Que: What are the most noteworthy changes you've seen in how industries across energy, power, and infrastructure are approaching DX in recent years?

Ans: The most significant change in recent years is that digital transformation (DX) has progressed from being an IT project to a core boardroom strategy. This isn't just a simple evolution; it's a strategic pivot driven by a powerful convergence of India’s national ambitions and the urgent need to operate more efficiently. There is a profound shift in how industries approach technology, moving from isolated tools to integrated, intelligent ecosystems. A primary driver of DX today is the global push for green and sustainable energy. Industries are aggressively adopting digital solutions to manage the integration of renewable sources like solar and wind. This aligns directly with India’s goal to generate 50 percent of its electricity from non-fossil sources by 2030.

The challenge with renewables is managing their intermittency. This is where industrial intelligence becomes critical. We see companies using technologies like AI-driven forecasting and digital twins to optimise energy output and ensure grid stability. AI-driven systems, for instance, can predict fluctuations in electricity demand with up to 95 percent accuracy.

The adoption of technologies like AI, the Internet of Things (IoT), and cloud computing is accelerating and enabling a fundamental shift towards intelligent operations. Companies are moving beyond basic automation to predictive and optimised processes.

This translates into tangible outcomes like predictive maintenance, smarter grid management, and enhanced efficiency. For instance, AI-enabled predictive maintenance can reduce maintenance costs by up to 30 percent. and cut unplanned downtime by nearly half. On the operational side, we're seeing USD 1.4 trillion lost globally to unplanned downtime. Delays in bringing new assets online also have a cascade effect operations teams are forced to push existing equipment harder and longer than planned while waiting for new capacity.

This operational intelligence is also a powerful tool for decarbonisation. Global estimates show that digital solutions can help reduce emissions by up to 20 percent by 2050 in key sectors like energy and manufacturing —a massive opportunity for India’s industrial decarbonisation efforts.

Finally, the sheer complexity of modern energy and infrastructure systems means that collaboration is essential. The biggest breakthroughs happen when data and expertise flow freely across an ecosystem. This is why our vision at AVEVA is to provide the platform that empowers the entire industrial data economy.

Que: Many companies are struggling to balance compliance with productivity. How can digital transformation help bridge that gap?

Ans: Historically, the data needed for production has been kept separate from the data needed for environmental or safety reporting. This creates silos, extra work, and a disconnect between teams. Digital transformation can bridge the gap between compliance and productivity by automating compliance processes, improving data visibility and analysis, and streamlining workflows. This allows companies to reduce manual effort, minimize errors, and make more informed decisions, ultimately boosting overall productivity. To tackle rising costs and complexity, the smartest companies are implementing supply chain modelling and what-if analysis. Instead of reacting to disruptions, they're modelling different scenarios before they happen. Asset optimisation helps them get more from existing equipment rather than always buying new.

Manual compliance reporting is a major drain on productivity. It’s time-consuming, prone to human error, and pulls skilled workers away from their core tasks. This is where DX offers a clear solution. AI-powered analytics can automate the tracking, measuring, and optimising of key metrics, such as carbon emissions. Visualising this data makes it far easier to streamline compliance with regulatory frameworks. By automating this process, one not only improve the accuracy of reporting but also free up the workforce to focus on innovation and value-added activities that directly boost productivity.

Perhaps the most powerful shift is that digital tools turn compliance into an opportunity for improvement. The same AI that tracks emissions across a supply chain to meet ESG expectations also identifies operational inefficiencies and energy wastage. When one uses predictive analytics to optimise a process to reduce its environmental impact, they are often simultaneously cutting energy costs, reducing waste, and improving the overall output.

Que: The industrial sector is also facing a widening digital skills gap. What role can technology, especially AI and automation, play in overcoming workforce limitations in the region?

Ans: The common fear is that technology will replace jobs, but we see the opposite. The true role of technology, especially AI and automation, is in augmenting human capabilities and empowering the workforce to overcome these skills gaps. The workforce challenge is being tackled head-on with knowledge capture systems and AI assistance. Companies are systematically documenting tribal knowledge before it walks out the door - not just procedures, but the nuanced expertise about how equipment actually behaves, what warning signs to watch for, and the workarounds that keep operations running smoothly.

