The world of technology is undergoing a fascinating shift. Information Technology (IT), once the sole driver of digital transformation, is now sharing the spotlight with Operational Technology (OT). OT encompasses the hardware and software that control and monitor physical devices and industrial processes. From managing factory robots to optimising energy grids, OT plays a crucial role across various industries.

However, traditional OT systems often operate in silos, lack real-time visibility, and struggle with security vulnerabilities. This is where the strategic alliance between Anthosa Consulting, Centreon, and ZEDEDA emerges as a game-changer for OT transformation.

These three industry leaders have joined forces to address the critical challenges hindering OT advancement. Their combined expertise offers businesses a powerful, unified solution that unlocks the full potential of their OT infrastructure. In the following sections, we’ll delve deeper into the rise of OT, its complexities, and how this groundbreaking alliance empowers businesses to navigate a new era of operational efficiency and agility.

The Rise of Operational Technology (OT) and its Transformation Needs

Operational Technology (OT) has long played a critical role in running the physical side of our businesses. It encompasses the systems and devices that monitor and control industrial equipment, facilities, and processes. From managing factory machinery to controlling power grids, OT ensures the smooth operation of essential infrastructure across various industries, such as manufacturing, energy, transportation, and utilities.

However, traditional OT systems often operate in silos, with limited communication and integration with Information Technology (IT) systems that manage data and information flow. This disconnect creates challenges for businesses in several ways:

• Limited Visibility: Traditional OT systems often lack centralised monitoring capabilities, making gaining a holistic view of operational processes difficult. This can hinder proactive maintenance and troubleshooting.
• Security Vulnerabilities: OT systems were not initially designed with robust cybersecurity measures, making them susceptible to cyberattacks that can disrupt operations and cause significant damage.
• Inefficient Management: Manual processes and limited automation capabilities can lead to inefficiencies in complex OT environments.

The Driving Forces Behind OT Transformation

The landscape of OT is undergoing a significant transformation driven by several key factors:

• The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT): The proliferation of connected devices and sensors within industrial environments generates vast amounts of data. This data holds immense potential for improving process optimisation, predictive maintenance, and overall operational efficiency.
• Real-time Decision Making and Automation: Businesses increasingly seek real-time insights from their OT data to make faster, data-driven decisions. Automation plays a crucial role in streamlining operations and reducing human error.
• Convergence of IT and OT: As businesses strive for holistic optimisation, the lines between IT and OT blur. Integrating these systems enables better data flow, centralised management, and improved decision-making across the organisation.

These factors highlight the growing need for OT transformation. Businesses require solutions to bridge the gap between traditional OT systems and modern IT infrastructure. This is where the strategic alliance between Anthosa Consulting, Centreon, and ZEDEDA comes into play.

Introducing the Strategic Alliance: Anthosa Consulting, Centreon, and ZEDEDA

The gap between information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) is rapidly shrinking in the ever-evolving technology landscape. Businesses increasingly rely on interconnected systems that collect and analyse real-time data to optimise operations and drive growth. This convergence of IT and OT necessitates a new approach to managing complex operational environments.

Here’s where the strategic alliance between Anthosa Consulting, Centreon, and ZEDEDA comes in. These industry leaders have joined forces to create a powerful solution that addresses the key challenges of OT transformation. Let’s take a closer look at each company and what they bring to the table:

• Anthosa Consulting: A boutique strategy consulting firm with a proven track record of co-designing successful digital transformations. Anthosa leverages human-centred design principles to bridge the gap between strategy and execution. Their expertise lies in tackling complex strategic challenges in OT environments, ensuring stakeholder alignment, and creating a roadmap for successful transformation.1
  
  
• Centreon: A leading provider of open and extensible observability platforms. Centreon’s platform offers comprehensive IT/OT monitoring capabilities, providing a single pane of glass view into your entire operational ecosystem. This holistic visibility is crucial for optimising OT systems, identifying performance issues, and ensuring smooth operation. 2
  
  
• ZEDEDA: A pioneer in cloud-native edge management and orchestration. ZEDEDA’s platform simplifies the management and security of distributed workloads across cloud and edge locations. Features like zero-touch provisioning and a zero-trust security model streamline edge deployments and ensure robust protection of your data and devices. 3

The beauty of this alliance lies in the synergy between these distinct offerings. Anthosa’s strategic guidance, Centreon’s comprehensive monitoring, and ZEDEDA’s secure edge management platform provide a unified IT/OT transformation solution. This collaborative approach ensures businesses have a well-defined strategy and the tools and expertise to execute it flawlessly.

