What is industrial intelligence? According to Amanda Oñate, vice president of ecosystem and platform marketing at AVEVA, the term describes the ability to turn industrial data into continuous, actionable insights which improve how assets, people and processes perform.
As industrial intelligence continues to evolve rapidly, organisations will be able to use connected technologies to optimise their operations in ways that were previously impossible.
How can connected ecosystems and real-time intelligence help industrial organisations break down data silos and improve operational efficiency?
Having worked within the customer experience (CX) business at technology firm Oracle, I’ve seen first-hand how personalised, real-time interactions can transform the way organisations understand and respond to people’s needs. That same principle applies directly to industry. When real time operational data, contextual signals and AI-driven insights come together, they empower teams to make better decisions faster – just as real time customer insights do in CX. In many ways, industrial intelligence is the operational counterpart to modern customer experience: both rely on timely data, meaningful context and intelligent orchestration to create more responsive, connected and impactful outcomes.
The challenge is that industrial organisations are generating more data than ever, yet much of it sits in silos or lacks the context needed to make it useful. Connected ecosystems, powered by industrial intelligence, enable the unification of operational and engineering data into a single window, where the relationship between systems, processes and assets becomes much clearer.
What top three challenges can industrial intelligence solve for organisations?
Firstly, it can dissolve costly operational silos by unifying disconnected information and systems across an organisation, making the data both more usable and trusted. Second, industrial intelligence helps organisations unearth hidden patterns in their data and identify optimisation opportunities that might otherwise go unnoticed. Third, connected ecosystems help reduce barriers to collaboration, bringing together engineers, supply chain partners and external stakeholders into a single, coherent whole.
Platforms like CONNECT, AVEVA’s secure, cloud-based industrial intelligence platform built natively on Microsoft Azure, act as the digital backbone for data, applications and collaboration across the industrial lifecycle. This enables organisations to securely share information across teams, geographies and external partners, improving coordination and decision-making.
AVEVA has helped Nestlé to cut powder waste and reduce spillages when manufacturing its Nesquik products (photo: Alamy/Rene van den Berg)
How does industrial intelligence help businesses boost sustainability and optimise their operations?
At the design and project execution stage, connected industrial ecosystems help engineers and businesses deliver capital projects more efficiently by ensuring everyone works from a shared, trusted data environment. This reduces duplication, rework and errors, thereby helping projects become both more resource-efficient and more cost-effective.
On the operations side, industrial intelligence allows businesses to optimise operations more effectively – reducing fuel consumption, emissions, water usage and electricity demand. Food and drink giant Nestlé, for example, partnered with AVEVA to enhance how it manufactured Nesquik and Ovaltine. As a result, Nestlé cut powder waste by 10 per cent – equivalent to saving one jar for every 10 produced – while improving product uniformity and reducing spillage. These savings provide substantial material and sustainability gains over time.
Optimisation translates directly into commercial value, too. For instance, major US healthcare provider Kaiser Permanente implemented a connected energy ecosystem across more than 1,200 buildings, including hospitals and data centres. The health group identified millions of dollars in savings through tariff optimisation, relocating oversized fuel cells and introducing night-time energy reduction strategies in buildings that aren’t used 24/7.
Can you explain how AI technology is reshaping the industrial ecosystem?
AI is helping organisations turn colossal amounts of operational and engineering data into actionable intelligence.
One of the major developments within the CONNECT platform is the introduction of a knowledge graph, which allows relationships between different data types to be mapped far more intuitively.
We’re also introducing a digital twin builder with AI-assisted data mapping capabilities. This helps organisations align data from multiple systems into a unified model much faster than before.
In addition, the ecosystem itself is evolving. We’re increasingly collaborating with startups and frontier technology organisations to empower organisations to move from reactive decision-making to real time, predictive and ever-more autonomous operations.
US healthcare provider Kaiser Permanente could save millions of dollars now that it has worked with AVEVA to implement a connected energy ecosystem in over 1,200 buildings (photo: iStock/Roaming Panda)
How can agile, smart ecosystems help businesses become more resilient?
Agile industrial ecosystems provide the visibility and flexibility organisations need to balance production across multiple facilities. If one site is disrupted, production can potentially be shifted elsewhere.
They also improve market responsiveness. Industrial ecosystems help organisations identify shortages, supply gaps or changing demand patterns and adapt production accordingly.
Can you outline how AVEVA is working with Microsoft to help customers derive more value from their industrial data?
AVEVA works closely with Microsoft to help industrial organisations connect their data and information across their entire ecosystem of vendors, partners and suppliers, enabling faster insights and supporting better-informed decision-making.
CONNECT plays a central role in this by integrating with systems such as the AVEVA™ PI System™, AVEVA ™ Asset Information Management, AVEVA™ Manufacturing Execution System (MES), and enterprise resource planning platforms.
Our partnership with Microsoft enables customers to leverage Azure’s global cloud infrastructure, advanced analytics and AI capabilities while supporting the hybrid operating models many industrial organisations require.
Learn how AVEVA can help you connect your industrial ecosystem.
Discover more insights in interviews like this in the Summer 2026 issue of Technology Record. Don’t miss out – subscribe for free today and get future issues delivered straight to your inbox.