By Jay Palter | August 28, 2024
This article explains what Operational Technology (OT) is and how it relates to Information Technology and smart technology. It also offers some tips on how to integrate all of these technologies together and points out some common implementation pitfalls you will want to avoid.
Table of Contents
- What is Operational Technology?
- What are the Benefits of Smart Asset Management Systems in OT Management?
- IT vs OT—What’s the Difference Between Information Technology and Operational Technology?
- What Are the Challenges of Balancing a Converged IT/OT Facility?
- Take the Strategic View on Managing Smart Technology in IT/OT Facilities
What is Operational Technology?
Operational Technology is the combination of hardware and software used to monitor and interact with physical devices and the workflows within which they operate. OT systems are important in many industries, where they manage tasks ranging from controlling machinery on a production line to managing electronic devices in storage or monitoring critical infrastructure like electrical grids. Industries that rely heavily on OT include manufacturing, shipping and logistics, oil and gas, energy production and distribution, and transportation.
What are Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT) Devices?
The Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT) consists of sensors, actuators, and monitors deployed on or near industrial equipment that can communicate with each other and operational technology management software. IIOT devices are essential for gathering real-time data on machinery and environmental conditions. They are typically embedded in equipment, such as generators, pipelines, programmable logic controllers (PLC), and industrial robots. These devices form the backbone of modern industrial automation by providing the data needed for predictive maintenance, operational efficiency, and real-time decision-making.
What is SCADA?
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems are a subset of OT that plays a critical role in industrial automation. SCADA systems gather real-time data from sensors located at remote sites and transmit it to a central computer, where it is monitored and controlled. These systems are essential for managing geographically dispersed operations, such as water treatment plants, electrical grids, and pipelines. SCADA systems enable operators to monitor and respond to changes in the system promptly, ensuring efficient and safe operations.
What is a Distributed Control System (DCS)?
Distributed Control Systems (DCS) are another crucial component of OT, designed to control processes or machines in one local environment, such as a single facility. Unlike SCADA systems, which are designed for remote monitoring, DCS is typically used in industries like manufacturing and chemical processing, where precise, real-time control of multiple integrated subsystems is required. DCS systems manage and automate complex industrial processes by coordinating controllers that manage specific functions, such as temperature control, pressure management, or flow regulation, all within a single operational framework.
What is Smart Technology?
Smart technology refers to devices and systems equipped with integrated sensors and processors and network connectivity that enable them to collect data, analyze it, and perform tasks autonomously or coordinated by a central management system. They also enable more automated workflows in OT. These technologies can adapt their operations based on real-time inputs. For example, industrial equipment that optimizes performance and predicts maintenance needs.
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What are the Benefits of Smart Asset Management Systems in OT Management?
Smart asset management systems significantly benefit complex work environments where you use large machinery or simply have detailed workflows. The collected data and structure the management system provides help you enhance security and optimize operational efficiency. They also provide four specific benefits we want to highlight further:
Streamline Your Regulatory Compliance
Maintaining real-time, accurate asset inventories is critical for demonstrating OT compliance with industry regulations. Legacy tracking methods, such as just on a spreadsheet, are time-consuming and prone to errors. An asset tracking and monitoring solution offers a centralized and up-to-date repository of all necessary data, including vulnerabilities, maintenance issues, and communication logs.
Improve Your Operational Resilience
OT asset management platforms provide comprehensive business intelligence by integrating data from various sources such as asset maintenance records, cyber risk assessments, and historical cost data. This unified data set helps organizations prioritize resources, address vulnerabilities, and plan preventive maintenance based on real-time asset criticality and risk assessments. With the right mix of asset visibility, vulnerability management, and risk analytics, organizations can balance productivity, safety, and compliance, ultimately optimizing operational resilience.
Enhance Risk Management
Smart asset management systems allow organizations to better identify and evaluate vulnerabilities across their critical assets. These platforms generate valuable data for quantitative risk modeling. They can help you collect basic asset information—like usage patterns, lifecycle, and repair issues—but also contextual data, such as the asset’s function, importance, and potential financial impact of downtime. These insights allow organizations to establish measurable risk management metrics aligned with business impact.
