From food production to pharmaceuticals, from energy production to aerospace, Axians’ expertise helps industrial businesses navigate complexity and stay ahead in an increasingly digital world.
In this interview, Sophie Dubreuil, International Business Development Manager at the Axians Brand Team & Russell Crampin, Managing Director Axians UK share their insights on how collaboration, technological advancements, and strategic partnerships are driving transformation across the industrial sector. They discuss the critical role of Axians and Actemium, two sister brands of VINCI Energies, in integrating cutting-edge solutions, the impact of emerging technologies like AI and automation, and how businesses can position themselves for sustained success in an increasingly competitive landscape.
What are Axians’ main activities in the industrial sector? How does the company drive digital innovation in this market?
Russell: Axians integrates various areas of expertise to deliver tailored solutions for industrial customers. Our core focus is on data—analyzing it through AI and advanced analytics to generate actionable insights. We also provide cloud and data center capabilities, ensuring a secure and optimized balance between on-premise, hybrid, and public cloud environments. Additionally, we specialize in networking, including secure data collection, transportation, and cybersecurity solutions, ensuring a resilient industrial infrastructure. By combining these strengths, we drive digital innovation while maintaining operational stability and security.
What benefits can Axians bring to industries with Smart Industry solutions?
Sophie: Axians provides significant technological benefits to industrial customers by improving process efficiency, reducing costs, and ensuring both people and data safety. Additionally, our solutions contribute to sustainability by minimizing the environmental impact of production. By leveraging advanced digital tools, we enhance decision-making processes, optimizing operations while maintaining security and efficiency.
What types of customers do you serve, and how do you support them?
Russell: Axians works with diverse industrial sectors, such as food and beverage, chemicals, life sciences, automotive industries… Our deep process knowledge allows us to tailor solutions to specific industry needs. We don’t just focus on headquarters—we take a holistic approach by addressing factory-level challenges and integrating supply chain considerations.
Our approach is based on long-term partnerships. With our global presence and human-sized business units, we provide both personalized service and large-scale delivery capabilities. Many of our customers have been with us for decades, benefiting from our consistent, expert support worldwide.
How does Axians turn its expertise into real value for its clients?
Sophie: The best way to illustrate our impact is through real-world examples from hundreds of industry references.
In Portugal, we partnered with a baked goods manufacturer to extract and analyze production data, optimizing their manufacturing efficiency while enhancing sustainability. In the Netherlands, we collaborated with a global dairy group to standardize and secure their ICT and OT infrastructure, ensuring operational resilience.
Another key project involves a UK-based pharmaceutical company, where we provide 24/7 monitoring of their OT networks. Our security experts continuously analyze data flows to prevent cyber threats, ensuring the integrity and safety of their production processes. These cases demonstrate how our expertise leads to concrete operational improvements for our customers.
How do you address the gap between Information & Communication Technology (ICT) and Operational Technology (OT) in your solutions?
Russell: Historically, ICT and OT have been separate, but today they must work together seamlessly. Two key challenges exist: the difference in pace—ICT evolves rapidly, while OT systems are designed to last decades—and the cultural gap between ICT and OT teams.
Axians addresses these challenges by leveraging our unique collaboration with Actemium, our sister company and the Industry brand of VINCI Energies, expert in operational technology systems. Together, we bridge the gap by integrating ICT expertise into industrial processes while respecting OT constraints. This synergy allows us to offer customers a single point of contact for ICT and OT solutions, ensuring both technological innovation and operational continuity.
How do you see industrial digital transformation evolving in the next five years, and how is Axians preparing to stay ahead?
Sophie: The pace of ICT innovation is rapid, while industrial environments require long-term stability. Balancing these factors is key.
We foresee significant advancements in data analytics, with increasing ability to extract insights from both legacy and modern systems in a non-disruptive manner. Cybersecurity governance will also evolve, becoming more integral to industrial operations.
Axians is preparing by continuously investing in AI, cybersecurity, private 5G networks and cloud solutions. Our approach ensures that industrial customers can safely and sustainably adopt new technologies while maintaining operational efficiency and security. By staying at the forefront of innovation, we help our clients’ future-proof their businesses in a dynamic digital landscape.
As industries evolve, the right partnerships and technologies make all the difference. By embracing innovation and collaboration, Axians drives efficiency and security.