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A privately owned Canadian conglomerate has diverse operations across forestry, agriculture, consumer products, transportation, shipbuilding, retail, construction, and energy. Their commitment is to prioritize manufacturing uptime and throughput.
- IT primarily viewed as a cost center
- Operational performance and risk not consistently measured against IT spend
- Resource limits and fragmented procurement raised risk and drove downtime losses of $2M+
- Embedded SecureOT™ solution suite into day-to-day operations
- Reframed OT security investment as profit protection and operational enablement through quantified ROI
- Aligned IT infrastructure with profit center objectives by standardizing and safeguarding OT environments for uninterrupted operations
- Reduced production risk by reducing unplanned downtime across OT environments
- Allowed short-handed OT to refocus on core operational and high-value activities
- Kept costs predictable through five-year fixed pricing model
- Improved visibility and readiness with secure reporting, remote access, monitoring, and endpoint protection
Challenge
OT Security Viewed as Outside of Operations
A privately owned Canadian conglomerate historically viewed IT infrastructure investments as cost-center expenses rather than contributors to operational performance. This meant these decisions were treated as commodity purchases and IT spend was not consistently evaluated in terms of its impact on uptime, yield, or production continuity.
This created an operational disconnect. While profit centers measured success and revenue generation, the underlying technology required to sustain those outcomes was not aligned with operational KPIs.
Downtime Risk Exceeded Available Resources
The organization also faced growing resource and risk constraints. Limited internal staff were responsible for managing integration, updates, and security across increasingly complex OT environments. Fragmented procurement models that spanned multiple vendors, warranties, and staging requirements further increased the likelihood of disruption and prolonged recovery times. OT engineers were also diverted from core plant operations to manage IT-related tasks, which reduced focus on activities that drove production performance.
Most critically, unplanned downtime posed significant financial and operational threats. Production losses, idle labor, restart and repair costs, wasted materials, and potential contractual penalties could escalate quickly.
The total impact of downtime-related incidents ranged from tens of thousands of dollars to upwards of $2M. The company needed a way to help reduce downtime risk, protect output, and stabilize operations without adding complexity or strain on already limited resources.
Solution
OT Security Embedded into Operations
To reduce downtime risk and protect production continuity, the conglomerate implemented SecureOT™ solution suite as an integrated part of its operational environment. Rather than treating OT security as a standalone IT initiative, the company deployed SecureOT™ Platform directly into plant operations. This in turn aligned infrastructure and security with manufacturing uptime, throughput, and output goals.
This approach shifted OT security from a reactive safeguard to proactive operational control. SecureOT™ Platform was designed to support production reliability while limiting disruption to day-to-day plant activities. This helped systems remain available, supported, and resilient across industrial environments.
Result
Production Risk Reduced and Output Protected
By embedding SecureOT™ Platform into its operations, the conglomerate significantly reduced its risk to production across managed OT environments. They recorded zero unplanned downtime or security breaches within those environments.
This outcome reinforced OT security as a core operational safeguard. It directly supported uptime, throughput, and consistent production across diverse manufacturing operations.
Operational Focus Restored Across IT and OT Teams
The deployment relieved the internal resource strain by removing the need for engineers to manage routine security, updates, and infrastructure maintenance. Short-handed teams were able to refocus on core operational responsibilities and high-value activities that directly supported plant performance. In tandem, IT remained focused on supporting IT functions.
Predictable Costs and Improved Operational Visibility
The conglomerate achieved long-term cost predictability through a fixed five-year pricing model, reducing budget volatility tied to critical OT infrastructure. Enhanced reporting capabilities allowed leadership to quickly visualize operational status, ROI, and potential risk factors, which supported more informed decision-making.
In parallel, optimized and readily available compute environments made it easier to integrate new technologies into the OT environment. Secure remote access, monitoring tools, and endpoint protection were deployed without disrupting production. This created a stable, future-ready foundation for continued operational improvement.
Published May 18, 2026