When we started talking about the ServiceNow–Armis deal, we anchored on two ideas that felt urgent and true.
First: this deal matters to every industrial organization on the platform because it pulls OT security out of its corner and plants it right at the heart of enterprise risk and operational resilience. Second: we needed to talk about what organizations should do with that shift, how to move from visibility to action with purpose and structure.
To close this series, I want to bring these threads together. I know I've shared a lot of digital ink on this subject lately, but I still need to address the global opportunity sitting in front of us.
Let's take a look forward to how organizations can translate this industry inflection point into something that lasts and gives them a real, sustainable advantage.
A Shared Foundation for Global Operational Risk
Visibility and workflow integration are powerful. But what excites me most about this transition is the potential to create shared understanding and alignment at scale.
For global industrial organizations, operational risk has always been complicated by geography, regulatory differences, and organizational structure. Plants in Europe operate differently from plants in Asia. Risk tolerance in the Americas might differ from the Middle East. Historically, these differences meant security and risk models were customized, often in ways that made enterprise consistency impossible.
Now, with unified OT context embedded into the enterprise platform, organizations have a real shot at building a common foundation for understanding and governing OT risk in a way that respects local conditions without fragmenting enterprise strategy.
And here's the thing, consistency doesn't dilute specialization. Instead, it can make it stronger. A common foundation helps every region speak the same language, measure risk the same way, and evaluate decisions against shared criteria.
Designing Resilience as a Capability
The real advantage lies in how organizations govern response and decision-making in environments where safety, compliance, and uptime matter more than most.
This moment gives industrial organizations the chance to elevate OT risk governance to the same level as risks to finance, supply chain, and enterprise compliance. When governance is built into the operating model, not bolted on like an afterthought, organizations can move beyond reacting to disruptions toward orchestrating outcomes.
This is a global perspective shift. It means OT security becomes part of how decisions are made company-wide, not a separate line item on a checklist.
Translating Global Strategy into Everyday Practice
For strategy to matter, it has to be actionable. This is where operating models and capability frameworks become essential. Organizations should invest in:
- Common definitions of risk and exposure across sites
- Consistency in decision criteria, so similar risk profiles trigger similar response expectations
- Regional guardrails that reflect regulatory and operational nuances
- Documentation and audit readiness, so decisions are traceable, explainable, and defensible
These practices allow global leadership to trust the decisions made locally, without needing to validate every action by hand. This is where I see the greatest opportunity; not in chasing every signal, but standardizing how decisions are made, everywhere.
Why This Matters Today
OT vulnerability scanning alone may uncover risk. The convergence of OT and IT visibility may reduce blind spots. But those things don't inherently reduce operational risk unless organizations have a way to govern actions in context, across time zones, languages, and operational norms.
Technology makes information available. In turn, governance makes information actionable. The combination is what allows organizations to operate safely, efficiently, and competitively in a world where operational and cyber risks are inseparable.
Looking Ahead
Can I use a little hyperbole here? The ServiceNow–Armis deal is nothing short of a watershed moment. But (and you knew there'd be one) it's not the end of the story.
What comes next will be shaped by how organizations set the rules of engagement for OT risk, how they embed those rules into daily operations, and how they measure success as a function of resilience, not just incident counts.
Global industrial organizations that take this moment seriously will find themselves well ahead of peers who treat it as nothing more than a technical upgrade.
They'll move faster and with more resilience because they understand how decisions are made. And they'll create consistency without demanding uniformity.
This series was about making organizations see the shift. Now it's about acting on it in a way that's structured, sustainable, and aligned with the way modern industry actually operates.
Again, I know you've read a lot of my thoughts this month. But, if there's one idea I hope you take away, it's that operational risk belongs at the strategic table. And the tools we use should support how we govern it, not distract from it.
