The future of industrial AI: How SCADA is getting an upgrade

Michael Matrick (left) and Kyle Alexander speak to the crowd at YYC DataCon in Calgary. – Photo by Paulina Ochoa, Digital Journal

Picture this: You’re running a massive pipeline network, moving millions of barrels of oil and gas across vast distances. Every second, sensors track pressure, flow rates, and potential leaks. 

If something goes wrong, you need to know right now — not in a report three days later.

Now, swap out oil for data. AI models, cloud computing, and massive data centres are the modern equivalent of pipelines, handling information instead of hydrocarbons. 

But here’s the catch: both need real-time monitoring, lightning-fast decision-making, and a rock-solid infrastructure to stay running.

If you’ve ever worked in an industry that relies on heavy infrastructure, you’ve probably heard of SCADA. If not, congratulations, you have managed to avoid one of the more unglamorous but essential backbones of modern industry. 

SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems have quietly been keeping pipelines flowing, grids powered, and refineries humming. The industrial control system monitors and manages critical infrastructure. Without it, the systems that power our daily lives — including fuel distribution, electricity, even municipal water supplies — would be far less reliable.

But while SCADA has been essential for decades, it wasn’t built for the data-heavy, AI-driven world we live in today. The way these systems handle data has traditionally been slow, siloed, and difficult to integrate with modern analytics tools.

At YYC DataCon, Inter Pipeline’s SCADA advisor Kyle Alexander put it bluntly.

“The SCADA department was, for better or worse, Smaug from Lord of the Rings, and we hoarded all the data,” he said. “If anyone wanted any, they had to come to us.”

During their session in Calgary, Alexander and Michael Matrick, regional director at Improving, an IT service and consulting company, walked attendees through how they transformed that Tolkien-style model by migrating SCADA data to the cloud with Microsoft Azure. 

What they got was a massive reduction in manual work, real-time analytics capabilities, and a framework that will scale for years to come. Here’s how they did it.

From hoarding data to unlocking real-time insights

Inter Pipeline’s SCADA data was stored on-premises in Aveva and Emerson control systems (industrial software and hardware solutions used to monitor, control, and optimize operations), with no easy way to share it. While the Aviva historian ensured data integrity, it also reinforced a closed-off architecture where only SCADA advisors had direct access. Other departments had to rely on outdated workarounds, which introduced inefficiencies and limited data usability.

Alexander said they were drowning in data requests, with multiple different departments reaching out for data that needed to be extracted, put into a format understandable for who was asking for it, and then handed over.

To solve this, Inter Pipeline partnered with Improving to build a cloud-based infrastructure that would provide secure, real-time access to SCADA data while maintaining operational integrity.

Traditional SCADA systems were designed to collect and store data, but not necessarily share it. That meant different teams inside a company had to request data manually, leading to slow decision-making, bottlenecks, and inefficiencies.

Inter Pipeline saw a significant reduction in manual work and delays for integrity data requests after moving SCADA data to the cloud. 

“Every integrity project data request” now saves the company around 40 to 50 hours of work per request, according to Alexander.

The move also eliminated the need for SCADA advisors to manually build costly spreadsheets for each request — an effort that Alexander said previously amounted to roughly $120,000 per spreadsheet.

Moving SCADA to the cloud

Inter Pipeline’s solution was to move its SCADA data to Microsoft Azure, a cloud platform that allows real-time data sharing across departments. Instead of requiring manual intervention, data now flows into a centralized, AI-ready system, where it can be accessed securely by multiple teams.

Alexander explained how the transition was designed for efficiency and security.

One of the biggest challenges in moving SCADA data to the cloud is keeping it secure while allowing teams to access what they need.

Inter Pipeline solved this by setting up a one-way data pipeline using Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute. This private connection ensures that SCADA data can flow to the cloud but never back in, preventing any outside interference.

“We had a decision support system in a secure zone, and with Azure ExpressRoute, we built a private connection through an ISP hub in Toronto, where an Azure firewall adds another layer of security,” Alexander said. “Everything is encrypted, and most importantly, it’s a one-way setup — data moves out, but nothing can come back in.”

By structuring the system this way, Inter Pipeline keeps its operational data locked down while still making it available for real-time analysis in the cloud.

How AI is changing SCADA

Beyond accessibility, AI is now analyzing SCADA data in ways that weren’t possible before. With machine learning models monitoring thousands of data points, companies can detect issues before they become major problems.

One immediate use case of SCADA data in the cloud is predictive maintenance. AI models can now analyze historical data, identifying potential failures before they happen. Predictive capabilities like these could help companies avoid costly shutdowns and improve safety.

The shift also means fewer manual tasks for engineers.

“We want to automate our life away,” Alexander said. “My goal is always to automate myself out of a job.”

He admitted that’s easier said than done, but AI is helping SCADA teams work faster and smarter, allowing them to focus on more complex challenges rather than routine data extraction.

Why it matters for Alberta’s energy sector and beyond

For companies still relying on traditional SCADA systems, Inter Pipeline’s shift to the cloud offers a glimpse into the future. More organizations across energy, utilities, and industrial sectors are expected to follow suit, integrating AI to improve efficiency, reduce downtime, and strengthen regulatory compliance.

But Alexander said the biggest benefit isn’t just efficiency — it’s changing how data is used across an organization.

“The bigger picture is just giving every department the information they need in a format they need, at their fingertips.”

That’s the goal: moving from siloed, manual processes to AI-driven automation.

As more companies modernize their infrastructure, SCADA will no longer be just about keeping pipelines running or power grids stable. It will be about making real-time decisions, improving safety, and optimizing operations across industries.

Digital Journal is the official media partner of YYC DataCon 2025. 

This article was created with the assistance of AI. Learn more about our AI ethics policy here.