Webinar : Contextualized Data : September 14, 2022 09:00AM Pacific Time
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As industrial enterprises accelerate digital transformation, the need for robust Industrial Data Management (IDM) solutions has never been greater. Whether integrating operational technology (OT) with enterprise IT systems, generating the KPIs that drive the business, or supporting advanced analytics, manufacturers require a platform that is flexible, scalable, and delivers ROI in days not years.
Flow Software provides an efficient, adaptable approach to IDM, helping organizations bridge the OT-IT gap with extensible data modeling, seamless interoperability, and a template-first strategy for scalability. Rather than locking customers into rigid architectures and vendor ecosystems, Flow creates a contextualized data bridge that encompasses all major manufacturing platforms within industrial automation.
The Verdantix Green Quadrant: Industrial Data Management Solutions 2025 highlights three key capabilities that define a modern IDM platform:
• Direct and indirect data acquisition – The ability to collect real-time data from PLCs, SCADA, historians, sensors, IoT devices, MES, and ERP systems.
• Data quality and governance – Ensuring data integrity, lineage tracking, and governance to support accurate decision-making.
• Data contextualization – Transforming raw operational data into structured, meaningful information that aligns with business processes.
For manufacturers trying to choose the best Industrial Data Management platform, flexibility and scalability are just as important as technical capability. Industrial environments evolve rapidly, requiring software that can adapt to new data sources, integrate with multiple ecosystems, and support enterprise-wide standardization.
How Flow Software Aligns with These Needs.
Many IDM platforms require extensive customization and high implementation costs, delaying the time to value. Flow is designed for rapid deployment, using user-defined templates that allow manufacturers to start aggregating, analyzing, and contextualizing data in days rather than months. By leveraging a template-first approach, companies can significantly reduce the engineering effort required to set up new models, ensuring consistency in data processing across multiple sites while minimizing errors and inconsistencies in data pipelines. This methodology not only accelerates the return on investment but also provides the flexibility to refine models as operational needs evolve.
Unlike rigid IDM platforms that impose fixed schemas, Flow offers a highly adaptable modeling approach designed to fit the unique needs of industrial operations. Traditional data management solutions often force manufacturers to conform to predefined structures, making it difficult to represent real-world processes accurately. Flow eliminates this constraint by allowing users to model their data in a way that mirrors actual operations, accommodating diverse assets, process variations, and evolving business requirements.
At the core of this flexibility is Flow’s Information Model and Data Engine, which provide a structured yet dynamic framework for managing industrial data. Flow’s model can follow industry standards like ISA-95, adopt a parent-child hierarchical structure, or be completely flat—whichever best suits the organization’s needs. The key advantage is the ability to choose the right approach for different use cases. In fact, Flow allows multiple models to coexist, enabling manufacturers to structure data differently for different purposes, whether for real-time monitoring, reporting, analytics, or integration with other enterprise systems.
With this adaptability, manufacturers can create structured models that reflect real-world operations, contextualize raw time-series data with event-based and KPI-driven calculations, and automate data transformations without requiring extensive scripting or manual intervention. This flexibility is especially valuable for manufacturers with complex, multi-site operations where data sources, naming conventions, and process logic may vary significantly. By using Flow’s modeling capabilities, companies can ensure consistency, scalability, and efficiency in their data management strategy while maintaining the adaptability needed to support continuous improvement and operational excellence.
Data should not be confined to a single platform. Flow is designed to integrate effortlessly with existing OT and IT systems, supporting both legacy infrastructure and modern cloud architectures.
Flow connects with:
• Industrial data sources such as SCADA, DCS, historians, and IoT devices.
• Enterprise data platforms like Snowflake, AWS, Azure, and enterprise data lakes.
• Messaging and streaming protocols including MQTT, Sparkplug B, and Kafka.
• BI and analytics tools such as Power BI, Tableau, and AI/ML platforms.
By supporting open APIs, standard communication protocols, and no-code integration options, Flow eliminates the common barriers that prevent data from being fully utilized across the enterprise.
Scaling an industrial data management solution shouldn’t create operational bottlenecks or financial uncertainty. Flow enables manufacturers to scale efficiently with containerized processing engines that optimize performance and provide architectural flexibility. Whether deployed in the cloud, on-premise, or in a hybrid setup, Flow adapts to the organization’s needs without compromising agility.
Cost predictability is just as critical as technical scalability. Unlike per-tag licensing models that can lead to unpredictable expenses, Flow offers unlimited use of its product, ensuring straightforward pricing as deployments expand.
True scalability also means minimizing manual intervention. In manufacturing, where data often arrives late or changes after the fact, maintaining accuracy can be a challenge. Flow overcomes this with versioned processing and reprocessing capabilities, ensuring data remains reliable and adaptable as business requirements evolve.
The Verdantix Green Quadrant for Industrial Data Management Solutions evaluates vendors based on both technical capabilities and business momentum. Flow aligns strongly with the criteria industrial firms prioritize when selecting an IDM platform, including:
By emphasizing speed to value, adaptability, and enterprise-wide integration, Flow provides a practical, scalable approach to IDM that meets the needs of industrial firms today while remaining adaptable for future requirements.
As manufacturers, utilities, and industrial enterprises navigate digital transformation, choosing the right IDM solution is critical for unlocking the full potential of their operational data. Rather than focusing solely on technical capabilities, organizations should seek a platform that delivers rapid ROI, integrates seamlessly, and scales efficiently across the enterprise.
Flow Software enables industrial teams to:
• Gain visibility into all operational data sources with minimal disruption.
• Maintain governance and quality without adding unnecessary complexity.
• Scale data management and analytics without restrictive licensing models.
• Leverage contextualized data for AI, ML, and process optimization.
By balancing flexibility, performance, and ease of deployment, Flow helps industrial firms turn data into actionable intelligence quickly and effectively.
Explore Flow Software for Your Industrial Data Management Needs
Discover how Flow can help streamline your industrial data strategy. Contact us for a demo or trial today.
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At Flow Software, we exist to give teams decision-making superpowers.
We’re a driven, curious, and dedicated global team, committed to turning raw data into actionable insights since 2011.
Guided by our core values, we empower businesses to elevate their operations, embrace innovation, and achieve lasting success. Remote by design and lean by choice, we deliver solutions that simplify complexity and inspire smarter decisions.
When information flows, insights grow.