Enforce Security Policies
Smart asset management systems validate whether security policies function as intended during routine operations and maintenance. These systems automatically prompt users to perform necessary security checks when they sign out or return assets from the storage system. They can also detect and alert teams to anomalies, such as unauthorized access requests or abnormal signout activity that might indicate fraud.
IT vs OT—What’s the Difference Between Information Technology and Operational Technology?
Operational Technology (OT) is focused on controlling and monitoring physical devices, machinery, and infrastructure. It ensures that the equipment performs its intended functions. Information Technology (IT) is centered around managing and securing data, systems, and networks. IT's primary concern is the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information and the systems that store and process it.
What is IT/OT Convergence?
IT-OT convergence integrates Information Technology (IT) systems with Operational Technology (OT) systems. It is a key driver of digital transformations. Connecting these systems allows data collected from physical equipment and IIoT devices to be analyzed to improve operational efficiency and identify potential issues.
However, OT networks were traditionally isolated from external networks, assuming they were not vulnerable to external threats. Connecting OT systems to IT networks and the Internet introduces them to a broad threat landscape. This exposure is compounded by the increasing use of remote access by third-party vendors, which further expands the attack surface and introduces new vulnerabilities to OT environments.
What Are the Challenges of Balancing a Converged IT/OT Facility?
While integrating IT and OT offers several benefits, challenges inevitably arise when converging two complex technologies.
Balancing Security Philosophies
Traditionally, IT teams have focused on securing data by blocking high-risk network attack vectors and communication on the network. In other words, erring on the side of openness and only blacklisting the most dangerous channels. On the other hand, OT security often relies on the opposite philosophy of whitelisting, allowing communication only with pre-approved destinations and devices. Managing all assets together securely while maintaining operational efficiency requires a delicate balance and often involves implementing strict vendor management protocols.
Tracking Maintenance Windows
These are the scheduled times when systems are updated or repaired, and they often become a point of contention between IT and OT teams. While it might seem reasonable for IT to conduct maintenance during off-hours, that can interfere with critical OT operations. For instance, at 2:00 am on Sunday, a facility’s systems might transmit data from solar panels or optimize environmental controls for the upcoming workweek. Effective collaboration and communication between IT and OT teams are essential to align maintenance schedules and minimize disruptions.
Strategic Growth
Scalability is crucial for both IT and OT networks. However, planning for future needs can be particularly challenging for OT teams, who may need to become more familiar with the connectivity demands of the Internet of Things (IoT). As facilities increasingly integrate IoT devices, their bandwidth, and network addressing requirements will grow. To support this growth, IT teams must get involved early in the planning and installation of operational systems—sometimes even a year before a facility becomes operational. This early involvement ensures that the infrastructure can support the connectivity demands of a fully integrated, IoT-enabled environment.
Take the Strategic View on Managing Smart Technology in IT/OT Facilities
Over the years, manufacturing companies have significantly invested in various solutions to enhance operational efficiency. However, these investments often occur without a cohesive strategy, leading to fragmented planning for the future. That can leave companies with a disjointed ecosystem of technologies, with no unified suite of products across operations.
This poses a significant challenge for companies attempting to undergo a successful digital transformation in manufacturing. To navigate this landscape, working with a trusted partner who can design and integrate smart technology management systems into existing production processes is crucial.
The right partner will provide insights into your unique needs and help identify the end goal and the detailed road map to achieve it. This approach ensures minimal disruption, cost-effectiveness, and the unlocking of new value at each stage of the transformation process.
Design Your Smart Technology Integration Roadmap
Ensuring success involves a few critical steps for companies enhancing OT security with smart lockers:
Recognize the challenges of working in an IT/OT ecosystem
Collaborate with a partner experienced in integrating complex systems
Ensure that smart technology, data-gathering capabilities, and advanced analytics are part of your strategy
Select a smart management solution that aligns with your strategic goals and processes.
When these steps are executed effectively, the result is an OT security solution that seamlessly bridges the IT/OT gap and provides better decision-making and more efficient, flexible operational performance.
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