In my last blog on Data Contextualization, we talked about data contextualization at various levels in the OT Ecosystem architecture, particularly in the Operational Data Lake. LNS Research is increasingly hearing the term “Data Hub” used to describe the processing, conditioning, contextualization, persistence, and access functionality so key to data management and one’s ability to scale the New OT Ecosystem. Questions we frequently hear are:

As 2022 kicks off, most significant industrial organizations are well into their Industrial Transformation (IX) journeys and have been for at least several years. Those that aren’t are scrambling to catch up if they intend to remain viable. Even as IX advances as the strategic framework for competitive differentiation, industrials must deal with two rapidly emerging secular trends: the rise of Sustainability and the challenges posed by the Future of Industrial Work.

It’s that time again…each year, LNS Research puts forth predictions around the key trends in the Industrial Transformation (IX) topics where we focus our research. In the case of Asset Performance Management (APM 4.0), our 2021 forecast focused on multiple definitions of Digital Twins, the shift of APM 4.0 to a broader view in terms of Operational Excellence (OE 4.0) and Operation Risk Management (ORM), the Connected Worker (CW), now called the Connected Frontline Workforce (CFW), and the Open Process Automation (OPA) pilots and related progress. Two additional trends are that the path to autonomy flows through Operational Excellence, a concept that requires redefinition and reimagining compared to past approaches; and second, the scale and depth of what it will take to be autonomous is not yet well understood.

Every year, LNS Research analysts put forth predictions around the Industrial Transformation (IX) topics where we focus our research. In December 2020, I made five predictions for 2021. This year I am going to make only one prediction – in multiple parts – but I will drill into that one prediction more extensively. To help you to decide whether my multi-part prediction for 2022 is worth considering, I am concluding this blog post with an assessment of how I did in my 2021 predictions (spoiler alert: by my count, I was 4 out of 5 but you can decide).

In a sign of the times, the topic of Sustainability was front and center at the 3^rd annual LNS Research, The Industrial Transformation (IX) Event, held October 19-21, 2021. Keynote speakers on the morning of Day 1 included Michael Train, SVP and Chief Sustainability Officer of Emerson, and Ellis Jones, VP and Chief Sustainability Officer of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. These speakers highlighted the strategic importance of sustainability to enterprise strategy in their organizations, as well as the critical role of leadership in achieving the transformational results Sustainability initiatives often aspire to.

Some of the most frequently asked questions LNS Research receives when clients are planning to scale in Industrial Transformation (IX) are concerned with DataOps and data contextualization.

Follow the money to see the real story

Google the phrase “Pilot Purgatory” and you will see a raft of press articles about the state of Digital Transformation and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). McKinsey and Company, Deloitte, and a series of other firms have published several articles on “pilot purgatory” in IIoT, Digital Manufacturing, and Digital Transformation. IIoT and Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) vendors often exasperatingly discuss the successful implementations they have done at the company’s home office that have not translated into wide-scale rollouts. These vendors curse “pilot purgatory.”

Given all the brouhaha, one would expect that companies deploying these pilots would feel “stuck in” pilot and that getting to a wide-scale rollout was a key challenge in front of their Industrial Transformation (IX) Program. But when we surveyed industrials, we found just the opposite. Few companies felt “stuck in” pilot mode and only a fraction of companies identified “moving out of pilot phase” to be a key challenge. So clearly, pilot purgatory is fake news! Let’s look at the facts and see how we can reconcile these different perspectives.

In my recent The M&A Rumble in the Jungle blog, I highlighted my 2021 number two prediction that "the focus on APM 4.0 will shift to a broader view in terms of Operational Excellence (OE 4.0) and Operational Risk Management (ORM). This will lead to increasing friction, and at the same time opportunity, between APM and EHS, and quality too...competitors will begin to react in 2021, and we'll see more partnerships and M&A ramping up." We said that the trend has been for both EHS and APM vendors to expand into each other’s territory, in most cases bypassing EAM, since APM solutions can drive whatever EAM is in place. While EAM vendors have a solid business, they risk being squeezed out of the running in the battle over Operational Risk Management (ORM), a key objective of what LNS Research calls Operational Excellence 4.0 (OpEx 4.0). Here, LNS Research refers to the fight between EHS and APM where ORM software straddles the divide between APM vendors' asset reliability, integrity, inspection, and maintenance focus, and the process safety management, incident management, and worker risk assessment functionality of EHS vendors.

As the year 2020 ended, LNS Research published a set of three Research Spotlights highlighting the three alternative architectural paths available for manufacturers around Industrial Transformation (IX). In the 3^rd Spotlight we introduced the concept of Industrial Transformation Strategic Partners. As part of the run-up to the release of the LNS Research IX Strategic Partners Solution Selection Matrix™ let’s revisit our definition of IX Strategic Partners, highlight the criteria we use to evaluate these vendors, list the vendors, and conclude with advice to manufacturers.

Last April, we wrote about the market twists and turns in the dynamic cybersecurity software market and the challenges and barriers to progress. More recently, we published an M&A update that noted the acquisition of PAS Global by Hexagon AB. Recent conversations with end-users, cyber-software, and automation vendors have highlighted the importance of not just the software but of the associated set of services so vital to implementing and maintaining cyber protection. This raised the question of the best way for most end-users to approach this, get the right help, and bridge the cyber gap between IT and OT. The answer is less a technical discussion than it is about strategy, standards, policies and procedures, and partnering services.