Three-Way Tug-of-War for Manufacturers: IT, OT, and Business Strategy Teams

Navigating Digital Transformation in Manufacturing has become a virtual minefield that can cause contention among teams, encourage working in silos and lead to endless pilots and trials that do not scale. At the same time, digital transformation has shifted from a luxury to an absolute necessity. However, embarking on the journey toward automation and digitization isn’t straightforward. It involves a delicate dance among three critical teams: Information Technology (IT), Operational Technology (OT), and Business Strategy. Let’s delve into the challenges, financial implications, and strategies for harmonizing these teams.

The conflict arises among the three groups from different priorities, architectures, protocols, and management structures, hindering collaboration. IT pushes for rapid change, while OT emphasizes stability. Bridging this gap requires interdisciplinary skills and joint governance. Aligning goals and priorities becomes essential. Financially, delayed digital transformation leads to lost productivity due to manual processes, missed revenue opportunities, and competitive disadvantage. For manufacturers of all sizes, this could significantly impact annual revenue, cost competitiveness, and ultimately profitability.

• IT Perspective: IT teams focus on business data, cybersecurity, and technology trends. They’re all about cloud adoption, data analytics, and seamless integration.

• OT Perspective: OT teams prioritize operational efficiency, reliability, and production processes. Their world revolves around industrial control systems, sensors, and legacy equipment.

• C-Suite Perspective: Transitioning from siloed IT and OT stacks to a unified system is like merging parallel universes.

• IT Priorities: IT aims for technology adoption, scalability, and future-proofing. They’re all about business agility through digital tools.

• OT Priorities: OT focuses on process longevity, reliability, and safety. They’re obsessed with minimizing downtime and maximizing uptime.

• C-Suite Priorities: Challenges include fragmented data, incomplete financial picture across operations, and slow enterprise adoption.

Financially, delayed digital transformation leads to lost productivity due to manual processes, missed revenue opportunities, and competitive disadvantage. For manufacturers of all sizes, this could significantly impact annual revenue.

• Inefficiencies from manual processes directly impact the bottom line.

• Missed opportunities for process optimization and streamlined workflows can cost manufacturers hundreds of thousands of dollars to millions annually.

• Competitors gain an edge by embracing digital technologies, enabling faster and better decision making.

• Outdated processes result in lost market share, potentially translating into millions of dollars.

• Digital transformation enables flexibility in operations and better agility in responding to opportunities.

• New revenue streams (like data monetization and predictive maintenance services) remain untapped, potentially missing out on revenue growth opportunities.

Here are some strategies to bridge the gap between these three required parties.

1. 1.

   Align IT, OT, and business strategy around a common vision.

2. 2.

   Define clear objectives and KPIs that resonate with all teams.

1. 1.

   Create interdisciplinary teams.

2. 2.

   Foster communication and knowledge sharing.

3. 3.

   Break down silos.

1. 1.

   Invest in training programs.

2. 2.

   Help IT understand OT challenges and vice versa.

1. 1.

   Leadership must champion collaboration.

2. 2.

   Encourage experimentation and risk-taking.

When teams are ready to tackle the IT-OT-strategy gap and employ these strategies, the next step is to make use of data as a unifying factor. Data can be thought of as a language that all three groups can speak: its use in measuring performance and other KPIs is seen by all three teams, making it a natural starting point on the IT-OT-strategy bridging journey. Products from both Litmus and Belden can be used to gather and contextualize data from a company’s assets. This gathered data can help to drive digital transformation in manufacturing, empowering teams to collaborate while working toward a common digitalization goal.

Looking to balance the tug-of-war to achieve financial and operational gains? Contact us to learn how the Litmus-Belden solution can help.