Breaking the Silos: Why IT/OT Convergence Fails and What Actually Works

Phil Seboa and Ed Fuentes sit down with David Ariens (Analytics For Industry / AVEVA) and Willem van Lammeren (Syensqo) to explore why IT/OT convergence fails — and what organisations actually get right when convergence works.

They discuss the cultural and technical silos that keep IT and OT teams divided, common misconceptions on both sides, and the practical changes that make integration stick in industrial environments.

Topics covered:

• Why convergence projects stall or fail

• Breaking silos without burning bridges

• What good IT/OT integration looks like in the field

• Making OT data usable for IT and business intelligence

• Real lessons from practitioners on both sides of the wall

Guests:

• David Ariens — Analytics For Industry / AVEVA

• Willem van Lammeren — Syensqo

Episode page: https://unpluggediiot.com/episodes/ep-58-breaking-the-silos-itot-convergence

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

03:00 The unlikely path into the IT/OT gap

13:00 Why convergence keeps failing: it’s not the technology

25:00 Seven patterns that actually work

37:00 Stories from the plant floor: BASF lessons

45:00 Building the IT/OT Academy + where IT/OT is heading

48:30 Outro

This episode is brought to you by Canary Labs and Cirrus Link.

Canary Labs — Canary Labs builds the industrial historian platform that captures your plant and process data the moment it's generated and makes it instantly accessible across your entire operation.

Learn more: https://unpluggediiot.com/partners/canary-labs

---

Cirrus Link Solutions — MQTT and Sparkplug software that connects OT to IT and cloud systems.

Visit: https://cirrus-link.com/unplugged