The most immediate impact of AI is its ability to act as a 'digital co-pilot' for the industrial worker. Rather than replacing human labour, AI is augmenting it. An operator doesn't need to become a data scientist to benefit from AI. Instead, the technology processes vast amounts of complex data from across a plant and provides clear, actionable insights. This empowers operators to make faster, better, and safer decisions, effectively democratising expertise across the organisation. It reduces repetitive tasks, allowing people to focus on higher-value problem-solving, which is a far more efficient use of their skills.

Technology can also dramatically shorten the learning curve for new and existing employees. Digital tools create immersive, safe environments for on-the-job training. For example, a new engineer can learn to operate a complex piece of machinery using a digital twin—a perfect virtual replica—without any risk to themselves or the live plant. This kind of simulation-based training supports continuous upskilling, allowing the workforce to adapt quickly as new technologies are introduced. It’s a far more agile and effective way to close the skills gap than traditional classroom methods alone.

Finally, addressing the skills gap requires a long-term strategy for the next generation. This is where collaboration between industry and academia is essential. At AVEVA, we focus heavily on these partnerships to help build human capital for the future. By embedding industrial software and digital skills directly into university curricula, we can empower future engineers and industrial professionals with the foundational knowledge they need before they even enter the workforce. This helps to build a sustainable talent pipeline and ensures that as India builds its green-collar workforce, AI emerges as a practical enabler of equitable, technology-driven jobs.

Que: How are AVEVA’s offerings enhancing operational agility and resilience, especially in sectors like renewable energy and smart grids?

Ans: Our technology builds agility and resilience by providing comprehensive operational intelligence. We do this by unifying data from thousands of diverse assets and systems—spanning both operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT)—into a single, trusted information environment. This allows companies to move beyond reacting to events and instead begin predicting and optimising future outcomes. In sectors as dynamic as renewable energy and as complex as smart grids, this capability is transformative.

The modern power sector faces a dual challenge: integrating vast, intermittent renewable energy sources while also managing the reliability of an often-aging infrastructure. This requires a new level of predictive insight to prevent downtime and ensure grid stability.

AVEVA’s solutions can help address this by creating a digital twin of a company's entire asset fleet. This virtual replica allows operators to monitor equipment health, run simulations, and test new strategies without any risk to physical operations. We combine this with predictive analytics, which uses AI to identify potential equipment failures days, weeks, or even months in advance. Technology such as digital twins has been a game-changer. Companies can now test modifications virtually before implementing them physically. Real-time visibility means operations teams aren't flying blind anymore. And predictive maintenance is shifting the conversation from 'when will this fail?' to 'how do we prevent failure in the first place?’

This approach has a global impact. EDF Renewables in North America uses the AVEVA PI System to monitor 16 gigawatts of solar and wind power. By combining this real-time data with weather forecasts, they make smarter maintenance decisions, leading to expected savings of USD 2 million per year. In India, Tata Power implemented our predictive analytics for a fleet-wide monitoring programme to improve equipment reliability and performance. This resulted in savings of almost USD 270,000 by providing early warnings before equipment failure.

For smart grids and intelligent infrastructure, agility comes from connecting disparate systems to enable collaboration across an entire ecosystem. Our platforms provide a unified view that breaks down operational silos, allowing for smarter, more coordinated decision-making. The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) uses our integrated command and control centre to connect everything from water usage to transport and health systems. This has enabled them to cut traffic emissions by over 22 percent, reduce water losses by more than 25 percent, and increase the response times of civic services by a factor of ten. This same model is central to the work at GIFT City, India’s first greenfield smart city, where our platform provides real-time data infrastructure for the centralised monitoring of all key utilities.

This connected approach can also open new commercial opportunities. US power leader Dominion Energy uses our software to securely share grid performance data with its customers, allowing them to verify their own sustainability commitments. This data-sharing strategy has not only improved customer satisfaction but has also opened a new revenue stream that boosted the company's profitability by over 10 percent.

Que: Looking ahead to 2030, what is your vision for how AVEVA will shape the future of digital industrial transformation in APAC?

Ans: Our vision is for AVEVA to be the indispensable partner for industrial transformation in the APAC region, empowering a connected ecosystem where data and AI drive a new era of responsible growth. The future is not about selling isolated software; it is about providing the platform that powers the entire industrial data economy.

