Shifting the Focus in Industrial System Integration: Prioritizing Standards, Minimizing Tools, and Focusing on Process Expertise Over Multi-Vendor Tech Builds

Key takeaways to add customer value during software system integration:

• Understand why multi-vendor, tool-heavy integration approaches create long-term operational and maintenance challenges
• Shift system integration efforts toward process expertise rather than technology assembly
• Apply a minimal-toolset, standards-aware approach to reduce complexity and integration risk
• Strengthen domain knowledge to deliver more durable, high-value outcomes for clients
• Evaluate software tools based on their ability to support scalable, process-driven integration

Why Industrial System Integration Needs a Process-First Reset

In the era of Industry 4.0, industrial system integrators (SIs) grapple with escalating complexities, including integrating IoT, AI, cloud platforms, and legacy systems while battling project delays and escalating costs. A frequent misstep involves overemphasizing the integration of disparate technologies from multiple vendors, which diverts attention from what truly matters: optimizing the processes being monitored and controlled.

Instead, system integrators can select the fewest possible software tools, ideally from a single vendor, to minimize integration effort. This choice enables system integrators to focus their domain expertise on understanding and improving client processes, ultimately running operations more efficiently.

By prioritizing process improvement over technology assembly, system integrators can deliver sustainable value while reducing maintenance effort and improving return on investment.

The Current Challenge of Industrial System Integration

Industrial system integration involves linking hardware, software, and processes in sectors such as manufacturing, energy, and logistics to enable seamless automation and data-driven decision-making. However, the prevailing approach often prioritizes custom integrations of technologies from various vendors, leading to fragmented systems.

This multi-vendor, technology-first approach leads to several undesirable consequences: 

• Maintenance challenges: Software from different vendors requires ongoing updates, patches, and compatibility checks. Multi-vendor integrations can be fragile and may cause downtime. For example, a firmware update from one vendor can break integrations with another solution, demanding constant troubleshooting
• High costs and delays: Projects frequently overrun budgets by up to 45 percent and timelines by about 7 percent, according to research by McKinsey and the University of Oxford on large IT initiatives, which also found that many projects deliver significantly less value than originally predicted. Research on software project complexity further indicates that substantial developer effort is often consumed by integration challenges and quality remediation rather than new feature development.
• Complexity overload: Integrating diverse products increases exposure to cybersecurity risks and compliance failures, as security standards and practices vary across vendors.

These challenges often stem from a technology-first mindset that undervalues process optimization. A more sustainable approach centers on software minimalism by prioritizing fewer, more capable tools that reduce integration complexity and redirect effort toward domain-driven improvement.

Prioritizing Process Domain Knowledge to Run Operations Better

With integration simplified by using more capable, single-vendor software solutions, system integrators can redirect efforts toward what delivers real value: applying domain expertise to understand and enhance the processes being monitored and controlled.

Process domain knowledge encompasses workflows, regulatory nuances, and operational pain points, such as optimizing cycle times in manufacturing or minimizing waste in food production. The ultimate goal is to run processes better and not be caught up in technology integration or customization.

Why Process Expertise Drives Greater Value Than Technology Integration

System integrators deliver the greatest value when technical integration serves a broader goal: understanding, optimizing, and improving the processes that drive operational performance.

This shift requires a change in how system integrators apply their expertise and approach integration work:

• Apply SI expertise: System integrators are not software developers; their value lies in process expertise and operational optimization. Deep analysis of client operations through audits, simulations, and data-driven assessment reveals inefficiencies that technology alone cannot expose. Experience accumulated across diverse client engagements enables system integrators to translate insight into measurable performance improvement.
• Shift mindset: Integration represents a means, not an end. The abundance of available technology makes it easy to fall into a pattern of technology-driven integration. Greater value emerges when the focus shifts toward running processes more efficiently, safely, and sustainably, such as applying predictive maintenance tailored to specific equipment behaviors.

How System Integrators Build and Apply Process Domain Expertise

Shifting to a process-first approach requires deliberate investment in skills, standards, and methods that strengthen domain expertise and enable consistent, high-value outcomes for clients. System integrators can build and apply this expertise through the following actions:

• Invest in learning standards such as ISA-95 for hierarchical process modeling and Unified Name Space (UNS) concepts for asset-based configurations.
• Deepen domain-specific expertise through targeted training within priority industry verticals.
• Conduct process-first assessments by mapping workflows before selecting tools.
• Apply expertise to configure solutions within minimal toolsets, ensuring alignment with process goals.
• Rethink the toolset you are currently using and evaluate more capable solutions.

Key Principles for Selecting the Fewest Software Tools in Industrial System Integration

To reduce integration efforts, system integrators can prioritize mature, proven, feature-rich, and configurable software toolkits, favoring solutions from a single vendor whenever feasible. This minimalist approach simplifies deployment and maintenance while improving overall system reliability.

