What do systems integrators do?

26 May 2026  

UK-based InControl Systems has been has been a control systems integrator for more than 25 years, operating in the industrial automation, control systems and digitalisation sector in the UK and around the world. Nikesh Mistry, Gambica’s sector head for industrial automation, spoke to the company’s sales and marketing director, Ian Clarke, about what an SI does.

Mistry: So Ian, what does inControl Systems do? I understand you are a systems integrator, but what does that entail?

Clarke: The short answer is as a process control and automation system integrator, we design and deliver complete control and automation projects and industrial digital transformation solutions for manufacturing and process industries. The longer answer is that for over 25 years, inControl Systems has been a trusted control systems integrator in industrial automation, control systems, and digitalisation projects across the UK and internationally. From concept to commissioning, our highly qualified engineers design, implement, and support systems that keep factories and process sites running at their best.

Mistry: How do you handle legacy equipment, obsolescence, mixed vendor environments and partial upgrades?

Clarke: Many customers have these challenges already and their concerns are that old equipment, when it fails, can bring huge costs and uncertainty when it comes to downtime. But also, upgrades need scheduled downtime that cannot run over and they don’t want the risk of not being able to get production running again. We handle this by carefully picking systems within a factory and upgrading them in a phased or partial way – selecting which system will introduce the least risk during commissioning, but overcomes the greatest risks of failure. We have proven methods of testing off-site and having reversible commissioning practices so that we can reverse out a new system if there are issues that can’t be resolved prior to scheduled line start-ups.

Mistry: Where do you see the biggest challenges in future automation and control systems?

Clarke: This is a two-fold answer and it addresses two of the common topics we see in UK manufacturing. The first is the desire to adopt new digitalisation solutions, but the second is one that few C-suite executives talk about, and that relates to the legacy systems and obsolete hardware and software running their factories. Our view is that running a business on obsolete hardware is far too often neglected and should be given greater attention and investment. But – and here’s the huge opportunity for industry – by upgrading systems with future digitalisation methods and IT/OT architecture, you can not only avoid unplanned downtime from old equipment failing, but also be a springboard to starting a site-wide industrial digitalisation programme. I’d say that’s a double win.

Mistry: What does good project management look like in a modern system integration project?

Clarke: Project management is often overlooked in all but the biggest projects, but good project management is essential from both the customer’s side and from the systems integrator’s side – meaning project managers from both sides, working together. At a simple level, the key elements in any project are tracking and signing off important milestones, as well as having relevant specifications which are strongly reviewed by both sides. This ensures that everyone is clear on what is required, and by when, and would be followed up by regular project reviews to ensure progress. On top of this, we would always prefer factory acceptance tests (at our site or a third-party site), tested against the requirements of the specifications, before anything is delivered to site. It makes no sense to put everyone under pressure to perform software design work on-site, when expectations are high – better to do these in a safe and controlled environment.

Mistry: What’s the most common misconception about digital transformation?

Clarke: Again, the answer is two-fold. Firstly, in our view, what is often overlooked is the importance of true machine and process data from the manufacturing facility. Clearly, complete industrial digitalisation, cannot take place without some interaction with the machines and process, whether that is for monitoring machine performance and capacity, measuring energy consumption, or for traceability of product quality data throughout each step of the manufacturing process. But to get this data is not as simple as plugging a network cable into a control panel. With most businesses having machines and equipment of varying ages and origins, a wide set of IT and OT skills are needed to be able to connect to machine control systems and sensors in order to monitor and sometimes control what’s going on in production.

Mistry: What is your approach to customers where the corporate culture makes it difficult to adopt industrial digital technologies?

Clarke: We have two approaches. The first is more natural and flexible, and that is where we engage with all key stakeholders from budget holders, to machine operators. Many digitalisation aspirations fail to get started because there is no sponsorship from the C-level in the company as well as empathy and engagement with those on the shopfloor who really know what’s going on but aren’t always as involved as they should be. Getting everyone in the same room for open discussions about all of the business priorities is so important. Too often digitalisation projects start with a blinkered and siloed approach, and that can waste a lot of energy and require redesign. So we prefer to design an architecture and methodology that can be scalable across the varying business needs over the coming years.

The second approach is our Smart Industry Readiness Index (Siri) assessments – a deep and wide assessment of the whole enterprise, from process to technology and organisation, covering 16 critical dimensions such as product lifecycle, shopfloor connectivity and talent development. Siri assessments are becoming a globally recognised tool for large enterprises and are worth considering before embarking on a digitalisation journey for any business.

Mistry: Walk me through a recent project where something went wrong and how you handled it?

Clarke: We’ve seen the following type of problem a couple of times, and that is where a system that has been tested at our site, reaches the end-user’s process but fails to control the process as was expected. In both occasions it has been because of problems in the process and not with the control. Sometimes a process may have never been tested or proven before and a degree of process engineering has to take place during commissioning. It’s far from ideal, but calm heads and experience, together with a design review with the customer (who is sometimes not the end-user) is required to make modifications to the process or the control methods to reach a successful outcome for all parties. Control engineers can never be expected to understand every process out there, but experienced engineers and communication usually save the day.

Mistry: How do you make sure your team has the right skills for modern manufacturing projects?

Clarke: At inControl, whilst we like to embrace the next generation of engineers who are leaving college and university with latest skills such as cloud-based software and DevOps engineering. We also value the older, highly experienced engineers who have the widest range of skillsets and process knowledge, meaning they can be trusted to deal with difficult projects. But interestingly, we see at both ends of the spectrum – the best engineers are always keen to learn new things. Modern manufacturing projects often need legacy control systems to be reverse-engineered into new current designs, meaning that a team of senior engineers and younger engineers brings the best of both worlds and helps with knowledge sharing and staff development. On top of this, we make sure that all of our engineers are trained and certified on the various hardware and software platforms that we use – indeed we are expected to do this when we are approved partners of some of the biggest PLC and Scada vendors.

InControl Systems:  LinkedIn