Back in 2011 Gartner advised (IT) leaders to prepare for the transition of their organizations to the converging, aligning and integrating of IT and OT environments. There has been some progress since then, but a lot of work remains ahead for the companies. During this period IoT has also emerged as a critical business enabler. How does IT, OT and IoT fit in this together? What should the companies consider?
IT, OT, IoT, IIoT are different abbreviations that are all frequently used in combination with Industry 4.0 and digital transformation. Let’s start with clearing out the jargon:
Industry 4.0 – The underlying concept of Industry 4.0 is to connect embedded systems and smart production facilities to generate a digital convergence between industry, business and internal functions and processes.
Digital Transformation – It is the use of digital technologies to improve processes and customer experience as part of the industry 4.0 movement.
IT – Information technology or the corporate IT team, led by a CIO.
OT – Operational Technology, everything on the operational side that IT isn’t often or very much involved in.
IoT – Internet of Things refers to connecting “things” (device or assets) to the internet to capture the data and provide business value.
IIoT – When applying IoT in an industrial environment, the term IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) is used. Things here can be seen as equipment such as pumps, CNC machines and also people through wearables.
IT and OT: a distinction that decreasingly is one
In case you’re not familiar with the – by now – ‘good old’ IT versus OT debate: IT is what you think it is. Information technology or the corporate IT team, led by a CIO looking after workplace infrastructure with computers, mobiles, unified communication, networks, security, and Enterprise software. OT is operational technology that refers to the hardware and software used to change, monitor, or control physical devices, processes, and events within a factory or production facility. Examples in the process industry are Scada, DCS and PLC systems.
The main difference between OT and IT devices is that OT devices control the physical world, while IT systems manage data. The goal of OT was to keep the plant running smoothly and to support IT-managed business applications within the enterprise. But the industrial world is changing. And to keep up, IT/OT relationships and deployment of technology must change as well
Together, IT and operations teams must go beyond responding to problems. Instead, they are key players in their companies’ transformations, helping to seize new business opportunities that make companies more competitive, more efficient and more secure.
“With IT and OT converging, the scope of CIO authority may cater to the needs of planning and coordinating a new generation of operational technologies alongside existing information- and administration-focused IT systems” – Gartner
IT and OT convergence is the use of knowledge and resources from both fields to increase the overall performance and output of the company. But the challenge in this convergence is that IT and OT usually have different managerial setups, contending for resources and engagement. The convergence even puts more increased demands on both managers and staff to be acquainted with in both fields.
IT and OT systems
How the IoT brings IT and OT together
With IT and OT, there is another value coming in with IoT convergence. IoT is naturally a part the whole thing. IoT is a technology to easily connect devices and increase datapoints at relative low cost. Today this is mainly in the IT domain and this data can be used to analyze the processes, monitor trends or make process smart through AI.
In many industries additional data can have a predictive and preventive impact on maintenance, safety and the environment which has a direct impact on OT. For instance, connecting your CNC machine (OT) to extract data might require that you either utilize the company network (IT) or a separate connectivity (IoT) method to ensure availability and security. And with the entrance of 5G and LoRa, we really see how all the three fields above are interconnected. This might sound like something unique for Industry 4.0, but this trend extends over any number of industries, from utilities, logistics, smart grids, retail and smart buildings to construction sites.
The link between the Internet of Things and the IT and OT debate is clear. After all, the IoT is mainly about automating processes using connected devices with a capacity to gather, receive and send information, embed intelligence and connectivity into devices and set up processes and applications that open up a realm of new possibilities with the proper tools to analyze data, automate and ‘write’ applications and develop APIs, putting these devices at work.
Most of the companies leave 85% of their data out in the field. IoT can bring that data and much more to the enterprise level
Convergence challenges
Industrial organizations have a lot of operational data, but they don’t know how to take advantage of it at the enterprise level to compete better, such as by improving their organization’s resiliency, sustainability and supply chain agility. While digital transformation initiatives are on the rise in manufacturing, CIOs and CTOs are struggling to make OT and IT worlds play well with each other and tap the hidden insights from the vast industrial data sources.
The key reason for these roadblocks is the lack of proper correlating contexts, such as data source, type or timestamp, while capturing high-speed OT data at the edge. Without this critical OT context, captured industrial data has low data integrity, which translates into significantly higher data preparation efforts while building analytical models. To extract actionable insights from this OT data, it needs to be packaged in an interchangeable and flexible data format that can be easily shared between OT and IT applications.
At 3point3 Labs, all of this knowledge and all of these skillsets are under one roof. That’s why we’re here and this is what we do. If you would like to learn more or discuss how we can enable your business, please get in touch.
