Old problems, new tools: why operational value is not keeping pace with innovation
The rapid development of AI, advanced analytics and connected technologies is expanding what industrial companies can understand, anticipate and improve in their operations. For executives deciding where to invest, this raises both expectations and scrutiny: which capabilities will deliver measurable value, and what will it take to move beyond successful pilots?
The opportunity is to make progress on problems that have resisted years of investment and improvement, from serious risk and recurring asset failures to persistent productivity losses.
Gartner forecast worldwide AI spending to grow 47% in 2026.1
Of organisations had successfully scaled AI across multiple business units.2
¹ Gartner, “Gartner Forecasts Worldwide AI Spending to Grow 47% in 2026”, 19 May 2026. ² Gartner, September 2026
Organisations are investing more than ever in AI, advanced analytics and connected technologies. Yet measurable operational results remain difficult to achieve at scale. Four recurring realities explain why the gap between technology investment and business value persists.
Spend is exploding, outcomes aren’t.
Pilots that worked at one site, with one team and one vendor, never reached the second site or the numbers the board looks at. They die on the way from lighthouse to enterprise, for organisational reasons.
Not a technology programme.
The models and sensors are purchasable by anyone. What is scarce is turning them into a different way of running the operation: which losses get attention, what data people trust and who owns the outcome.
Take the toolkit to the last mile.
The test is the moment the operator is about to do the task: does the toolkit surface the risk and the critical control right there? Frontline adoption is decided in routines, supervision and trust.
Focus investment where value is at stake.
Greater precision on which problems warrant attention, where expertise has the greatest effect and which interventions deliver measurable value, without adding more systems, controls or complexity.
Focus innovation on operational problems with material consequences: serious incidents, recurring reliability losses, persistent variability, and energy and material waste. Define the outcome, the value at stake and who is accountable for delivering it.
Use broader datasets and benchmarks to uncover patterns and test assumptions. Bring the experience of leaders, specialists and frontline teams to interpreting what those patterns mean and deciding how to respond.
Use new capabilities to identify which signals require attention and where intervention will have the greatest effect. Build the changes into operating routines, and examine where accumulated processes and requirements consume capacity without improving performance.
See how data, operational expertise and frontline adoption come together in practice.
40+ siloed data sources brought into one view of risk
Fragmented safety data was centralised through dss+360, revealing previously hidden high-potential risk areas and supporting a unified risk-based roadmap across five sites.
On-the-floor coaching, structured leadership routines and dss+360 visibility on leading indicators were combined to strengthen risk identification and establish a consistent operating rhythm.
<5% of safety observations addressed top fatal risks
More than a million safety records were consolidated and analysed through dss+360, exposing misaligned safety efforts and helping redirect resources to the highest-risk activities.
dss+ combines deep operational and risk expertise with proprietary benchmark data, advanced analytics and experience in culture and capability development.
We work with leaders and teams on the ground to identify where value is at stake, understand what is shaping performance and translate insight into changes in decisions, routines and ways of working. Human judgement and frontline adoption are central to that work.
Our point of view examines how industrial companies can use new capabilities to address persistent operational challenges, strengthen serious-risk prevention and improve the deployment of human expertise and effort.
Read the point of view