New study reveals $11.28m annual opportunity for industrial companies to boost competitiveness by modernizing closed automation systems

Schneider Electric unveiled new global research titled “Open vs. Closed: The $11.28M Question for Industrial Leaders.” The report reveals that closed industrial automation systems are quietly eroding competitiveness, costing mid-sized organizations an average of 7.5% of their revenue.

The research, conducted by Global Analysts firm Omdia, highlights how these costs stem from operational inefficiencies, downtime, compliance retrofits, and delayed production, issues often masked by the perceived reliability of legacy automation systems. For large enterprises, losses average $45.18 million, while smaller manufacturers face even steeper proportional impacts, losing up to 25% of annual revenue.

Traditional, hardware-defined automation systems, built for static environments, struggle to meet today’s dynamic industrial demands. Their rigidity turns routine updates into costly technical projects, while proprietary architectures limit data access, reducing visibility and responsiveness.

At the core of the challenge is hardware complexity. Most companies operate across 2 to 10 ...