Asset Performance Management (APM) Trends – Verdantix & GE Digital

All Right, Good Morning, Good Evening, Good Afternoon Everybody

Thank you for attending today. We have a really great session coming up here for the next hour with Kieran from our analyst firm Verdantics who works in the APM space, and then Vipin Nair from our product team who leads APM products. My name is Ryan, and I am our director of project marketing for Asset Performance Management as well. Today, what we’re going to do is really talk through a few different areas and topics with you. The first being Verdantics and how the evolution of the APM Market has changed the green quadrant which came out in 2022. Kieran will take us through that and talk about the scoring models of methodology, and then Vipin will talk through our APM roadmap and why we support how we scored and where we’re going throughout the presentation. Feel free to ask questions in real time within the interface. We’ll try to save them for the last 15 minutes for Q&A to make sure that we’re answering any questions that aren’t answered during this session. We’ll make sure we follow up and get you those answers via email as necessary. So, what I’ll do is I’ll hand it over to Kieran again. Really great to have you on, and we’ll get right into it.

The Evolution of the APM Market

In order to understand the current state of the APM market, it’s important to first define what APM is. APM, or Asset Performance Management, is an industrial software application and its associated asset content that monitors asset performance, predicts failures, and synchronizes with IoT and OT systems to generate insights that help optimize production, reliability, maintenance, and environmental KPIs.

Traditionally, APM was seen as a maintenance tool, focused on solving maintenance challenges and reducing costs. However, the APM market has evolved over the years to incorporate use cases beyond maintenance. APM now covers asset overall process and plant performance objectives, as well as sustainability-related KPIs. This shift in focus has led to a broader range of stakeholders and users interacting with APM tools, including data engineers, data scientists, production planners and managers, and sustainability experts.

While maintenance is still a key aspect of APM, firms are now looking to expand their APM capabilities to cover full plant operations and sustainability. This shift is driven by the need to reduce costs through digital solutions, improve performance and sustainability metrics, and meet environmental regulations and sustainability goals.

The APM market is experiencing healthy growth rates, with a forecasted market size of $5 billion by 2026. This growth can be attributed to several key drivers, including the need to reduce costs, improve asset reliability and uptime, enable digital transformation, centralize data and systems, and address sustainability goals.

According to a survey conducted by Verdantics, the importance of factors driving investment in industrial asset management software includes reducing maintenance costs, minimizing downtime, using more digital technology, and the push from executives. Sustainability-related factors, such as replacing aging assets and reducing emissions, are also high-value investment initiatives for many firms.

When it comes to actual software investments, the survey revealed that the top use cases for APM tools include asset health monitoring, reliability analysis, failure prediction, and integrity management. These use cases highlight the growing importance of APM in optimizing asset performance and supporting sustainability initiatives.

The Verdantics Green Quadrant for APM

The Verdantics Green Quadrant is a benchmarking report that analyzes prominent vendors in the APM market. The report evaluates vendors based on their capabilities and market momentum. The capabilities are divided into technical and functional categories, focusing on software architecture, data capture, integrations, and core APM use cases. The market momentum assesses vendor presence, partnerships, acquisitions, financial resources, and customer attention.

Based on the Green Quadrant analysis, GE Digital emerged as a market leader in the APM space. GE Digital received top scores for reliability, integrity management, and asset criticality analysis. The company’s offerings were recognized for their robust capabilities, strong market presence, and ability to optimize inspection strategies and compliance governance.

GE Digital’s APM suite includes reliability management, maintenance optimization, asset strategy tools, and asset health modules. These solutions enable users to optimize maintenance strategies, collect and analyze data, and monitor asset health. GE Digital is also focused on partnerships with companies like Stork, Visionize, TrendMiner, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) to enhance its offerings and provide a comprehensive APM ecosystem.

GE Digital’s Roadmap and Future Developments

GE Digital is committed to continuous innovation and addressing the evolving needs of the APM market. The company has recently released version B5 of its APM suite, introducing new capabilities such as mobile inspection for paperless data collection, interactive 2D visualization, and improved automation of analytics workflows.

