drive maintenance costs.
That retrofits and end of life plans are stronger when shaped by operational insight, and most importantly, it makes data continuity, a shared responsibility. When stakeholders are aligned from the start, we stop recreating information and start building intelligence over time. Let's make this concrete.
Without BLM, we see things like. Inconsistent asset inventories, repetitive data entry, project teams working in isolation and operations, inheriting problems they didn't create. With [00:11:00] BLM in place, we get aligned data standards like ISO 19 6 50 and Oscar connected systems that reduce duplicate effort.
Stakeholders who collaborate, not just coordinate. In lifecycle data that improves every phase, not just the one you're in. This isn't just theory. We're seeing it happen in portfolios that are beginning to adopt like BLM principles. Lifecycle alignment isn't possible without shared frameworks. Standards give us the structure to scale.
The ISO 19 6 50 BIM Standard helps us manage building information through design, construction, and operation. The Oscar industry data model gives us a common language for real estate data, so our systems can actually talk, and ashra tells us how to measure performance, not just at startup, but through the life of a [00:12:00] system.
Data governance models like those in the federal data strategy. Give us a foundation for trust and usability. These aren't new rules. They're bridges and BLM is what lets us walk across those bridges together. Lifecycle thinking isn't just an operational improvement, it's a business transformation. It changes the game.
It turns reactive maintenance into proactive stewardship. It transforms, disconnected teams into collaborators. IT positions fm not just as support, but as strategic infrastructure. In a world where sustainability, risk, and adaptability or business imperatives, BLM makes sure buildings aren't just surviving, they're performing, evolving, and contributing to the mission.[00:13:00]
So where do we begin? You start with what you control first, look at current at your current environment. Where are the lifecycle gaps? Where does data die? And where is it reborn manually? Second, build awareness. Upskill your teams in data literacy. Open conversations with design and construction partners.
Early third, connect. The Lifecycle Building Management Initiative isn't a top down mandate. It's a community driven movement. And finally, be an ambassador. Every conversation, every project, every RFP is a chance to embed lifecycle thinking, because the buildings we manage today are the legacy we leave tomorrow.
Here's the bottom line. Our buildings are too important to be managed in [00:14:00] fragments. They're not temporary. We can no longer afford the waste of our time, of our talent, of our information. This comes from treating buildings as temporary short-term transactions, whether we manage a single site or a global portfolio, the pressures we face, decarbonization digital transformation, cost containment.
All point to one solution. Lifecycle thinking buildings are not projects. They're platforms for missions, for community, for value. And that means we need to be, it needs to be managed with community, not compartmentalization. If there's one message I want you to take away, it's this. You don't have to wait for permission to lead.
Step up, lead the shift. Start where you are by bringing operations into the design conversation [00:15:00] by championing lifecycle aligned standards. By helping your team see that data isn't a burden, it's an asset Building lifecycle management isn't just a methodology, it's an invitation to lead across disciplines, across timelines and across assumptions.
The future of this profession and the performance of our buildings depend on the decisions we make today. Let's make those decisions together. Let's lead with purpose and let's manage the full lifecycle. In closing, I want to thank you for joining me today. To learn more about the Building Lifecycle Management Initiative, you can visit the website@bmi.org.
If you're interested in hearing more about BLMI be sure to catch my session Building Lifecycle Management initiative explained at the world at World Workplace on Thursday, [00:16:00] September 18th, 2025 from four to 5:00 PM local time of the convention. In this session, you'll learn about the stakeholder groups spanning the lifecycle phases, the building asset classes that make up the commercial real estate industry.
The myriad of existing standards poised to bring order to the chaos. We'll explore the initiative governance structure, introduce the proposed building lifecycle management maturity model to measure the progress for operational silos to transformational integration. Thank you, and I hope to see you in Minneapolis in September.
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