Ceci n’est pas IT/OT Convergence

IT/OT convergence is evolving from an infrastructure challenge to a data-driven imperative—discover why true collaboration hinges on data integration, not just connectivity.

Do you know the famous painting by the Belgian surrealist René Magritte, La Trahison des Images (The Treachery of Images)? It’s the one with a pipe and the words "Ceci n’est pas une pipe"—"This is not a pipe." Magritte was making a simple but powerful point: while we recognize the image as a pipe, it isn’t a real pipe—it’s just a representation.

The same is true for IT/OT convergence. For years, companies have been talking about it, debating its merits, and setting up committees, task forces, and strategy decks. But is what they’re calling IT/OT convergence really what they think it is? Or are we still stuck in a surrealist illusion, thinking we’ve solved the challenge when in reality, we’ve just shifted the conversation?

Ceci n’est pas une pipe - This is not a Pipe - To be seen in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Source Wikipedia

The Evolution of IT/OT Convergence: From Infrastructure to Data

In the early days, IT/OT convergence was primarily an infrastructure challenge. It was about getting machines connected, securing industrial networks, and ensuring that critical operational data didn’t get stuck in silos. IT owned security, OT owned manufacturing data systems, and both functioned in parallel—cooperating when necessary but rarely integrating deeply.

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Industry 4.0 promised to change that. It was supposed to break down silos and make IT and OT work together seamlessly. But for a long time, it seemed like organizations were still operating in the old paradigm: IT handled the networks and security, while OT took care of production systems.

The result? A partial convergence, one that looked right on paper but still fell short in practice.

The Shift to Data Convergence

Today, the conversation has changed. IT/OT convergence isn’t just about infrastructure anymore—it’s about data. The real driver of collaboration isn’t just connectivity; it’s the recognition that data is a critical asset, and its management must be shared between IT, OT, and even newly emerging data teams.

A key indicator of this shift is the merging of IT and OT security roles. A decade ago, it was common to see separate accountability structures for IT security and OT security. Now, more and more companies are realizing that they need a unified approach. Cyber threats don’t care about organizational boundaries, and neither should security strategies.

Likewise, industrial data is increasingly becoming the responsibility of centralized data teams rather than solely OT specialists. Fueled by the AI hype of recent years, companies have finally acknowledged that reliable, structured data is a necessity—not an afterthought. But while this realization is universal, the starting point for each company is anything but.

Pioneers vs. Latecomers

Not all industries are approaching data convergence from the same vantage point. Some companies—especially in industries where SCADA, DCS, and historians have been in place for years—are building on existing investments. Their strategy is evolutionary: refine and expand the systems they already have. There is no point in throwing away these investments.

Others, however, are starting from scratch. These are often the industries or companies that historically lagged in OT data maturity—organizations that never had a centralized data platform because their operations relied on a sprawling landscape of PLCs without an overarching control system. For these companies, the priority is speed. They aren’t trying to incrementally improve an existing infrastructure; they’re looking for fast solutions to centralize and broker their data.

The Unified Namespace

The concept of the Unified Namespace (UNS) has gained traction as a way to centralize and standardize data access across industrial systems. By creating a single, structured data architecture that spans IT and OT, UNS emphasizes infrastructure convergence—making sure that all systems speak the same language and can exchange information efficiently.

However, while UNS dramatically improves data accessibility, it does not inherently solve the challenge of data usability. Having a well-structured, easily accessible stream of data does not guarantee that organizations will extract actionable insights or drive better decision-making. In other words, UNS ensures that data can flow freely, but it does not dictate how that data is used—a critical gap that companies must address by building strong governance, analytics capabilities, and cross-functional collaboration between IT, OT, and data teams.

This diagram shows the most important capabilities linked to the Unified Namespace in an Industrial Data Platform. Source: IT/OT Insider, feel free to reuse with reference to the author.

Are We There Yet?

So, has IT/OT convergence truly happened? Or are we still looking at the image of convergence rather than the real thing?

The reality is, while many organizations have technically integrated IT and OT, true collaboration still has a long way to go. The shift to data convergence is a step in the right direction, but it also brings new challenges:

• Who owns the data? IT, OT, or a new data organization?
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• How do we handle legacy systems? Should we replace them, or can they be modernized to fit into a data-driven strategy? Is the Unified Namespace more Infra Convergence or Data Convergence?

• How do we organize ourselves for success? Is there a “perfect” IT/OT organization? Or should we accept changing ways of working together.
  Later this year we will be publishing much more on this topic, but we already have a workshop available which can be booked!

Conclusion: The Path Forward

IT/OT convergence has been discussed for years, but only now are we beginning to see the true shape of the challenge. Companies that focus purely on connectivity and security without embracing data convergence risk getting stuck in the past.

The leaders of tomorrow will be those who go beyond infrastructure and into true data integration, treating IT and OT not as separate domains but as two sides of the same digital coin. The question isn’t whether convergence has happened—it’s whether we’re ready to see it for what it really is.

Further reading (contact us for updated insights, these articles are already over a year old, however, they still form a solid basis for organizational discussions):