The IT/OT Insider Podcast with David and Willem

(Our topic. Our tone. Sponsored by Cumulocity *) It’s episode 50 (🎉) of the podcast, and we’re only now getting to IIoT platforms . We sat down with Jürgen Krämer , Chief Product Officer and Managing Director at Cumulocity . Cumulocity is an IIoT platform with currently more than 25 million connected devices, three billion messages processed per day, and a roster of customers that includes wind e...

Before we start… We started our 4th IT/OT Academy two weeks ago. Last week and this week we’ll talk about architectural typicals for different use cases, dissect vendor diagrams and step into organizational dynamics with our Cooperation Models. All while our students can network and learn from each other . The next Academy kicks off September 18 and our early bird offer is open . Are you intereste...

Before we start… We just started our 4th IT/OT Academy last week. The next one kicks off September 18 and our early bird offer is open . Are you interested in joining? Claim your seat early enough, because the first registrations are already in 🙂 🙋 Join the ITOT.Academy (new cohort in September ) → And… have you already pre-ordered our IT/OT Handbook? If so, don’t forget to register to receive y...

(Our topic. Our tone. Sponsored by dataPARC *) Back to our regular schedule, finally. Hannover Messe is in the rear-view mirror, the noise is fading, and we’re easing into one podcast a week again. To get us going, we sat down with Kevin Jones, Director of Partner and Product Strategy at dataPARC , for a conversation that took us all the way back to 1981 — and somehow ended up in a control room in...

In this episode of our podcast, David sits down (again 😀) with Aron Semle , CTO at HighByte , for a follow-up conversation roughly a year after our first podcast together . A lot has changed in a year. When we last spoke, Industrial DataOps was still a concept many people needed convincing about. AI was already making waves, but the link between data foundations and AI readiness wasn’t as obvious...

Three years ago, over a glass of wine during summer break, we decided to start writing. No business plan, no editorial calendar — just a shared frustration that the conversation around IT and OT in manufacturing was either too technical or too abstract. We wanted something in between. Something practical, honest, and maybe a little opinionated. This week, we are publishing our hundredth piece of c...

📣 A quick reminder before we start: Our next ITOT.Academy kicks off in May, and our early bird offer is available once more. Want to join our fourth group and learn how to bridge IT and OT? There is no better time than now! 👉 Check the curriculum & enrol via ITOT.Academy 👉 If you’ve been following our blog and podcast, you know we spend most of our time in what we call the IT/OT zone: data plat...

In this episode, Wybren van der Meer, a strategic data consultant, discusses the importance of data governance in industrial settings. He shares insights from his background in physics and experience in data management, emphasizing the need for a clear definition of data governance, the evolution of data practices in industry, and the role of trust and reliability in data management. The conversat...

Welcome to the first IT/OT Insider Podcast of 2026! We’re kicking off the year with someone who’s done it all: refineries, equipment reliability, process safety, even the postal industry (and found data at the heart of every role). Kris Doering recently joined SaskEnergy, a government-owned natural gas transportation company in Saskatchewan, where he works on system modelling and asset planning. B...

Some guests make you pause halfway through the recording and think, “Okay… this one’s going to need a second listen.” That was the case with Dan Jeavons , president of Applied Computing , formerly VP of Computational Science and Digital Innovation at Shell — and one of the people who has quite literally been shaping how data, AI, and physics come together in industry. From ERP Reports to Foundatio...

Today’s guest has lived what most companies are still figuring out: how to turn fragmented systems, manual Excel work, and well-intended “shadow IT” into a coherent Industrial DataOps strategy that actually delivers value. In this episode of the IT/OT Insider Podcast , we sat down with Rija Rakotoarisoa , Group IT Operations & Industry 4.0 Lead at Poclain Hydraulics, a French (international) indep...

📣 A quick reminder before we start: Our next ITOT.Academy kicks off on January 23, and our early bird offer is still available. Do you want to join our third group and learn how to bridge IT and OT? There is no better time than now! 👉 Check the curriculum on ITOT.Academy or in this previous article . When Anton Melander joined Northvolt in 2018, the company had around 100 employees and zero fact...

