There’s a shift happening in industrial software right now that I don’t think most companies have fully processed.
For a long time, the model was pretty straightforward - pick a platform, bring in a systems integrator, spend 12–24 months wiring things together, and hope you get a handful of digital use cases into production. It works - but it’s inefficient, expensive, and it doesn’t scale the way people expect. Every new use case turns into another project. Every expansion resets the clock… That model is starting to break.
What’s replacing it is an ecosystem-driven approach. And one of the accelerants behind it is the rise of AI-assisted development - what has been called “vibe coding” - where the barrier to building software is dropping fast, and more people can actually create usable applications. It’s early, but the direction is clear.
So the real question is: what actually matters as this shift plays out?
What is an industrial software ecosystem?
Let’s simplify this, because it gets complicated quickly.
A software ecosystem isn’t a partner slide or a marketplace that looks good on a deck.
It’s an operating model - typically anchored by a platform vendor - where:
- Developers (partners, SIs, and in many cases customers) can build applications quickly on top of a shared foundation.
- Partners can monetize what they build without friction.
- Customers can adopt and extend solutions without starting from zero every time.
The platform vendor sets the conditions: tooling, data layer, certification, and commercial model. Partners and SIs build and deliver solutions on top of it. Customers consume, extend, and ultimately shape where the ecosystem goes based on real use cases. If any one of those breaks down, the ecosystem does not scale.
Most ecosystems don’t fail because of technology; they fail because the model does not work for the people expected to build it.
What’s actually changing?
This is where things start to shift in a meaningful way. The barrier to building software is dropping - fast.
Call it AI-assisted development, call it “vibe coding” - the idea is simple:
You don’t need the same level of time, resources, or specialization to build something useful.
That changes the model completely.
Instead of a few large, slow-moving deployments, you start to see:
- Smaller, more targeted applications
- Faster cycles from idea to production
- More people building - partners, customers, even internal teams
But here’s the catch - this only works if there’s a platform underneath that can support it.
If not, you just create more fragmentation and more technical debt. This is the point where ecosystems go from being a nice concept to something operationally required. If your platform doesn’t make it easy for others to build, extend, and monetize, it’s going to struggle in this next phase.
Cognite is “all in” on the ecosystem
Our view on this is pretty pragmatic. If this shift is real - and we believe it is - then the platform has to do a few things extremely well.
First, data has to be usable. Not just stored, but contextualized in a way that developers can actually work with it without spending months figuring it out. That’s why the industrial knowledge graph is so important - all complex enterprise data can be structured in a way for anyone to search for, understand, and trust.
Second, building has to be fast. If partners or customers can’t get started quickly, you lose momentum before you even begin. Tools and templates for building new applications must be integrated seamlessly into the software experience.
Third, there has to be a path to value. If partners can’t monetize what they build, none of this scales.
This is where AI-native coding tools can help partners deliver custom industrial workflows to improve how their customers operate.
The goal isn’t to introduce more tools or more complexity - it’s to make it easier to build on top of industrial data, deploy and scale applications, and extend what’s already there. If ecosystems are going to work in heavy-asset industries, this layer must be considered foundational.
Are you ready for the new model?
Industrial companies don’t need more platforms - they need outcomes.
The old model - heavy implementations, slow delivery, constant reinvestment - isn’t going to keep up with where things are going.
What replaces it is a more open, scalable model:
- More builders
- Faster development
- More focused, composable solutions
That’s what a real ecosystem enables. We’re still early, but the direction is clear. The companies that figure this out - and build for it - are the ones that are going to move faster and scale further over the next few years.
What’s your view on the ecosystem approach?