Why does Operational Technology Matters Today?
Imagine industrial systems where machines predict failures before they occur, energy grids adjust dynamically to demand, and supply chains adapt to disruptions in real time. As digital transformation accelerates across industries, Operational Technology (OT) has become a critical infrastructure for sectors like manufacturing, energy, utilities, transportation, and logistics. From managing production lines and robotics to automating HVAC and SCADA systems, OT handles essential, real-time operations.
Historically, these systems ran in isolation, using proprietary networks with minimal connectivity to IT environments. However, with the emergence of IoT, edge computing, and Industry 4.0, the boundary between IT and OT is blurring.
Integrating OT with IT enables real-time monitoring, operational intelligence, and enterprise-wide visibility. For enterprises aiming to modernize and future-proof operations, bridging OT and IT is the right choice.
What are the Key Advantages of Integrating Operational Technology?
While there are several benefits of Operational Technology integration, achieving them across the enterprise requires a platform that can securely connect industrial assets with IT systems.
ServiceNow Operational Technology offers this solution, enabling enterprises to unify OT and IT environments under a single system to record, automate operations, and drive smarter decision-making.
By extending its capabilities into the OT, enterprises can achieve greater visibility, control, and coordination across operational workflows.
1. Centralized Monitoring of OT Assets in Real Time
ServiceNow expands its CMDB (Configuration Management Database) to include OT assets, allowing enterprises to build an in-depth digital inventory of both IT and operational infrastructure. This helps in real-time monitoring and better control of industrial environments. Key features include:
- Representation of asset relationships, dependencies, and service impact within a single unified service map.
- Integration with ServiceNow Event Management and AIOps for continuous monitoring of asset health, fault detection, and performance analytics.
- Centralized dashboards that provide plant managers, operations teams, and IT staff with a shared view of all monitored systems.
2. Predictive Maintenance and Asset Reliability
ServiceNow enables enterprises to integrate operational data into asset and maintenance workflows, supporting predictive maintenance that reduces downtime and enhances reliability. This helps enterprises reduce unplanned downtime and improve asset performance through timely interventions. With ServiceNow, enterprises can:
- Automatically trigger work orders when sensor readings exceed predefined thresholds or when anomalies are detected.
- Use AI models to assess asset health, estimate remaining useful life (RUL), and prioritize maintenance activities.
- Coordinate maintenance teams through ServiceNow Field Service Management1 (FSM), optimizing technician schedules, inventory usage, and site visits.
- Analyze historical repair trends and performance logs to continuously refine predictive maintenance strategies.
3. Unified OT-IT Ecosystems
One of the most significant challenges in OT integration is the lack of interoperability between industrial systems and enterprise platforms. ServiceNow addresses this issue by integrating data integration and workflow management between OT and IT environments. The capabilities that support this integration include:
- Gathering real-time data from OT systems from control systems such as SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition), DCS (Distributed Control System), and MES (Manufacturing Execution System) into the CMDB and other ServiceNow applications using Service Graph Connectors.
- By linking operational data to business applications like ERP, SCM, and EAM, organizations can improve demand forecasting, optimize inventory, and streamline resource planning.
- Implementation of standardized naming conventions, data models, and metadata tagging across all asset types.
- Support for bi-directional data flows that allow business applications to interact with real-time data.
Also, read What is the difference between OT & IT?
4. Automated Compliance and Threat Response
OT environments are increasingly connected to enterprise networks, making them vulnerable to cybersecurity risks. At the same time, enterprises are facing strict regulatory guidelines to ensure the safety, traceability, and integrity of industrial operations.
ServiceNow enhances security and compliance across OT systems in the following ways:
- Centralized logging and tracking configuration changes, access events, and system anomalies for audit and compliance reporting.
- Integration with ServiceNow Security Incident Response (SIR) and third-party SIEM solutions for real-time threat detection and coordinated incident management.
- Enforcement of Zero Trust principles, including role-based access control (RBAC), identity verification, and network segmentation across industrial assets.
- Automated alerts and workflows for addressing regulatory violations, environmental non-compliance, or unauthorized activity.
- Deployment of consistent governance policies across multiple facilities and geographies, reducing variability and ensuring adherence to global standards.
These capabilities help industrial enterprises protect critical infrastructure and maintain compliance with sector-specific regulations such as NERC CIP, ISO 27001, or OSHA.
5. Operational Efficiency and Cost Optimization
ServiceNow enhances operational efficiency by digitizing manual processes, automating routine tasks, and providing intelligent decision-making throughout an asset's lifespan. This not only cuts costs but also increases the agility of industrial operations.
ServiceNow improves efficiency by following ways:
- Automated process control adjustments based on live sensor feedback to reduce waste, increase throughput, and stabilize performance.
- Integration with energy management systems to track consumption, identify inefficiencies, and apply cost-cutting steps during off-peak hours.
- Use AI-powered analytics to quickly recognize patterns, optimize workflows, and recommend corrective actions in real-time.
- Monitoring and support capabilities that reduce the need for on-site personnel, particularly valuable in hazardous or remote environments.
The benefits include:
- Reduced operating expenses (OPEX) through automation and energy savings.
- Increase asset utilization and workforce productivity.
- Improved agility when responding to market fluctuations or supply chain disruptions.
- Measurable improvements in KPIs such as yield, uptime, and process cycle times.
Also, read 5 Strategies to Enhance OT Security
Conclusion
From predictive maintenance to unified asset visibility, the benefits go far beyond efficiency gains. OT-IT integration creates a connected enterprise that can adapt quickly, operate securely, and scale with intelligence.
By leveraging solutions like ServiceNow Operational Technology Management, enterprises can break silos between physical operations and digital systems. This creates a single source of truth across assets and workflows, enabling smarter decisions and better outcomes.
As industries continue to evolve, integrating OT results gives resilience and a competitive advantage. Now is the time to align your operational workflow with your digital strategy.
Partner with inMorphis to accelerate your OT-IT integration journey using ServiceNow. Let’s turn your operations into measurable business outcomes.