In our earlier articles, we laid the groundwork for Industrial AI — breaking down the difference between classic AI, generative AI, and agentic AI. But frameworks alone don’t tell the full story. How do these ideas play out when you’re inside a real industrial company, tasked with building teams, getting budget, and making data actually deliver value? For that perspective, we sat down with Nathali...

When we talk about industrial connectivity, two names always come up: OPC UA and MQTT . They’re often mentioned in the same breath, as if they’re competitors. But as Kudzai Manditereza reminded us in our conversation, that’s a bit of a misconception. These protocols solve different problems, and understanding their history helps explain why they’re both so important today. OPC UA: From Printer Dri...

When Zev Arnold joined us on the podcast, he brought with him the kind of energy and clarity you rarely get from someone working at the intersection of industry, data, and transformation. As a principal director at Accenture’s Industry X , Zev has spent years working with oil & gas, utilities, mining, and life sciences companies—not just helping them digitize, but helping them make that digitizati...

📣 Have you already considered joining our ITOT.Academy ? We tell stories . We focus on concepts , not tools. On frameworks , not features.👉 Check out our podcast to learn more ! If you’re still thinking of OT cybersecurity as “just” another IT checklist item, it’s time to rethink the whole game. In this episode of the IT/OT Insider podcast, David is joined by Danielle Jablanski — cybersecurity s...

In this episode of the IT/OT Insider Podcast, we welcome someone who doesn’t come from cloud platforms, data infrastructure, or connectivity layers. Instead, he brings something equally vital: operational wisdom . Raf Swinnen has spent his career inside factories. From Procter & Gamble to Kellogg's , and later Danone , Raf worked at the intersection of operations and transformation, guiding teams...

📣 Quick note before we dive into all things open source: In our last episode , we announced the launch of the ITOT.Academy : a live on-line learning experience for professionals navigating the complex world of IT/OT collaboration. Our early bird seats are filling up fast . If you’re serious about gaining practical skills (not just theory), now’s the time to secure your spot. Don’t wait too long,...

Discover the program and claim your seat here: https://itot.academy   🎙️ In this special episode of the IT/OT Insider Podcast, David and Willem officially announce the launch of the ITOT.Academy ! After years of conversations with IT/OT professionals, consultants, and technology vendors, one thing became clear: there’s a huge need for practical, vendor-neutral education to help people work togethe...

It is episode 31 and we’re finally tackling a topic that somehow hadn’t made the spotlight yet: IoT . And we couldn’t have asked for two better guests to help us dive into it: Olivier Bloch and Ryan Kershaw . This is not your usual shiny, buzzword-heavy conversation about the Internet of Things. Olivier and Ryan bring decades of hands-on experience from both sides of the IT/OT divide: Olivier from...

Today, we have the pleasure of speaking with Nikki Gonzales , Director of Business Development at Weintek USA , co-founder of the Automation Ladies podcast, and co-organizer of OT SCADA CON —a conference focused on the gritty, real-world challenges of industrial automation. Unlike many of our guests who often come from cloud-first , data-driven digitalization backgrounds, Nikki brings a refreshing...

Welcome to another episode of the IT/OT Insider Podcast . Today, we’re diving into the world of Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) and Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM) with Matt Barber , VP & GM MES at Infor . With over 15 years of experience , Matt has helped companies worldwide implement MES solutions, and he’s now on a mission to educate the world about MES through his website, MESM...

In this episode of the IT/OT Insider Podcast, where we’re taking a short detour from our usual deep dives into industrial things to explore something broader-but equally vital: how enterprises evolve . We’re joined by Stephen Fishman and Matt McLarty , authors of the book Unbundling the Enterprise , published by IT Revolution. Stephen is North America Field CTO at Boomi, and Matt is the company’s...

Welcome to another episode of the IT/OT Insider Podcast . Today, we’re diving into visibility, traceability, and real-time analytics with Tim Butler, CEO and founder of Tego . For the last 20 years , Tego has been specializing in tracking and managing critical assets in industries like aerospace, pharmaceuticals, and energy . The company designed the world’s first rugged, high-memory passive UHF R...

Welcome to the final episode of our special Industrial DataOps podcast series . And what better way to close out the series than with Dominik Obermaier , CEO and co-founder of HiveMQ —one of the most recognized names when it comes to MQTT and Unified Namespace (UNS) . Dominik has been at the heart of the MQTT story from the very beginning—contributing to the specification, building the company fro...