The PI System is part of AVEVA: 7 things to expect

With the PI System now part of AVEVA, customers can rely on consistent customer support along with new cloud, subscription, product roadmap and data sharing options

Somebody once asked Dr. J. Patrick Kennedy, founder of OSIsoft and pioneer of the PI System, how long he had been receiving offers to acquire the company. The answer: just about the entire 40 years of its existence.

It wasn’t until 2020 that Kennedy felt he had found the right buyer, choosing to join forces with AVEVA. The global industrial software leader’s scale, complementary portfolio and long-term focus on customer value would be the ideal fit to take the PI System business, technology and people forward.

Dr. J. Patrick Kennedy, founder of OSIsoft, Peter Herweck, CEO of AVEVA, and Jean-Pascal Tricoire, Chairman & CEO of Schneider Electric discuss the PI System.

So, what can you expect from the PI System in 2021 and beyond?

Some things won’t change

1. Customer support you can count on

Some PI System customers were bracing for possible disruptions in day-to-day software operations — only to find that the post-integration customer experience is refreshingly familiar.

Most are working with the same account manager and customer success manager (CSM). The same partners still provide specialized industry expertise, solutions and deployment support. Customers go to the same portal to get software updates, add users, and request support. The same support engineers still pride themselves on resolving technical challenges in the first call in most cases.

In fact, PI System customer surveys show satisfaction with CSMs increased from 4.71 (out of 5) in 2020 to 4.85 in 2021. CSMs continue to meet with customers regularly to understand their goals, and customize plans to help track and achieve them.

Naturally, organizations grow and change, and AVEVA will too. Expect to see AVEVA-branded portals and more opportunities to take advantage of complementary solutions. But the “no customer left behind” philosophy that has been at the foundation of the PI System since day one endures.

2. Mix and match solutions to meet unique needs

Industrial organizations often rely on a complex multi-vendor matrix of legacy and modern equipment, assets and systems. Keeping them all connected can be challenging. That’s why the PI System supports hundreds of interfaces, connectors and adapters for everything from decades-old equipment to the latest industrial internet of things (IIOT) protocols.

Like the PI System, the wider AVEVA portfolio is designed to coexist in an open ecosystem. Customers can continue to look forward to scalable vendor-neutral products that integrate easily with third-party tools and systems. Partners can continue to design value-added solutions that build on this open architecture.

3. Laser focus on solving the challenges of the industrial enterprise

As the industrial software market has evolved, many newer entrants are promoting solutions originally developed for general business and IT use cases.

While we will continue to help bridge the IT-OT-ET-divide, we remain grounded in operations and engineering reality.

AVEVA will continue to prioritize the unique needs of industrial organizations, which typically face extremely challenging capital expenses, regulatory pressures, precision requirements, harsh conditions and horizons measured in decades rather than quarters.

New opportunities on the horizon

4. Business agility

Some of the new options ahead are simple but powerful. For example, imagine having the flexibility to “turn down” certain software investments and “dial up” others to meet changing seasonal requirements of your business. With the AVEVA Flex subscription program, you can do just that.

AVEVA Flex isn’t a required option for your AVEVA software. However, it is a convenient way to reduce CAPEX costs, gain increased visibility into software use across your business, access premium services if you choose, and accelerate return on investment.

5. A supportive path to the hybrid cloud

Deciding the right pace and approach toward cloud adoption is highly individual, especially for critical industries.

There are undeniable cost, flexibility and sustainability advantages to managing workloads in the cloud. AVEVA research confirms that the pandemic accelerated this transition, as industrial organizations invested in cloud solutions that helped them retain operational agility and resilience.

On the other hand, navigating the unique regulatory, organizational change and physical and technology infrastructure requirements of an industrial enterprise is complex. Some businesses find that the latest “cloud-only” offerings in the market are simply unworkable in their current environments.

That’s why AVEVA offers flexible hybrid cloud solutions which can blend public and private cloud services along with on-premises infrastructure.

AVEVA Data Hub is a new integrated product, delivering the cloud-native operations data-sharing capabilities of OSIsoft Cloud Services (OCS) through the AVEVA Connect industrial cloud platform. Customers can use AVEVA Data Hub to aggregate, manage and securely share operational data from on-premises, edge and cloud-enabled assets.

6. An integrated product roadmap

Speaking of integrated products, one of the most popular sessions at AVEVA PI World Digital in October 2021 was the AVEVA roadmap update.

Company executives Rob McGreevy and Rónán de Hooge gave attendees a preview of what’s ahead for the combined product portfolio. Each brought a unique perspective: Rob is an AVEVA veteran who helped architect the OSIsoft acquisition, and Rónán spent 20 years helping to develop PI System technology before joining the AVEVA executive leadership team.

They explained that industry imperatives like sustainable energy transition, health and safety and digitalization will play a key role in our investments, alongside consumer trends such as personalization and remote work. Naturally the roadmap will also take advantage of critical technology enablers like AI and machine learning, IIoT, big data, extended reality and cybersecurity.

7. Connecting people with industrial intelligence

Industrial information – trusted data and insights from not only operations, but across every stage of the design, build, operate and maintain industrial lifecycle – will form the hub of the integrated AVEVA portfolio. Every AVEVA application will be able to contribute to and draw from this industrial information foundation.

Most importantly, AVEVA is working toward a vision of connecting people with industrial intelligence.

Today, you may be using the PI System or other AVEVA software to help optimize a particular asset, process or plant. In the future, we look forward to giving you the tools to collaborate even better, to optimize across your entire ecosystem of trusted suppliers, partners, regulators and customers and thrive in the connected industrial economy.