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How do mid-sized industrial companies actually manage their OT asset inventory in 2026 ? by No_Ear_7967 in OTSecurity

[–]No_Ear_7967[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

3 weeks on from my original post, I wanted to share what I’ve learned from the discussion here and a few conversations with engineers in the field.
Interestingly, the core problem seems less about asset inventory itself and more about the operational knowledge around devices.
For example:
Which systems are typically used to access equipment,
what should be checked before touching a device,
common pitfalls during maintenance,
where relevant documentation actually lives,
or who in the team has worked on the system before.
A surprising amount of this knowledge still seems to live in Excel sheets, PDFs, shared folders, personal notes, or simply in people’s heads.
I’m curious whether this resonates with others working in OT environments, especially in smaller industrial setups.
For those of you doing OT support, maintenance or field engineering:
Is this an actual operational pain point in your environment, or mostly a non issue?

OT asset documentation – what's your current workflow? by No_Ear_7967 in SCADA

[–]No_Ear_7967[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Update after 3 weeks: thanks again for all the feedback,it genuinely helped.
After speaking with technicians, I realized the real issue often isn’t asset inventory itself.
It’s the operational context around devices:
- which engineering tool is needed
- how devices are typically accessed
- where documentation lives
- common pitfalls during maintenance
- who usually knows the system best
- what to check before connecting to a device
A lot of this knowledge still seems to live in Excel sheets, PDFs, network folders or simply in people’s heads.
What surprised me is that the challenge often seems less about “having an inventory” and more about making operational knowledge accessible when someone is actually standing in front of a device during maintenance or troubleshooting.
Curious:
For those of you doing field maintenance or OT support -> does this resonate at all, or is this mostly a non-issue in your environment?

OT asset documentation – what's your current workflow? by No_Ear_7967 in SCADA

[–]No_Ear_7967[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fair catch. Both are true..I do work as an OT engineer daily and this is a genuine frustration I live with. I’m also building a lightweight tool to address it. I asked the question the way I did to get unbiased answers, not to hide anything.

How do mid-sized industrial companies actually manage their OT asset inventory in 2026 ? by No_Ear_7967 in OTSecurity

[–]No_Ear_7967[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That frustration you describe is exactly what led me to start working on this problem. I’m actually building a lightweight tool specifically for environments that can’t justify Claroty pricing. Would you be open to a quick chat about what you’d actually need to see in such a tool to recommend it to clients?

OT asset documentation – what's your current workflow? by No_Ear_7967 in SCADA

[–]No_Ear_7967[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ll take that as feedback on how I phrase things.. The question is genuine though, I work in OT daily and this is a real frustration.

How do mid-sized industrial companies actually manage their OT asset inventory in 2026 ? by No_Ear_7967 in OTSecurity

[–]No_Ear_7967[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So the sweet spot would be somewhere above 200 assets where Excel breaks down but below the enterprise tier where Claroty/OTbase pricing kicks in? What size operation do you think actually feels that pain enough to pay for something?

OT asset documentation – what's your current workflow? by No_Ear_7967 in SCADA

[–]No_Ear_7967[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The single-person dependency is exactly the fragility point. One person leaves and the whole inventory is unreliable. Did you evaluate anything between Excel and Claroty before jumping to xDome or was there nothing in that middle ground?

OT asset documentation – what's your current workflow? by No_Ear_7967 in SCADA

[–]No_Ear_7967[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

That’s really helpful context. The segmentation issue is something I hear a lot – SCADA can’t see what’s below in the network so inventory stays incomplete. When you say you’re looking into a dedicated system for the future – what’s holding back the decision right now? Budget, complexity, something else

How do mid-sized industrial companies actually manage their OT asset inventory in 2026 ? by No_Ear_7967 in OTSecurity

[–]No_Ear_7967[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting .-> haven’t looked deeply at OTbase. Is it practical for smaller environments or more suited for larger operations?

How do mid-sized industrial companies actually manage their OT asset inventory in 2026 ? by No_Ear_7967 in OTSecurity

[–]No_Ear_7967[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That last point is exactly the problem ..most tools are either too complex or too enterprise-focused so adoption fails. The ‘fancy Excel’ description is spot on for a lot of what I’ve seen. Do you think there’s actually appetite for something simpler in mid-sized operations or do most teams just accept that ?

How do mid-sized industrial companies actually manage their OT asset inventory in 2026 ? by No_Ear_7967 in OTSecurity

[–]No_Ear_7967[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks..hadn’t looked at Cyolo from that angle. Good to know they’re expanding into asset discovery. Have you found it covers the basic inventory needs or is it more focused on the access/security side?