A Deep Dive into the Partnership’s Offerings

The strategic alliance between Anthosa Consulting, Centreon, and ZEDEDA offers a unified solution to address the complexities of IT/OT transformation. Let’s delve deeper into each company’s contribution and how they work together to create a holistic approach.

Co-designed Transformation Strategy by Anthosa Consulting

Anthosa Consulting brings its expertise in co-designing business strategies to the table. Their human-centred design approach ensures stakeholder alignment throughout the transformation journey. This means they actively involve key decision-makers and operational teams from the outset. By facilitating workshops and interactive sessions, Anthosa helps bridge the gap between business goals and technical execution.

Their team of experienced strategists tackles complex challenges specific to OT environments. They understand the unique needs of industrial processes and infrastructure, ensuring a smooth transition and effective transformation. Anthosa’s success rate speaks for itself, with over 75% of its clients achieving strategic goals and over 60% of them sustaining positive outcomes for over three years.

Centreon’s Open Observability Platform

Centreon’s open and extensible observability platform provides the foundation for comprehensive IT/OT monitoring. This platform offers a centralised view of all your IT and OT assets, regardless of their location or distribution. Imagine having a real-time dashboard displaying the health and performance of your entire network, from industrial control systems to cloud applications. Centreon empowers you with this critical visibility.

The platform goes beyond basic monitoring by offering features like anomaly detection and business-aware monitoring. Anomaly detection helps identify unusual patterns in sensor data or system performance, potentially indicating impending issues. Business-aware monitoring allows you to correlate operational data with business KPIs, providing a holistic view of how OT performance impacts your bottom line.

ZEDEDA’s Cloud-Native Edge Management and Orchestration Platform

ZEDEDA manages the distributed workloads across your IT and OT infrastructure, including those at the edge. Their cloud-native platform simplifies the often complex task of deploying, managing, and securing edge devices. Features like intent-driven deployment and zero-touch provisioning automate the setup process, saving you valuable time and resources.

Security is paramount, especially with the growing number of connected devices at the edge. ZEDEDA’s platform enforces a zero-trust security model, ensuring only authorised devices and applications can access your network. Additionally, encryption and AI-powered threat detection provide robust protection against cyberattacks.

Synergy for a Holistic Approach

The beauty of this alliance lies in the synergy between these offerings. Anthosa co-designs a transformation strategy that considers the full IT/OT landscape. Centreon provides the visibility needed to monitor and optimise performance across the entire ecosystem. Finally, ZEDEDA ensures secure and efficient management of distributed workloads, including those at the edge. By working together, these three companies deliver a unified solution that empowers businesses to achieve a truly holistic OT transformation.

The Power of Edge Computing in OT Transformation

Traditional OT systems often need help with the sheer volume of data generated by modern industrial processes. Centralised processing can lead to bottlenecks and delays, hindering real-time decision-making and automation. This is where edge computing can be a game-changer for OT transformation.

Edge computing brings processing power and intelligence closer to where data is generated – at the network’s edge. Imagine factory sensors, wind turbines, or pipeline monitoring systems – these devices can now process data locally using edge computing platforms. This reduces the amount of data that needs to travel to a central server, minimising latency and enabling real-time insights.

Let’s explore how edge computing empowers OT transformation by addressing key challenges:

• Reduced Latency and Real-Time Decision-Making: By processing data locally, edge computing eliminates the need for lengthy back-and-forth communication with a central server. This translates to faster response times and the ability to make critical decisions based on real-time data. Imagine a manufacturing plant where an anomaly detected by a sensor can trigger an immediate machine shutdown, preventing equipment damage and production downtime.
• Improved Automation and Management of Connected Devices: Edge computing platforms can automate tasks traditionally handled manually. For example, predictive maintenance routines can be automated based on sensor data analysis at the edge, optimising equipment uptime and reducing the risk of unexpected failures. Edge platforms simplify device management by providing a centralised view and control over numerous distributed devices.
• Enhanced Security with Encryption and AI Threat Detection: Centralized data storage can be a security vulnerability. Edge computing allows for local data processing and storage, minimising the attack surface. Additionally, edge platforms can leverage AI and machine learning to analyse data streams in real time, identifying and mitigating potential security threats before they escalate.
• Efficient, Decentralised Computing with Containerisation and Micro Data Centers: Edge computing promotes a more distributed computing model. Data processing is spread across multiple edge devices or micro data centres, reducing reliance on large, centralised data centres. This not only improves efficiency and scalability but also reduces energy consumption. Containerisation, a virtualisation technology, further enhances efficiency by allowing applications to run in isolated environments on edge devices, optimising resource utilisation.
• Unlocking High-Bandwidth Applications with 5G: The emergence of 5G networks provides the high bandwidth and low latency required for bandwidth-intensive applications at the edge. This opens doors for transformative technologies like augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) in industrial settings. Imagine technicians using AR for remote maintenance assistance, receiving real-time data overlays displayed on their smart glasses. Similarly, VR training simulations can be conducted at the edge, eliminating the need for travel and physical infrastructure.