Back in 2011 Gartner advised (IT) leaders to prepare for the transition of their organizations to the converging, aligning and integrating of IT and OT environments. There has been some progress since then, but a lot of work remains ahead for the companies. During this period IoT has also emerged as a critical business enabler. How does IT, OT and IoT fit in this together? What should the companies consider?
IT, OT, IoT, IIoT are different abbreviations that are all frequently used in combination with Industry 4.0 and digital transformation. Let’s start with clearing out the jargon:
Industry 4.0 – The underlying concept of Industry 4.0 is to connect embedded systems and smart production facilities to generate a digital convergence between industry, business and internal functions and processes.
Digital Transformation – It is the use of digital technologies to improve processes and customer experience as part of the industry 4.0 movement.
IT – Information technology or the corporate IT team, led by a CIO.
OT – Operational Technology, everything on the operational side that IT isn’t often or very much involved in.
IoT – Internet of Things refers to connecting “things” (device or assets) to the internet to capture the data and provide business value.
IIoT – When applying IoT in an industrial environment, the term IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) is used. Things here can be seen as equipment such as pumps, CNC machines and also people through wearables.
IT and OT: a distinction that decreasingly is one
In case you’re not familiar with the – by now – ‘good old’ IT versus OT debate: IT is what you think it is. Information technology or the corporate IT team, led by a CIO looking after workplace infrastructure with computers, mobiles, unified communication, networks, security, and Enterprise software. OT is operational technology that refers to the hardware and software used to change, monitor, or control physical devices, processes, and events within a factory or production facility. Examples in the process industry are Scada, DCS and PLC systems.
The main difference between OT and IT devices is that OT devices control the physical world, while IT systems manage data. The goal of OT was to keep the plant running smoothly and to support IT-managed business applications within the enterprise. But the industrial world is changing. And to keep up, IT/OT relationships and deployment of technology must change as well
Together, IT and operations teams must go beyond responding to problems. Instead, they are key players in their companies’ transformations, helping to seize new business opportunities that make companies more competitive, more efficient and more secure.
“With IT and OT converging, the scope of CIO authority may cater to the needs of planning and coordinating a new generation of operational technologies alongside existing information- and administration-focused IT systems” – Gartner
IT and OT convergence is the use of knowledge and resources from both fields to increase the overall performance and output of the company. But the challenge in this convergence is that IT and OT usually have different managerial setups, contending for resources and engagement. The convergence even puts more increased demands on both managers and staff to be acquainted with in both fields.
IT and OT systems
How the IoT brings IT and OT together
With IT and OT, there is another value coming in with IoT convergence. IoT is naturally a part the whole thing. IoT is a technology to easily connect devices and increase datapoints at relative low cost. Today this is mainly in the IT domain and this data can be used to analyze the processes, monitor trends or make process smart through AI.
In many industries additional data can have a predictive and preventive impact on maintenance, safety and the environment which has a direct impact on OT. For instance, connecting your CNC machine (OT) to extract data might require that you either utilize the company network (IT) or a separate connectivity (IoT) method to ensure availability and security. And with the entrance of 5G and LoRa, we really see how all the three fields above are interconnected. This might sound like something unique for Industry 4.0, but this trend extends over any number of industries, from utilities, logistics, smart grids, retail and smart buildings to construction sites.
The link between the Internet of Things and the IT and OT debate is clear. After all, the IoT is mainly about automating processes using connected devices with a capacity to gather, receive and send information, embed intelligence and connectivity into devices and set up processes and applications that open up a realm of new possibilities with the proper tools to analyze data, automate and ‘write’ applications and develop APIs, putting these devices at work.
Most of the companies leave 85% of their data out in the field. IoT can bring that data and much more to the enterprise level
Convergence challenges
Industrial organizations have a lot of operational data, but they don’t know how to take advantage of it at the enterprise level to compete better, such as by improving their organization’s resiliency, sustainability and supply chain agility. While digital transformation initiatives are on the rise in manufacturing, CIOs and CTOs are struggling to make OT and IT worlds play well with each other and tap the hidden insights from the vast industrial data sources.
The key reason for these roadblocks is the lack of proper correlating contexts, such as data source, type or timestamp, while capturing high-speed OT data at the edge. Without this critical OT context, captured industrial data has low data integrity, which translates into significantly higher data preparation efforts while building analytical models. To extract actionable insights from this OT data, it needs to be packaged in an interchangeable and flexible data format that can be easily shared between OT and IT applications.
At 3point3 Labs, all of this knowledge and all of these skillsets are under one roof. That’s why we’re here and this is what we do. If you would like to learn more or discuss how we can enable your business, please get in touch.
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