PartnerTalk: Industrial data has commitment issues – Here’s how AVEVA and Microsoft fix it

Posted: November 19, 2025

AI is reshaping industrial business, but most companies face one barrier: outdated data infrastructure.

Organizations across energy, manufacturing, chemicals, life sciences, mining, and critical infrastructure operate on decades of layered systems – SCADA, historians, ERP, and countless databases built for reliability and compliance, not AI.

The challenge isn't replacing them – it's unlocking their data through secure integration with cloud-native architectures to scale, innovate, and accelerate AI operations.

Over the years, I've seen AI projects succeed – and falter. The failures often share the same root causes: industrial IT (OT) and enterprise IT teams working in silos; chasing the next shiny technology without building the right foundations; and treating industrial time-series data as if it were just another enterprise dataset—ignoring its operational context and physical-world specificity.

In truth, streaming industrial data is the heartbeat of operations—and demands a fundamentally different approach.

Radical collaboration for industrial AI: AVEVA + Microsoft

I believe radical collaboration has never been more critical than today to enable AI that is trustworthy, scalable, and grounded in industrial realities.

Our partnership with Microsoft exemplifies this. Together, we help customers build industrial AI roadmaps grounded in domain expertise, operational realities, and shared innovation.

Here’s how AVEVA’s Noel Phillips, Senior Vice President, Americas, puts it: “We’ve learned that the future of industrial AI isn’t about forcing new technology into old systems, it’s about leveraging existing investments while helping customers imagine what comes next. Across the world, critical operations continue to run in tightly segmented, on-premise environments, delivering essential functions for very good business reasons. AVEVA brings deep industrial data-management expertise, while Microsoft brings cloud and AI leadership. Together, through our bold partnership, we’re unifying these worlds and unlocking data that has been untapped in those segments for decades. Leaders like  Dominion Energy  , among many others, are proving what’s possible in transforming data into intelligence that powers the next era of industrial innovation.”

Co-development in action: AI that solves real problems

Together, we’re modernizing critical operations – tackling challenges in supply chains, resource optimization, and carbon reduction. But technology alone isn't enough.

With 31% of US service engineers over 55 and 82% of manufacturing exits due to retirement, organizations risk losing 70% of undocumented knowledge. This drives downtime, slower onboarding, and operational risk. Modernizing knowledge transfer alongside AI is critical for continuity and growth.

Our Industrial AI Assistant is a key fruit of our ongoing collaboration – it’s part of CONNECT Visualization Services and powered by Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service. Engineers can ask it complex questions in natural language, and it delivers context-aware answers from source data – enabling faster, smarter decisions.

Real-world impact

Here are recent examples of how radical collaboration with Microsoft is driving transformation across industries:

Methanex: AI-powered global operations excellence

Methanex, the world’s largest methanol producer, implemented the CONNECT Industrial Intelligence platform, built on Azure, to unify vast operational data from six countries, enabling AI agents and ML models to deliver real-time insights for faster, smarter decision-making at scale.

By leveraging AI, Methanex achieved faster, data-driven decisions, significantly reduced integration costs and complexity, and improved plant performance through predictive analytics.

Nestlé: Intelligent manufacturing improves consumer experience

Nestlé partnered with AVEVA to enhance the manufacturing of Nesquik and Ovaltine, addressing inefficiencies in manual agglomeration. By implementing CONNECT and AVEVA Historian, Nestlé leveraged real-time analytics and AI-driven optimization to intelligently adjust powder characteristics, improving consistency and reducing waste.

User-friendly dashboards integrated with SCADA systems enabled predictive analytics and seamless deployment of no-code models. Azure enables rapid global deployment, allowing Nestlé to scale improvements across facilities efficiently.

As a result, Nestlé achieved a 10% reduction in powder waste – equivalent to saving one jar for every ten produced, alongside improved product uniformity, reduced spillage, and faster global scalability.

Industry recognition: A shared achievement

Just days ago, AVEVA was honoured with the 2025 Microsoft Manufacturing Partner of the Year award — a prestigious recognition that honors our unwavering commitment to innovation and excellence. This award highlights AVEVA’s leadership in delivering transformative industrial and manufacturing solutions powered by Microsoft Azure and highlights our ability to drive meaningful outcomes through innovative technology and customer-centric implementation.

Together, AVEVA and Microsoft are building smarter, safer, and more connected industries—and learning from each other every step of the way. That’s the spirit of radical collaboration.

This achievement is not the finish line—it’s a launchpad. I say this to our teams: Your work is transforming how industrial organizations harness data and AI. Every customer success story strengthens an ecosystem where partners and customers thrive together. Let’s accelerate even further, shaping the future of industrial AI and creating value that resonates across the entire industry.

Let’s keep the conversation going. Connect with me on LinkedIn. I’d love to hear your thoughts and what topics you’d like to see explored in future blogs.