The APAC region stands at a unique crossroads. The economic opportunity is immense, with the digital transformation market projected to reach USD 2.16 trillion by 2030. Nations like India are targeting ambitious goals like a USD 1 trillion export economy. Yet, this growth must be balanced against the urgent reality of climate change, with the region accounting for over half of the world's CO2 emissions.

By 2030, the most successful industrial enterprises will operate not in linear supply chains, but within dynamic, collaborative ecosystems. Our vision is to accelerate this shift. This will be enabled by CONNECT, our industrial intelligence platform designed to provide a holistic view of all industrial data—from on-premises to the cloud—in one place. Through this platform, we will break down the data silos that have traditionally separated engineering, operations, and performance management. This creates a unified digital backbone where information flows seamlessly between a company and its entire network of suppliers, partners, and customers. This level of collaboration is essential for building the resilience and agility needed to compete on a global scale.

The challenge for industry is not a lack of data, but the difficulty in using it at scale. Our vision is to embed Connected AI—AI that is infused with deep industrial context and human expertise—into the core of every operation. This is not generic AI; it is industry-specific intelligence that understands the intricacies of a power plant, a manufacturing facility, or a smart city.

By 2030, this will mean moving beyond isolated pilots to enterprise-wide intelligence that can:
• Predict outcomes: From identifying potential equipment failures months in advance to modelling the impact of supply chain disruptions.
• Optimise system-wide performance: Driving step-changes in productivity, efficiency, and sustainability that were previously unattainable.
• Augment the workforce: Empowering operators with AI-driven insights to make faster, safer, and more informed decisions, helping to bridge the region's digital skills gap.

Our greatest contribution to the region’s future will be our "handprint"—how our software enables our customers to become more sustainable. By 2030, we will be central to helping APAC industries meet their decarbonisation goals by accelerating efficiency in hard-to-abate sectors, facilitating the rapid design and scale-up of transition technologies and enabling innovation and development of new technologies like carbon capture and the circular economy.

This vision is already taking shape in India, which is a strategic hub for AVEVA. With 43 percent of our global development team based here, much of the innovation that will power this future is being built in India, for the world. Our Customer Experience Centre in Hyderabad is a testament to this commitment, providing a space for customers to experience these future technologies firsthand.

Ultimately, our vision is to help shape an industrial future for APAC that is not only more productive and profitable, but also fundamentally more resilient and sustainable.

Que: What new or upcoming technologies is AVEVA most excited about deploying in the region?

Ans: Our priority is focused on a new class of AI-infused solutions that integrate with and enhance our foundational industrial software. This is a key part of our "industrial intelligence" vision. The goal is to make these advanced capabilities accessible and practical, helping our customers in the APAC region tackle pressing challenges like decarbonisation, supply chain disruption, and labour gaps.

We are incredibly excited about the deployment of our recently launched Industrial AI Assistant. This is far more than a generic chatbot; it brings Generative AI and Large Language Model (LLM) capabilities directly into the industrial environment, running on the trusted, unified data within our CONNECT platform. We're open, neutral, and accessible. AVEVA supports existing investments - whether they're from customers, partners, or even competitors. We believe the best industrial intelligence comes from connecting everything, instead of overhauling existing processes and replacing what's working.

Instead of operators needing specialised skills to analyse complex data, they can now ask natural language questions. The Assistant can then generate expert guidance and even mandate actions based on its analysis of real-time and historical data. Our Vision AI Assistant, for example, has already helped our partner Schneider Electric prevent three full factory outages, saving significant costs and energy. This technology democratises data science, empowering the existing workforce and bridging skills gaps by making deep operational insights accessible to everyone.

Our R&D labs are also developing industrial agentic AI. This technology evolves AI from an assistant role to a proactive agent that can manage and optimise specific industrial processes within defined operational and safety boundaries. The objective for this technology is to manage the complex data flows of future green grids and enable the advanced process control needed for new energy sources like low-carbon hydrogen and carbon capture. This research and development is partly driven by our teams located in India.

The effectiveness of these new technologies depends on their integration into a unified data foundation. Our key differentiator is that we provide industry-specific, AI-enhanced solutions that draw on decades of domain experience. This enables a level of "fit-for-purpose" optimisation and accuracy that generic models cannot achieve. We are committed to deploying these innovations across APAC. Our Customer Experience Centre in Hyderabad serves as a hub where customers from the region can experience these technologies and collaborate with our R&D teams to co-innovate on solutions for their specific challenges.