Photo courtesy of Javier Loya.
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Business leaders rely on a reliable and familiar set of numbers when assessing how a company is performing. Revenue, labor costs, margins and capital allocation are usually at the center of these conversations because they show what is working and where adjustments need to be made.
Energy, telecom and utility costs are rarely looked at the same way, even though they affect almost every physical part of a business.
The point is not that these costs are ignored or considered unimportant. It’s that they are scattered across different systems, vendors and locations, making it difficult to understand what is being spent or where there are inefficiencies.
As a result, these costs tend to be treated as routine expenses rather than something that can be measured, compared and actively improved.
For Javier Loya, this kind of inefficiency is familiar. During his career, he has built companies around solving problems like this, where systems are fragmented and difficult to manage.
Today, as Chairman of GETCHOICE!, he is applying the same thinking to energy, telecom and utility management.
Creating structure where none exists
GET CHOICE! is built to bring order to a process that most companies have learned to work around.
The platform centralizes utility data across electricity, natural gas, water and telecom, pulling together information from separate systems. Once everything is in one place, companies can see their spending across countries and over time.
This changes the way these expenses are treated. Instead of looking at one invoice at a time, executives can step back and see the whole picture. They can compare locations, track month-to-month changes, and understand how infrastructure decisions are impacting overall performance.
Loya points out that many companies don’t realize what they’re missing.
“Most companies think of their utility bills as an expense,” Loya explained. “They don’t realize it’s an operational blind spot.”
This blind spot shows up in small ways at first. Bills come in a variety of formats, with some including detailed usage data and others offering very little to take away. Contracts are regularly renewed without much review and mistakes are easy to miss. Over time, those little issues start to add up.
GET CHOICE! handles it by organizing and standardizing datathen making it easier to track and act. For most organizations, the biggest change is not just cutting cost, but taking control.
“What surprises customers is not just the savings,” Loya said. “That’s how much control they didn’t know they were missing.”
Leaders can identify which locations are operating efficiently, which are not, and where contracts need to be updated. Instead of reacting to costs, companies begin to manage them.
The cost chaos that comes with scaling operations
Service management becomes increasingly difficult to control as companies expand, creating systems like GETCHOICE! even more valuable.
A business with one or two locations may not feel the strain. But as that footprint grows, so does the number of service accounts. A regional or national company can quickly find itself managing hundreds or thousands of accounts across different services and providers.
Even within the same company, similar locations may operate under very different cost structures. One site may be locked into an older contract with higher rates, while another benefits from the latest pricing.
Billing formats may also vary from one provider to another. Some invoices are processed digitally, while others still require manual review.
Individually, these differences may not be noticeable. Together, they create a system that is difficult to track and even more difficult to compare.
Leaders can try to determine if a site is paying too much, underperforming, or operating under outdated agreements.
At that point, the issue is not a lack of data. It’s the opposite. There is too much information and not enough structure to make sense of it.
Each bill contains details about usage, charges, fees and time. At hundreds of accounts, this becomes a data set that most companies are not designed to manage.
Once this data is organized by GETCHOICE!, patterns begin to emerge. Costs that were once hidden within individual invoices become visible across the organization. That’s when companies can start making decisions based on that information.
Turning utility data into actionable insight
Javier Loya sees the shift towards energy intelligence increasing in the coming years. What was once handled in the background is starting to play a bigger role in day-to-day operations, especially as energy, telecom and utility management becomes more data-driven and automated.
“It will become a data business masquerading as an infrastructure business,” he said.
According to Loya, much of this change will be driven by technology.
Artificial intelligence is making it easier to process large volumes of invoice data, and automation is reducing the need for manual work. Systems are becoming faster at identifying patterns, discrepancies and changes in costs.
“Transparency will become non-negotiable”, he added.
As those tools improve, expectations will change as well. Companies will begin to expect the same level of clarity in their utility data that they already have in their financial reporting.
This will create a divide between organizations that adapt and adopt systems like GETCHOICE! and those that continue to work with fragmented information.
What was once a back-office function will be used by businesses to measure efficiency, make decisions and stay competitive.
The ownership mindset behind energy intelligence
Loya’s approach to GETCHOICE! comes from his extensive experience in building other businesses.
In 2007, he founded OTC Global Holdings with the aim of bringing more efficiency and transparency to global commodity markets. The company grew from a startup to the world’s largest independent commodities brokerage, serving clients across the energy and commodities sectors.
From the beginning, OTC was competing against larger, more established firms with more resources. Instead of trying to match them step by step, Loya focused on doing things differently.
“We realized we couldn’t win by doing things the traditional way,” he said. “We need to innovate faster and empower our team more aggressively.”
This mindset turned out to be a major advantage. OTC Global eventually scaled internationally and built a strong reputation in a highly competitive market, showing that a more agile and innovative model could compete at the highest level.
Years later, he faced one of the most difficult decisions of his career when OTC entered into a strategic transaction with BGC Group. Releasing something built over nearly two decades wasn’t easy, but it came down to what the business needed next.
“The sale was not an exit, it was an evolution,” he said. “Sometimes letting go is the most disciplined form of ownership.”
This idea of ownership carries over into his work at GETCHOICE! today. For Loya, ownership is not about maintaining control at all costs. It’s about taking responsibility for results, making decisions with purpose, and building systems that can continue to grow.
“Ownership is not a slogan, it’s a filter,” he said. “It means you don’t ask, ‘Is this my responsibility?’ You ask, ‘Is this my standard?’
This perspective has also changed the way he evaluates new opportunities. Earlier in his career, he focused heavily on the upside. Now, he looks for alignment and long-term value.
“I ask one question before I commit: Does this opportunity give me leverage or just give me activity?” he explained. “If it’s just activity, it’s a distraction.”
A new standard for modern businesses
While much of Loya’s work has focused on building companies, his broader goal has always been to create opportunities for others. He continues to invest in businesses that solve real problems and contributes to organizations that bring people together.
As a minority owner of the Houston Texans, he is part of a franchise that plays a major role in its community. Through the Greater El Paso Showcase, he has created a platform that gives high school athletes exposure to college recruiters.
“Exposure changes trajectories,” he said.
In one case, an athlete who received little recruiting attention prior to the event was able to earn a college scholarship after being spotted by coaches. For that family, it meant access to education and another path forward.
That focus on creating opportunities is rooted in his upbringing.
Loya grew up in a family of seven siblings where resources were limited and expectations were high.
“I grew up in a family where nothing was given – and everything was earned,” he said. “When you grow up like that, you don’t think how can I succeed in the system? You think, ‘How can I build something of my own so I’m not dependent on the system?'”
This belief permeates everything he builds.
As companies continue to grow and operations become more complex, the ability to understand and manage infrastructure will become more important.
Energy, telecom and utility costs are no longer just routine expenses. They are becoming part of how businesses operate and compete. For Javier Loya, GETCHOICE! it is where his work has led all along.
