There are some places that just suit a conference perfectly. Dundee, with its sweeping waterfront, dramatic views across the Tay and the gleaming curves of the V&A Dundee, turned out to be exactly that kind of place.
After all, Dundee proudly calls itself The City of Discovery — and if the recent Maximo UK & Ireland User Group was anything to go by, there was plenty being discovered. Some of it technological. Some operational. Some deeply philosophical.
Discovery Everywhere You Look
Outside the conference venue, the Dundee waterfront was spectacular. Bright open spaces, the river glistening in the sunlight, modern architecture blending into old industrial heritage. There was even something rather fitting about discussing AI, digital transformation and operational intelligence while sitting a stone’s throw from the V&A. The museum itself feels futuristic yet grounded in history — much like many organisations wrestling with Maximo upgrades and AI ambitions.
MAS 9.2 and the advent of Agentic AI
The day kicked off with discussions around the MAS 9.2 roadmap, and it quickly became clear that the conversation has evolved far beyond simply implementing systems.
AI featured heavily throughout the day, particularly around worker productivity, decision support and the emerging world of agentic AI.
Exciting? Absolutely. Slightly terrifying? Most probably, yes.
There was genuine energy around the potential of Maximo Assistant and AI-driven recommendations, but refreshingly, nobody disappeared into sci-fi fantasy territory. The recurring message remained reassuringly practical:
- Good AI still depends on good data.
- Good data still depends on good processes.
- Good processes still depend on actual humans engaging with them.
Which, as several attendees quietly acknowledged over coffee, has always been the difficult bit.
Scottish Water: The Best Water in Scotland…!
One of the standout sessions came from Scottish Water, and it has to be said that we were really proud to have been an integral part of the way in which they wanted to deliver such a large undertaking.
Managing transformation across 2,000 impacted roles while balancing climate change, ageing infrastructure and rising customer expectations is no small task. Yet the session was delivered with refreshing honesty about the realities of large-scale change.
There were discussions about:
- collaboration,
- pilot approaches,
- healthy challenge,
- avoiding perfection paralysis,
- and the dangerous phrase: “Maximo can do so much…”
Infinis and the Joy of Organised Chaos
Then came Infinis, the UK’s leading generator of low carbon power from captured methane, whose session could perhaps best be summarised as:
“We inherited several systems, customised everything, acquired more things, and are now bravely attempting to tidy it all up.”
Which, to be fair, probably describes half of British industry.
Their focus on using the MAS upgrade as an opportunity to simplify, standardise and finally optimise scheduling clearly resonated with attendees. There’s something universally comforting about hearing another organisation admit: “We also made some implementation decisions we now deeply regret.”
Toyota, Rolls-Royce and the Beauty of Small Improvements
Toyota shared follow-up insights to their presentation from the MAS Unlocked session in London last year from across eight European manufacturing sites, alongside discussions around inventory and condition-based maintenance.
Meanwhile Rolls-Royce delivered perhaps one of the day’s most quietly important messages: Sometimes success looks less like revolutionary transformation and more like:
- fewer duplicate records,
- better visibility,
- simpler processes,
- and lower downtime risk.
The Networking Lunch: A Strategic Success Story
Great food. Great conversations. Plenty of laughter. The kind of networking that reminds you why in-person events still matter in a world increasingly obsessed with virtual everything.
There is simply no Teams equivalent of:
- bumping into someone over coffee,
- sharing implementation war stories,
- debating AI ethics over sandwiches,
- or collectively agreeing that “user adoption” is both the most important and most underestimated phrase in enterprise transformation.
The Real Takeaway? People Still Matter Most
Whether discussing mobile adoption, inventory management, AI capability or operational knowledge, the conversations kept returning to the same challenge:
people.
Not because people resist change for fun, but because meaningful adoption requires trust, clarity, leadership and, most of all, the luxury of time.
You can buy the best technology in the world…but success still depends on humans deciding to use it properly.
Final Thoughts from the Waterfront
The Maximo User Group continues to succeed because it avoids polished corporate theatre and instead creates space for candid conversations about what transformation looks like on the ground — messy bits included.
And honestly, with the Tay sparkling outside, the V&A standing proudly nearby and a room full of people openly sharing lessons learned, Dundee turned out to be a perfect place for it all.