RPAM vs OT SRA: Why IT PAM Alone Falls Short in Operational Technology — and How Dispel Delivers Speed, Security, and ROI

I was talking shop with a CISO for a food & beverage manufacturer at the recent Black Hat conference, after I noticed him lingering just outside our booth. 

After a quick handshake and some small talk, we got into some of his company’s challenges and why he was at the event. I asked, “How does your industrial team handle remote access today?” 

He said, “We’re good. We’ve got VPN, PAM, jump hosts… we connect most of the time.” 

Most of the time. 

I asked, “Okay… how long does that take?” 

He gave me the “it’s fine” shrug. “It’s good enough. Sometimes same day, sometimes next day. But once we’re in, we get the job done. Security boxes checked, the tools are validated, our process works pretty well right now. 

I smiled. “What if you could do it faster?” 

He leaned back, skeptical. “Faster’s nice, but we’ve already invested in a lot of integrations. New tools mean onboarding, validation, security reviews, you know how that goes… that’s a lot of hoops to jump through when we don’t need it.” 

So I said, “Sure — but right now you’ve got VPNs, RPAM, jump hosts, maybe Citrix or VMware, plus a few bolt-ons for file sharing or session recording… What if you could do all of that in one platform, keep your security controls, and save budget?” 

I told him about: 

• An oil & gas company that eliminated 200+ hours of monthly IT workload. 

• A beverage manufacturer that cut $42 million per year in operating costs by standardizing remote access with Dispel. 

His eyebrows went up. “Wait… you’re saying you could save me that much money and make things faster? Okay… so tell me how this improves my security posture — and exactly how it saves us money.”  

Where RPAM Falls Short in OT

I explained: “RPAM’s great for your IT world. It’s built to store passwords, log sessions, integrate with your identity provider — all important stuff. But OT is different.” 

Here’s why: 

• No native industrial protocol support → Your PLCs and SCADA gear might as well be speaking a different language. 

• No device-level control → You can’t easily give access to one machine without opening the door to 50 others. 

• Too much plumbing → VPNs, jump servers, firewall changes… every extra layer adds complexity and increases your attack surface.  

Operational technology (OT) is the backbone of production lines, turbines, power grids, and critical infrastructure. In OT, a delay isn’t just a slow login — it’s lost output, safety risk, or a full-scale outage.  

6 Reasons OT Teams Add an SRA Instead of Stretching RPAM

I told him, “It’s more common than you may think. This is why industrial teams keep RPAM for IT — but add a dedicated OT Secure Remote Access platform.” 

1. Speed — Saves Time and Money 

RPAM: Can average 12–15 minutes to connect; hours for some OT apps. 
Dispel: 30 seconds. MTTR down with faster connections by up to 80%. 
Impact: Every hour saved can mean $125k+ in avoided downtime. 

2. Granular Access & Group-Level Segmentation 

RPAM: Centralized IT control. 
Dispel: Facility-level approvals, protocol/device-specific rules. Local teams stay in control. 

3. Vendor Self-Onboarding 

RPAM: Global onboarding takes forever. 
Dispel: Vendors onboard themselves, get site-specific approvals, use disposable VDIs, and you still get real-time oversight. 

4. Purpose-Built for OT Workflows 

RPAM: Struggles with custom ports, patching at scale, and decentralized operations. 
Dispel: Native OT protocol support + golden image updates to all sites in hours, not days. 

5. Eliminate Tool Sprawl 

RPAM: Needs add-ons to connect like Citrix, VMware, or Bomgar. 
Dispel: All-in-one connection suite — Browser Connect, Virtual Desktop, and Local App connections built in. 

6. Stronger OT Security & Compliance 

RPAM: Meets IT frameworks, misses OT-specific standards. 
Dispel: Turnkey compliance (IEC 62443, NIST 800-82, NERC CIP) + Moving Target Defense architecture for dynamic, cloaked pathways.  

Proven Impact: Security, Uptime, and Cost Savings

By the time we wrapped up a quick demo at a nearby station, the platform spoke for itself. I circled back to his two original questions: 

How will this impact my cybersecurity posture? 
Dispel closes OT blind spots, enforces granular, facility-level controls, and aligns with OT-specific compliance frameworks — all while reducing the attack surface and maintaining uptime. 

How will this save me money? 
Dispel cuts connection times by 80%, reducing MTTR and downtime costs, avoiding fines, and replacing 5+ separate tools with one platform. Every minute saved directly boosts production uptime. It adds up, fast.

The Dispel Zero Trust Engine isn’t here to replace your RPAM in IT — it’s here to give your OT teams the same speed, security, and simplicity your IT teams expect, without disrupting operations or inflating budgets. 

In OT, “good enough” remote access quietly drains millions in lost productivity, downtime, and administrative overhead. Dispel turns most of the time into every time — faster, safer, and measurably more cost-effective.