The Impact of Integrating Information Technology With Operational Technology in Physical Assets: A Literature Review

Abstract

The convergence of information technology (IT) with operational technology (OT), within physical assets can enhance performance but also presents challenges due to higher performance expectations and increased complexity. This study reviews the research that has been conducted to address these convergence and integration challenges by using an in-depth review of academic papers, industry standards, and reports published during the last three decades. Our investigation reveals that about a third of the existing IT/OT research really focuses on the convergence of IT/OT, by including organizational aspects into the study. Three key research domains were identified: maintenance, cybersecurity, and configuration management. The introduction of IT in assets has necessitated changes in maintenance practices, as current approaches are not suitable for these converged lifecycles. Cybersecurity risks have received the most attention in the IT/OT domain. The integration requires the management of these changes; therefore, configuration management has become more crucial than it already is to keep of actual configuration of both the IT and the OT parts of the asset. This research hereby provides relevant observations for practitioners in industry and academics in the IT and the physical asset management domain. The identified gaps suggest the need for tools and methods to better align IT and OT standards, policies, tools, processes, and people throughout the lifecycle of an IT/OT converged physical asset in a sustainable way.

Keywords

• Asset management
• maintenance management
• maintenance engineering
• systems integration
• critical infrastructure
• software maintenance