Why Your Building Systems Aren’t Working Together—And What to Do About It

Unlocking energy, cybersecurity, and performance outcomes with a smarter building systems integration model

As buildings get smarter, many enterprise organizations—especially in healthcare—are finding that their systems, well, aren’t. HVAC, lighting, metering, nurse call systems, emergency power… they’re often siloed, misaligned, and deployed without a strategy for how they work together, in harmony in service to the end user – the building occupant, or in a healthcare setting, the patient (and of course, hospital and MOB staff, too).

This misalignment isn’t just an operational inconvenience—it’s costing millions in energy waste, cybersecurity vulnerabilities, delayed construction timelines, and vendor lock-in. These issues can also have unintended comfort or air quality impacts for those who spend the most time in your buildings.

So what’s the solution?
It’s not more technology.
It’s integration—the right kind.

Enter: the Master Systems Integrator (MSI)

Altura’s latest white paper breaks down how the MSI model is transforming the way enterprise healthcare systems manage building performance—and why it’s just as relevant for any multi-facility organization facing rising complexity.

At its core, an MSI is a strategic partner—not just a contractor—responsible for:

  • 🌉 Bridging the gap between IT and OT teams

  • 🌐 Unifying systems under a single, secure digital backbone

  • 🔐 Enforcing cybersecurity and data governance policies

  • ⚖️ Ensuring systems are interoperable, scalable, and vendor-neutral

One California healthcare provider partnering with Altura to improve their building automation strategy saved $900K annually by consolidating BAS systems under an MSI. Another reduced controls costs by 50% through competitive bidding, enabled by a vendor-agnostic architecture. Read on to find out how we helped them achieve these wins.

What Makes Altura’s MSI Model Different?

The MSI isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution.

At Altura, we tailor the approach to each client’s operational realities, aligning stakeholders across IT, facilities, and capital planning. This creates a supervisory layer that enables real-time analytics, system optimization, and future-ready adaptability—without disrupting core local controls.

And for those who want to see how it works in action, our systems lead and founding principal, Jim Meacham, takes a deeper dive in this MSI explainer video on defining and delivering energy performance and streamlined controls with the Altura MSI model—from architecture to analytics—showing you how to turn your fragmented building systems into intelligent, integrated platforms that scale with your needs.

Why It Matters Now

The demand for performance transparency, cybersecurity readiness, and operational resilience is only growing. Whether you’re managing a hospital network, a higher ed campus, or a corporate real estate portfolio, now is the time to break out of system silos and take ownership of your technology strategy.

💡 It’s time to break free – what can MSI unlock for your organization?
Read the full white paper here or watch the MSI explainer video to see how we help building owners take back control… of their controls.

And if you’re curious how to interweave your IT and OT strategies into one cohesive playbook, aligning teams across your enterprise organization, reach out to us, or feel free to drop Sia Dabiri a line to chat directly about achieving a more seamless, open-controls approach to your BAS.