It was an incredible afternoon Tuesday at the 24th Annual ARC Industry Forum in Orlando, Florida. In a packed conference room, along with our customers, colleagues, competitors and friends, I was incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to speak on behalf of AspenTech.

 

Specifically, I presented the AspenTech approach to predictive analytics, machine learning and AI while also telling the stories of my mother’s battle with breast cancer, experiences with a new vs. old refrigerator and how to stay awake after a starchy lunch. I did not sing — although I threatened to!

 

My message to the room, and to the world really, is that our solutions:

• Promote and afford the opportunity for safer operations

• Help companies achieve sustainability goals such as reducing environmental impact, greenhouse gas releases and overall carbon footprint

• Drive more reliable operations and extend the use-life of equipment to help maximize revenue

• Enable businesses to do this all with speed and accuracy

This was our “inception” message to the crowd.

 

I then walked through the numerous challenges that our customers face: dangerous operating conditions, plumes and fumes of flared gases equivalent to 70 million cars a year and the potential to lose focus on safety in a rush to maximize profits or mitigate loss. In any complex plant, conditions can change very quickly — accidents can happen, people can get hurt, money can be lost, and the planet can be harmed.

 

But I posed the question, “What if we knew ahead of time?”

 

Like my mother’s doctor told her, “Early detection leads to limited damage and potentially extended life.” What if we were able to comb through all the data to detect a signature early on — and then take action? What’s the value of the remediation and mitigation tasks? In my mother’s case, it’s life. In the case of a process plant, it’s improved safety, reliability and profitability, along with reduced environmental impact.

 

I then had the opportunity talk about some of AspenTech’s successes around the world, in various markets — mining, wind farms, oil and gas, pipelines and petrochemicals, among others. It’s truly impressive how our processes in leveraging AI technologies are helping organize data, shape outcomes and present results in a consumable way that enables the best decisions.

 

At the end, I reminded everyone that we are all on this journey together (even our competitors) and that our destination is the same: a safer, greener, cleaner, more-productive world. I’m proud that AspenTech is helping these industries achieve that goal with speed and accuracy!

 

 

To learn how predictive analytics and other digital solutions can help unlock new levels of performance for your business, please read our recent executive brief, Next-Generation Operational Technologies Enable the Smart Enterprise in a Changing World.