Modernising legacy control systems

Aaron Blutstein 9 January 2026  

Legacy HMI systems still power much of UK industry, but expectations have changed. As data, cybersecurity and AI reshape strategy, modernisation must balance progress with stability. Drawing on recent insights from SolutionsPT’s Susan Roche and AVEVA’s Sébastien Ory, at the recent Xchange 2025 event at Warwick University, Aaron Blutstein looks at how continuity, partnerships and evolutionary upgrades enable transformation without disruption across industry today.

Across much of UK industry, some of the most important digital systems are also the least visible. Human machine interface and SCADA platforms sit quietly behind production lines, utilities, energy networks and infrastructure, doing exactly what they were designed to do year after year. Once commissioned, they are expected to keep running with minimal disruption, often for decades. That longevity has long been one of industrial automation’s defining strengths. It is also increasingly one of its most complex challenges.

Many of these systems were implemented at a time when industrial connectivity was limited, cloud computing was not part of architectural thinking, and artificial intelligence had no practical role in operational environments. Yet they continue to operate at the core of facilities now under pressure to become more efficient, more connected and more resilient. The result is a growing tension between operational stability and the expectations of modern digital strategy.

From her vantage point working closely with UK industrial customers, Susan Roche sees this tension clearly. As General Manager of SolutionsPT, she points to the UK’s large installed base of legacy HMI and SCADA systems built on Wonderware InTouch. Many of these systems were deployed ten to fifteen years ago and in many cases much earlier. According to Roche, their continued reliability is precisely what has allowed them to remain in place as expectations around analytics, connectivity and cybersecurity have evolved around them.

She is careful to stress that this is not a story of failure or neglect. In her assessment, the challenge is one of misalignment rather than obsolescence. These platforms were designed for a very different industrial context. As the industry now expects systems to support data reuse, integration with analytics platforms and modern security practices, the gap between original design intent and current expectations has become more visible.

This understanding shapes Roche’s view of how modernisation needs to occur. For suppliers and customers alike, replacing working systems wholesale is rarely realistic. Facilities with long asset lifecycles, regulatory obligations and limited tolerance for downtime have little appetite for disruptive change. What is needed instead is a way to evolve established systems without undermining the stability on which operations depend.

InTouch 2026

For AVEVA, that philosophy is reflected in the development of InTouch 2026. Rather than introducing a new product or architecture, InTouch 2026 is the latest long term release of AVEVA’s established InTouch HMI, created specifically to support organisations with large numbers of existing deployments. Roche describes it as a continuation rather than a reinvention.

In practical terms, InTouch 2026 allows customers to upgrade from older versions without rewriting applications or replacing underlying architectures. Existing graphics, scripts and configurations are preserved, while the platform itself is updated to align with modern Windows environments, extended support lifecycles and contemporary cybersecurity expectations. At the same time, it is designed to work alongside other elements of AVEVA’s portfolio, enabling real time operational data to be reused by data historians, analytics tools and cloud connected services. Its purpose is to allow systems that already work to participate in modern digital strategies with minimal disruption.

According to Roche, this kind of continuity is often the deciding factor between progress and inertia. Without a low friction path forward, organisations may choose to do nothing at all. With one, they can begin to modernise at a pace that reflects both technical and organisational readiness.

That readiness is increasingly driven from the top of organisations. Artificial intelligence has moved well beyond experimental projects and is now firmly on boardroom agendas. Even traditionally cautious sectors face pressure to understand what data they generate and how it might be used to improve performance, reliability and efficiency. In this environment, Roche argues, HMI and SCADA systems take on renewed importance, not just as operator interfaces but as the point at which operational data is created and contextualised.

Unlocking that value, however, rarely depends on software alone. It depends on how systems are connected, supported and maintained over time. This is where broader partner ecosystems play a decisive role.

Global perspective

From a global perspective, Sébastien Ory, EMEA Vice President for Partners and Channels at AVEVA, sees industrial digital transformation as increasingly shaped by long term collaboration rather than isolated technology decisions. Historically, he notes, strong partners were defined primarily by their automation and integration expertise. While those capabilities remain essential, expectations have expanded significantly.

Today’s partners are expected to understand data architectures, cloud and edge computing, cybersecurity and, increasingly, the specific operational realities of different industries. Across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, AVEVA works with a broad partner community that reflects this shift, supporting customers whose challenges extend far beyond software deployment.

SolutionsPT is one of those partners. It operates as AVEVA’s authorised distributor for the UK and Ireland and holds AVEVA Select Partner status. That formal relationship provides UK industrial customers with access to the full AVEVA software portfolio while allowing SolutionsPT to act independently in how it supports, trains and advises its customers.

Founded in 1985, SolutionsPT has grown alongside the UK industrial automation market and has represented Wonderware, and later AVEVA, software since 1991. As the company celebrates its fortieth year, Roche points to long term customer relationships as central to its identity. Supporting more than a thousand organisations through ongoing contracts, SolutionsPT has built detailed knowledge of how industrial systems evolve over time and where modernisation efforts can falter.

That experience informs its emphasis on incremental progress rather than radical replacement. Roche describes the company’s Upgrade to Innovate message as a practical response to the realities customers face. Initiatives such as Innovation Labs are intended to help organisations assess readiness, understand risk and align technical change with business priorities before major decisions are made.

This measured approach reflects broader industry challenges. Disconnected applications and duplicated data remain major obstacles to scaling analytics and deploying artificial intelligence in a meaningful way. A shared data foundation allows operational data to be reused across operations, maintenance and engineering, improving insight quality and reducing unnecessary complexity. Achieving that outcome requires coordination across platforms, integration expertise and infrastructure choices, areas where experienced partners are essential.

Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity highlights the same pattern. While software suppliers continue to strengthen security by design, resilient operational technology environments depend equally on backup strategies, recovery planning, training and organisational awareness. Roche notes that many organisations are still early in this journey, often responding to regulatory pressure rather than long term operational planning.

Cloud adoption introduces further trade offs. The benefits of scalable analytics and connectivity are clear, but so are the risks of moving operational systems too far from the edge. Ory emphasises that the future is hybrid, with some workloads remaining close to real time operations while others benefit from cloud environments. Selecting the right balance requires both technical understanding and experience of industrial risk.

Alongside these technical shifts, the role of people within industrial operations continues to evolve. Roche sees significant potential for better information to strengthen the role of operators rather than diminish it. When HMI and SCADA systems provide clearer context and actionable insight, decision making at the point of action improves. Realising that benefit, however, depends on organisational culture that values trust and accountability.

Taken together, these developments point to a clear conclusion. For UK industry, modernising the installed base is not about discarding systems that work. It is about allowing them to evolve in line with new expectations around connectivity, intelligence and resilience. That process is strategic and cultural as much as it is technical.

The long standing partnership between AVEVA and SolutionsPT illustrates how this evolution can be managed in practice. By combining an evolutionary software roadmap, a broad partner ecosystem and decades of customer relationships, it shows that industrial transformation does not have to be disruptive to be effective. In a complex and changing industrial landscape, lasting value is created not through isolated technology decisions, but through sustained collaboration over time.