Velotic’s User Conference Reiterated Its Exclusive Focus on Industrial Software, Data, and Threads

At Velotic’s User Conference last week (May 5-7, 2026) in Orlando, Velotic gathered hundreds of (primarily Proficy) users to align with Velotic’s history, strategy, and vision. The company positions itself as a leading industrial software provider, built on reliable products and revitalized by becoming the core business focus rather than peripheral offerings. Velotic’s new owner, TPG, also has financial backing to invest in Proficy, ThingWorx, and Kepware, both individually and as an integrated portfolio.

There is tangible excitement among customers, partners, product managers, and executives as to the future of Velotic. Velotic, in particular, provides a compelling portfolio that focuses squarely on industrial software, emphasizing data collection, contextualization, analysis, and orchestration.

Two central pillars of Velotic’s strategy are its exclusive focus on software and its unique ability to equip industrial operators with usable, contextualized data.

The first pillar is qualitative. Velotic executives openly acknowledge how their previous owners tempered the potential of Proficy, ThingWorx, and Kepware. Currently, these products make up the entirety of Velotic and therefore develop with a new eye for growth and improvement. Velotic Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Brian Shepard made clear during his keynote that the priority for Velotic is to invest in its people and products, with TPG reportedly being willing and able to provide capital for targeted innovation. Importantly, Velotic’s exclusive focus on software counters the position of large competitors such as Rockwell and Siemens.

The second pillar revolves around Velotic’s unique ability to improve industrial operations by surfacing timely and contextualized data across shop floor devices. Kepware is the standard for extracting and aggregating Operational Technology (OT) data, now coupled with Proficy for manufacturing efficiency and ThingWorx for asset effectiveness and Artificial Intelligence (AI) insights. Coming in 3Q 2025, Proficy Data Hub will be an integrable piece of the portfolio as Velotic’s contextualization and data fabric layer.

The full-loop offering of Velotic aligns nicely with industrial software innovation from a broader market standpoint, as software suppliers turn their focus away from extracting data to driving insights and control downward to the shop floor.

Velotic has momentum after its exciting creation, significant booth attendance at Hannover Messe, and its user conference. However, crucial actions must be taken to demonstrate serious viability in the industrial software space:

• Cross-selling is the natural revenue opportunity in the near term, but must not overshadow ambition and innovation. Velotic’s products are well established, particularly Proficy and Kepware. However, to truly be a leading industrial software provider, Velotic must convey innovation with respect to AI to attract prospects and grow market share.
• Data are at the center of Velotic’s story. Velotic must claim the industrial data narrative, especially as combinations of Tulip and HighByte/Litmus remain strong competitors on the AI front. While working to embed the AI features of ThingWorx across the portfolio, Velotic must emphasize its strength in data management as a key enabler of AI.
• Velotic must be more than its three individual products. There must be a Velotic thread that defines the company and connects its products. While it is early and understandably undeveloped, the vision for how Kepware, ThingWorx, and Proficy practically come together as a collection that is larger than each on its own is unclear.
• Settle on a relationship with TPG. Many customers aired concerns about private equity backing Velotic. While Velotic executives assure that the “checkbook is open” (direct quote) with TPG, Velotic must clearly demonstrate to customers tangible investment from TPG into products, or TPG should no longer be spoken about. Private equity owns many companies in this world, often without the everyday knowledge of the general public—and for good reason.