As operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT) increasingly converge, a new industrial revolution is underway—led not just by software, but by domain knowledge and real-time insight. Leading the charge is Aveva Group, UK industrial software giant now wholly owned by Schneider Electric. The firm is driving its partners forward with an irresistible agenda: converting specialist knowledge into scalable services through a Knowledge-as-a-Service platform.

Aveva's Ambitious Gamble on a Platform Future

Aveva's vision is to see beyond tool selling—it's about empowering partners with the ability to provide smart, reusable, AI-driven solutions based on vast industry expertise. Tim Sowell, lead digital portfolio strategy, and Alexey Lebedev, vice president of Pacific, described how Aveva is enabling its ecosystem to shift from conventional system integrators to domain-specific solution providers.

“We consider ourselves to be offering an informatics Connect Platform," Sowell said. "We're adding blocks on top of that—what we refer to as the purple Aveva blocks—that embody our 50 years of experience in agents and components."

From Service Providers to Knowledge Experts

These "purple blocks" of modular capability allow partners to deliver customized solutions like pump optimisation, not just once, but as a reproducible service across industries. Take Harmony Gold, a leading South African mining conglomerate. Without in-house pump performance expertise, it partnered with a former system integrator who now delivers that customized service via Aveva's ecosystem.

That third party isn't a consultant anymore—they're a trusted, regular contributor, embedded directly into Harmony's systems through the Knowledge-as-a-Service platform.

“This is a change from marketing a product to becoming a part of the customer's trusted knowledge network," Sowell said.

No More Licensing: The Subscription and SaaS Revolution

This change is alongside a change away from perpetual licensing and on-prem deployments. As Sowell describes, cloud-based solutions now allow businesses to scale solutions globally—something that the old on-prem model could not.

“For partners, it's a matter of how they consume their IP and present it as reusable knowledge modules," Lebedev said. "We're witnessing businesses move away from selling projects and selling insights instead. This is even more potent when delivered via a cloud-based, flexible, and constantly evolving Knowledge-as-a-Service platform."

Various Regions, Various Readiness

The adoption rate varies across the globe. Whereas the engineering firms in Europe are saturated with long-term projects and keen on injecting know-how into scalable solutions, nations such as Australia are experiencing skill deficits, and hence, reusable, AI-powered solutions are more critical.

Lebedev added that partners in these markets need to embrace faster deployment models and leave behind huge, packaged deployments. Instead, they need to use data-driven insights and platform services to keep pace.

Aveva's Own Transition Reflects Industry Transformation

Aveva itself began life as a state-funded CAD center in 1967. After decades of takeover and restructuring, it was acquired by Schneider Electric in 2018 and became fully owned in 2022. Today, Aveva is not just offering design and simulation software—it's offering a platform for partners to build, grow, and monetize their area of expertise.

The company's strategy is to empower partners with the capability to bring their skills to the world, using AI, cloud, and real-time data as imperatives. "The IT world is converging into OT," Sowell stated. "And as IoT grows, the engineering paradigm is shifting, as well."

The Future Lies in Expertise, Not Tools

Aveva's message to partners is straightforward: shake off the mindset of product suppliers, and start thinking as knowledge suppliers. Those who can turn domain expertise into a service will thrive. Those that do not may be left in the dust. By adopting the Knowledge-as-a-Service platform model, Aveva is not merely changing its own business—but the whole ecosystem that revolves around it too.