Revolutionizing Maintenance & Reliability with Octave Intelligence – A 20-Year Partnership Built on Truth
By Alex Bolan, President of DigitalThinker Inc.
The maintenance and reliability industry is at a crossroads. For too long, vendors have flooded the market with overhyped promises—AI that supposedly eliminates downtime, dashboards that claim to solve every problem, and buzzwords that sound impressive but deliver little. At DigitalThinker Inc., we’re not here to add to the noise. We’re here to start a revolution, one grounded in practical, people-first solutions that empower your team and protect your assets. And we’re proud to lead this charge alongside a partner we’ve trusted for two decades: Hexagon’s Asset Lifecycle Intelligence (ALI) division, soon to be reborn as Octave Intelligence.
At Hexagon Live Global 2025, Mattias Stenberg, President of Hexagon ALI, cut through the industry’s fog with a statement that hit home. He was discussing AI, Digital Twins and the hype manufacturers are struggling with. In regards to Octave Intelligence and how they will build their solutions he says: “(we will)Stay grounded in the truth, so you can rise above the hype.” His words capture the heart of our mission at DigitalThinker. We don’t chase trends or sell sci-fi fantasies. We deliver tools like HxGN EAM that transform operations from reactive to proactive, helping businesses navigate the messy, unpredictable realities of asset management.
A Partnership That Stands the Test of Time
Let’s address the elephant in the room: another name change. Hexagon ALI is spinning off into Octave Intelligence, and some might wonder what that means for us. Here’s the truth: DigitalThinker has been partnered with this solution—through its various names—for 20 years. We’ve implemented HxGN EAM (formerly Infor EAM, formerly Datastream) for clients across manufacturing, aerospace, defense, and beyond, helping them master their assets and achieve operational excellence. We’re not going anywhere, and I’m not writing this to get brownie points with Mattias (though he’s a great guy). We embrace this change because Octave Intelligence represents a bold step forward—a commitment to data-centric digital twins, predictive maintenance, and solutions that prioritize your success over marketing hype.
This isn’t our first rodeo. My father, Tony Bolan, founded DigitalThinker in 2003 after years as a plant manager and consultant, and I grew up in this industry, learning the value of reliable equipment and empowered workers. For 20 years, we’ve worked with this solution to deliver results, from reducing downtime in factories to ensuring mission-critical systems stay online during crises. Octave’s vision aligns with ours: technology should serve people, not the other way around.
The Real-World Challenges We Solve
The keynote at Hexagon Live Global 2025 featured leaders from diverse industries—a manufacturing VP, a sheriff’s office Colonel, and an energy project executive—who shared a common truth: unpredictability is the enemy. One story stuck with me: a company pours everything into achieving perfect uptime, but all it takes is a squirrel chewing through two wires to cause five days of downtime. That’s not a hypothetical; it’s a real-world scenario we’ve seen. You can’t predict every squirrel, but with HxGN EAM, you can prepare for the unexpected.
In manufacturing, a single defective faucet shipped to a hotel can spiral into complaints from guests, property managers, and corporate clients. For a sheriff’s office, a loss of connectivity during a hurricane—like the one that submerged 234,500 vehicles in a single disaster—can jeopardize lives. In energy, complex projects managing 10,000 unique initiatives across 45 countries rely on synchronized data to avoid catastrophic delays. These aren’t abstract problems; they’re the stakes our clients face every day.
HxGN EAM, backed by DigitalThinker’s expertise, equips you to respond. Our clients use real-time data to monitor equipment health, predictive analytics to catch issues before they escalate, and streamlined workflows to keep teams aligned. We’ve seen plants reduce unplanned outages by catching “squirrel-level” risks early, law enforcement agencies maintain connectivity under pressure, and project teams integrate disparate systems to deliver on time. This isn’t about eliminating chaos—it’s about mastering it.
Why Octave Intelligence Is the Future
The transition to Octave Intelligence isn’t just a rebrand; it’s a leap toward what Mattias Stenberg calls the “mirror world.” Think of it as a digital twin of your assets—every turbine, every faucet, every police drone—monitored in real time, not to react to failures but to predict and prevent them. This isn’t sci-fi; it’s the new normal. Octave’s focus on intelligent, self-aware infrastructure dovetails with our mission to make your operations unbreakable.
Take the Öresund Bridge, a marvel connecting Sweden and Denmark. Sensors along its 7.8-kilometer span feed data into a digital twin, detecting micro-cracks years before they become disasters. Traffic flows, disruptions are avoided, and the bridge stands strong against nature’s fury. That’s the power of foresight, and it’s what we bring to your assets with HxGN EAM. Whether you’re running a factory producing 1.5 billion ceramic pieces a year or managing a fleet during a natural disaster, we help you see the future, not just fix the past.
Our Revolution: People First, Always
This revolution isn’t about chasing AI for its own sake. It’s about empowering your people—your operators, technicians, and managers—to be the heroes of your story. Too many vendors sell software as a magic bullet, but we know the truth: technology is only as good as the teams using it. That’s why DigitalThinker invests in free training for you and provides consulting, and ongoing support to ensure your staff can leverage HxGN EAM to its fullest. It’s why we’ve spent 20 years refining our approach, from seamless data migrations (yes, even from legacy systems like MP2) to role-based training that gets your new hires up to speed.
We’re not here to sell you a product; we’re here to be your guide. Our partnership with Octave Intelligence strengthens that commitment, giving us access to cutting-edge tools while keeping us grounded in what matters: your success. We’ve seen what happens when vendors overpromise—trust erodes, projects stall, and workers are left scrambling. That’s not our style. We’re in this for the long haul, just as we’ve been for two decades.
Join Us in Building an Unbreakable Future
The maintenance and reliability industry doesn’t need more hype—it needs a revolution. At DigitalThinker, we’re leading that charge with Octave Intelligence by our side. We’re excited about what’s next: smarter digital twins, deeper predictive insights, and solutions that make your assets as resilient as the Öresund Bridge. But we can’t do it alone. We need you—your stories, your challenges, your victories.
Have you faced a “squirrel moment” that brought your operations to a halt? How are you breaking free from reactive maintenance? Share your thoughts in the comments or reach out to learn how DigitalThinker and Octave Intelligence can make your assets unstoppable. Together, we’ll build a future where downtime isn’t a disaster—it’s just another challenge we’ve already solved.
Here’s to 20 more years of truth, partnership, and unbreakable operations.
Alex Bolan is the President of DigitalThinker Inc., a Simpsonville, South Carolina-based firm specializing in HxGN EAM implementation, training, and consulting. Connect with Alex on LinkedIn or visit www.digitalthinker.com to join the maintenance revolution.