InflexionPoint Strengthens PI Analytics with Strategic Acquisition of Process Innovations

InflexionPoint, a systems integrator serving highly regulated industries, has announced the acquisition of Process Innovations - a firm known for its deep domain experience with the AVEVA/OSIsoft PI System. This move significantly enhances InflexionPoint’s ability to deliver advanced asset performance management, digital-twin solutions, and data visualization across industrial operations.

Deal Summary

• Buyer: InflexionPoint, previously Automated Control Concepts, a technology integrator focused on sectors like life sciences, critical infrastructure, and manufacturing.
• Seller / Target: Process Innovations, which offers software and services built on the AVEVA/OSIsoft PI System to help customers optimize operational data from IoT and monitoring platforms.
• Service Scope: Process Innovations supports clients in energy, water treatment, and industrial facilities by providing analytics, PI-centric plugins (they maintain over 82), AI, and data-driven performance tools.
• Strategic Rationale: According to InflexionPoint’s CEO Kevin Hannigan, this acquisition strengthens their ability to bridge operational technology (OT) and IT, deepens partnerships with AVEVA/Schneider/InSource, and opens growth into sectors like water, life sciences, and renewables.
• Recurring Value: The acquisition enables more managed-services and software-based offerings, positioning InflexionPoint to provide ongoing value rather than one-off engineering projects.
• Customer Base: Process Innovations serves 100+ customers globally, having sold over 1,000 PI “plugins” to industrial and infrastructure clients.

Industry Context

Industrial automation and digital transformation are rapidly evolving, with systems integrators under pressure to offer not just control infrastructure but advanced data capabilities. As more industrial operators embrace digital twins, predictive maintenance, and data-driven decision-making, integrators that can support AVEVA/OSIsoft PI-based environments provide elevated value.

Moreover, convergence of OT with enterprise IT continues to be a central theme. By folding in Process Innovations, InflexionPoint is not only deepening its analytics muscle but also positioning itself as a leader in the modern digital-operations stack - capable of helping clients extract more value from their industrial data.

Lower-Middle-Market Roll-Up Perspective

From a roll-up strategy standpoint, this transaction illustrates several meaningful dynamics:

1. Specialist Capability Acquisition: Rather than purely expanding headcount, InflexionPoint has acquired a firm with niche expertise in PI systems - a high-value, specialized technology.
2. Platform Differentiation: The deal underlines InflexionPoint’s ambition to differentiate its digital transformation work by coupling automation with analytics, AI, and recurring software revenue.
3. Vertical Expansion: With Process Innovations’ vertical reach in water, energy, and industrial clients, InflexionPoint broadens its addressable market in regulated and mission-critical sectors.
4. Long-Term Lock-in: The plugin-based model in the PI ecosystem offers stickiness, enabling upsell and managed services.
5. Talent and IP Retention: InflexionPoint gains not just customers, but data-platform expertise and a legacy team that understands PI-system architecture, avoiding disruption.

Why This Sector Is Attractive for Roll-Ups

• Accelerated Digitalization: Industrial firms increasingly rely on operational data and analytics to drive efficiency, safety, and performance, creating demand for strong systems integrators.
• Recurring Revenue Potential: Asset performance management (APM) and managed data platforms create ongoing subscription-style models, which are more scalable than one-off projects.
• High-Value Technical Barriers: Expertise in AVEVA/OSIsoft PI systems is relatively scarce, giving specialized providers a competitive edge.
• Operational Risk Reduction: Customers in regulated industries favor partners who can unify OT/IT and provide predictive, reliable systems.
• Increased PE Interest: Investors are backing integrators that can deliver advanced digital and data-driven services - not just traditional control systems.

Conclusion

InflexionPoint’s acquisition of Process Innovations is a strategic inflection point in its evolution. By integrating PI-system analytics and deep data capabilities, InflexionPoint strengthens its position as a trusted partner for operational modernization in critical industries.

This deal underscores a larger trend in industrial technology: systems integrators are consolidating around data, AI, and managed-services models, moving beyond traditional control automation. For operators and investors, the message is clear - the future of industrial M&A lies in the overlap of infrastructure, software, and analytics, not just hardware.