Selecting fewer tools requires clear criteria that guide platform and vendor decisions while supporting long-term maintainability and reliability. The following principles help system integrators evaluate and select software tools effectively:

• Minimize quantity: Favor fewer, more capable tools that address core operational needs. A unified platform capable of handling data acquisition, historization, analytics, and control can eliminate the need to assemble separate gateways, databases, and visualization software.
• Single-vendor preference: Multi-vendor environments introduce version conflicts, proprietary dependencies, and support challenges. A single-vendor ecosystem enables coordinated updates and interoperability, reducing ongoing maintenance effort.
• Leverage standards within the toolkit: Even within a minimal toolset, open standards such as OPC UA for communication and MQTT for messaging help preserve flexibility and future readiness without adding integration complexity.

Operational and Maintenance Benefits of a Minimal Software Toolset

Applying these tool-selection principles delivers several practical benefits for system integrators and their clients: 

• Reduced integration efforts: Fewer interfaces result in faster implementation and less custom coding.
• Easier maintenance: Unified vendor support simplifies troubleshooting and eliminates the need to coordinate across multiple suppliers.
• Scalability: Single-vendor platforms typically scale in a modular way, avoiding the complexity of fragmented multi-vendor architectures.
• Configuration over coding: Proven, configurable functionality offers greater reliability and maintainability than custom-developed solutions.

Practical Strategies for Reducing Software Tool Sprawl and Integration Complexity

Transitioning to a more disciplined, minimal-tool approach requires a structured execution strategy:

• Tool selection audit: Review existing technology stacks for redundancy and consolidate toward fewer, more capable platforms.
• Process-centric planning: Begin projects with detailed process analysis, identify improvement opportunities, and then align tooling accordingly.
• Vendor consolidation: Partner with vendors that offer end-to-end software capabilities and validate benefits through pilot projects.
• Training and metrics: Upskill teams in process optimization and track performance using metrics such as uptime, efficiency gains, and maintenance effort.
• Overcome barriers: Address resistance by highlighting real-world examples of multi-vendor failure and demonstrating early wins through simplified architectures.

As trends such as AI continue to evolve, greater value emerges when system integrators prioritize vendor-delivered, integrated solutions rather than building custom integrations, directing innovation toward process improvement instead of technology layering. 

From Software Tool Sprawl to Process Excellence in Industrial System Integration

A more strategic path for industrial system integration is to evolve beyond multi-vendor technology puzzles. By selecting the fewest software tools necessary, preferably from a single vendor, system integrators can reduce maintenance effort and integration complexity. This shift frees resources to focus on what matters most: understanding and improving processes for superior operational performance.

The payoff is clear. Processes run better, operational friction decreases, and long-term value increases. System integrators who audit tools, deepen process expertise, and prioritize disciplined integration approaches position themselves as true optimizers within the industrial ecosystem. The future rewards those who integrate less and optimize more.

Selecting the Right Platform for Process-First Integration

Software minimalism requires more than reducing the number of tools. The strategy depends on selecting a platform capable of supporting diverse industrial applications without introducing unnecessary integration layers.

GENESIS, by Mitsubishi Electric Iconics Digital Solutions, reflects this approach. Built on more than 40 years of industry experience and continuous technology evolution, the platform supports HMI, SCADA, BAS, FMS, EMS, MES, and DCIM applications within a unified architecture.

A consolidated platform reduces integration overhead, simplifies long-term maintenance, and enables consistent configuration across projects. When paired with strong system integration expertise, GENESIS supports disciplined, process-first implementation that prioritizes operational performance over tool complexity.

Frequently Asked Questions

The following frequently asked questions address common concerns system integrators raise when considering a reduced-tool, process-first approach to industrial system integration.

Is a reduced-tool, single-vendor–leaning integration approach the same as single-vendor lock-in?
No. Leveraging open standards, a minimal toolset paired with standards such as OPC UA and MQTT supports flexibility without introducing excessive integration complexity.

Does minimizing tools limit innovation?
No. Fewer, more capable platforms allow system integrators to focus innovation on process improvement rather than maintaining fragile integrations.

How does this approach support long-term maintainability?
Reduced toolsets simplify upgrades, testing, validation, and knowledge transfer, resulting in systems that are easier to maintain and evolve.

Is this approach suitable for regulated industries?
Yes. Industries such as pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, and energy benefit from standardized, repeatable architectures that simplify compliance and lifecycle management.

Advance your integration strategy.

Download the GENESIS brochure to explore how a unified platform supports process-first system integration or learn more about the Mitsubishi Electric Iconics Digital Solutions System Integrator Partner Program to see how architectural consolidation can strengthen your competitive position.