In addition to enhancing its existing reliability and integrity solutions, GE Digital is also focusing on new product lines to support energy transition and decarbonization efforts. The company is developing an Enterprise Carbon Management application to collect, aggregate, and report CO2 emissions data, enabling organizations to prepare for a greener future and achieve Net Zero goals. GE Digital is also working on fleet orchestration capabilities to provide better predictions on energy market conditions and help reduce costs and emissions.

GE Digital’s roadmap includes a holistic approach to asset management, from operationalizing the plant to optimizing the entire process and transforming the enterprise. The company is investing in new technologies like 3D visualization, AI, and ML to enable better insights and decision-making. Additionally, GE Digital is actively partnering with industry leaders and leveraging its ecosystem to deliver comprehensive solutions for energy transition and sustainability.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Why are some vendors missing from the Green Quadrant, such as AspenTech, Emerson, Hexagon, and IFS?

A: The inclusion of vendors in the Green Quadrant is based on several factors, including their capabilities, market presence, and participation in the benchmarking process. While some vendors may be leaders in their respective fields, they may not have met the inclusion criteria or participated in the benchmarking process at the time of the report. Additionally, the Green Quadrant is a snapshot in time, and the market landscape may have changed since the report was published.

Q: How does APM help in reducing real costs, not just cost avoidance?

A: APM offers several benefits that can help reduce real costs in addition to cost avoidance. While predicting failures and avoiding downtime is one aspect of APM, optimizing asset strategies and improving operational efficiency can lead to significant cost savings. By leveraging APM tools, organizations can optimize maintenance activities, reduce unnecessary overhauls, improve energy efficiency, and make data-driven decisions that result in tangible cost reductions.

Q: What are the future developments and focus areas for GE Digital’s APM solutions?

A: GE Digital is continuously investing in its APM solutions to meet the evolving needs of the market. The company is focusing on two key areas: Enterprise Carbon Management and Fleet Orchestration. The Enterprise Carbon Management application aims to help organizations collect, aggregate, and report CO2 emissions data, enabling them to prepare for a greener future and achieve Net Zero goals. Fleet Orchestration capabilities will leverage AI and ML to provide better predictions on energy market conditions, helping organizations reduce costs and emissions. These developments align with GE Digital’s commitment to energy transition and sustainability.

Q: How does GE Digital plan to address the increasing complexity and volatility of the market?

A: GE Digital recognizes the need for a step change in software workflows and systems to manage the increasing complexity and volatility of the market. The company is investing in new product lines and partnerships to enable a successful energy transition. By focusing on operationalizing the plant, optimizing the process, and transforming the enterprise, GE Digital aims to provide comprehensive solutions that address the challenges of the market. Additionally, the company is actively working on enhancing its software infrastructure, leveraging cloud technologies, and adopting modernization strategies to ensure scalability, flexibility, and efficiency.

Q: How does GE Digital’s APM suite integrate with other systems and data sources?

A: GE Digital’s APM suite is designed to integrate with various systems and data sources, including EAM/CMMS, time series historians, and edge devices. The suite can ingest data from these sources, analyze and visualize the data, and provide actionable insights. GE Digital’s infrastructure supports data centralization, allowing users to access and analyze data from multiple sources within a single system. This integration enables users to make informed decisions, optimize asset performance, and improve overall operational efficiency.

Q: What are the key focus areas for GE Digital’s future developments?

A: GE Digital’s future developments will focus on enabling energy transition and decarbonization efforts. The company is investing in Enterprise Carbon Management to help organizations collect, aggregate, and report CO2 emissions data. This will enable organizations to prepare for a greener future and achieve Net Zero goals. Additionally, GE Digital is working on fleet orchestration capabilities to provide better predictions on energy market conditions and help organizations reduce costs and emissions. These developments align with the industry’s increasing focus on sustainability and environmental performance.