By harnessing the power of edge computing, businesses can overcome the limitations of traditional OT systems and unlock a new era of operational efficiency, agility, and security. The Anthosa Consulting, Centreon, and ZEDEDA alliance offer a comprehensive solution that leverages edge computing to empower your OT transformation journey.

Market Validates the Need for This Partnership

Recent trends show a rapidly growing edge computing market. According to the studies, a third of companies (33%) have already adopted edge computing, with another 30% planning to do so within the next two years. This significant growth is mirrored by a rise in investment, with 23% of companies planning to allocate $1-10 million towards edge computing in 2024, up from 17% in 2023. Interestingly, the report highlights a shift in decision-making authority, with nearly half (49%) of respondents indicating that C-suite executives drive edge investment. This strategic focus from leadership underscores the increasing recognition of edge computing’s potential to enhance competitiveness. Furthermore, 83% of executives believe edge computing is essential for their business.

These market trends validate the critical need for a comprehensive solution that addresses the complexities of OT transformation. The Anthosa, Centreon, and ZEDEDA alliance stands out by offering a unified approach that caters to this growing demand. Their combined expertise and focus on co-designing customised strategies position them to empower businesses in their OT transformation journey.

How Industrial Operations will benefit in their quest towards sustainability

The strategic alliance between Anthosa Consulting, Centreon, and ZEDEDA promises significant strides for industrial operations in their pursuit of sustainability. This collaboration hinges on the concept of “Intelligence at the Edge,” which essentially leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) at the operational level. By bringing these powerful tools closer to where industrial processes happen, the alliance empowers businesses to:

• Optimise Resource Consumption: AI/ML algorithms can analyse real-time data from sensors and equipment, identifying areas for energy waste reduction. This could involve optimising production schedules, automating equipment adjustments based on environmental conditions, or implementing predictive maintenance to prevent unnecessary downtime and energy expenditure.
• Reduce Environmental Impact: Flawed industrial processes can lead to excess emissions or improper waste management. Businesses can promptly detect and address environmental concerns by implementing AI-powered monitoring and control systems. For instance, anomaly detection algorithms can identify potential leaks or inefficiencies in emission control systems, allowing for swift intervention.
• Embrace Renewable Energy Integration: The rise of renewable energy sources like solar and wind power brings variability into the energy mix. AI-powered systems can help industrial operations adapt to this variability by intelligently adjusting energy consumption based on real-time grid conditions and available renewable sources. This fosters a more sustainable energy portfolio for these businesses.
• Enhance Sustainability Reporting and Compliance: Regulations and reporting requirements surrounding environmental impact are becoming increasingly stringent. AI can streamline data collection and analysis, enabling businesses to generate accurate and timely sustainability reports. Additionally, AI-powered anomaly detection can help identify potential compliance issues before they escalate into more significant problems.

In essence, the alliance’s OT transformation solutions empower industrial operations to become more environmentally conscious. By leveraging intelligence at the edge, businesses gain a deeper understanding of their processes, leading to smarter resource utilisation, reduced environmental footprint, and a smoother path towards achieving their sustainability goals. This paves the way for a future where industrial giants like manufacturing, engineering services, energy, and utilities can operate more efficiently and become responsible stewards of the environment.

Conclusion and Future Outlook

The alliance between Anthosa Consulting, Centreon, and ZEDEDA offers a compelling vision for the future of operational technologies. Their co-designed approach, combining strategic expertise, comprehensive visibility, and secure edge management, empowers businesses to unlock the full potential of OT transformation.

By embracing edge computing and leveraging AI/ML at the edge, organisations can achieve real-time decision-making, enhance automation, and optimise security. This translates to greater efficiency, improved service delivery, and a competitive advantage.

Looking ahead, the alliance is well-positioned to shape the OT landscape. As industries continue to invest in edge computing and integrate advanced technologies, their unified solution will be instrumental in ensuring a smooth and successful transformation journey for businesses of all sizes.