What added value can we provide to our customers? This is a frequently repeated topic in the manufacturing and technology sectors. Rockwell Automation's industrial automation services now have the potential to create much more added value for its customers than traditional services such as field support, spare parts and repairs.

So where are we in services today and what's next?

Services has come of age with Industry 4.0. Today, services are able to offer the competence and experience necessary to apply the latest technologies in every industry.

There are five key areas where services provide added value.

Five areas ready to be serviced with the product

The area that requires an outside expertise and should be considered is network and security services. Increasing connectivity without a robust security approach poses a huge risk. Without the tools and resources in their teams to fully test, design, implement, manage and monitor their industrial networks, industry managers can benefit from expertise for these goals. The Connected Enterprise is making the viewing and management part of these goals a continuous service that provides remote viewing and peace of mind using connectivity.

Product and application lifecycle support is the second area and not a new one. On the other hand, this element is also maturing. Contracts and services that support hardware, software and solutions, problem-solving competence in the design, integration and operation phases of the system are now also benefiting from remote viewing capabilities. These services have also begun to harness the power of twin digital technologies. 4. The field of service automation that will evolve as the technologies of the Industrial Revolution develop.

His third area of expertise is about the enormous amount of data generated by increasingly connected companies, and aims to bridge the data competency gap needed to leverage it. This includes remote viewing, service delivery alongside the product, and cloud computing analytics. Modern automation solutions can image intelligent machines, devices and companies to deliver more proactive and predictive analytics. But if your company doesn't have the competence to turn this data into usable information, the option to get the service with the product can also help.

Traditional asset management, which constitutes the fourth area, has also begun to leverage remote viewing capabilities and real-time data, with sellers negotiating sales agreements for the product, reducing planned and unplanned downtime.

The fifth area is 4. As we move into the Industrial Revolution, it becomes increasingly important: safety. Services related to electrical safety, arc flash safety, labeling and lockout safety, machinery safety and process safety can also be provided with support from outside the company's own structure. This group, which includes services such as evaluation and engineering services, stands out with remote control and monitoring systems. For example, with the remote monitoring system, it is possible to remotely monitor whether there is a violation of the safety procedures required within the company.

Future development areas

And that's just the beginning. In the future, technologies such as augmented reality will also be added to these services - they will have applications that can be served remotely, such as digital twins. For advanced analytics, AI-based big data can be delivered as a remote service.

These are exciting areas that will visibly change what we can do with apps.

The use of such services becomes even more important when we consider the competency gap. The fact that there is a gap all over the world for STEM (Science, technology, engineering and mathematics) professionals, which is incredibly important for the industry, where many functions – if not all, those based on data management competencies – depend on outsourced services further increases the importance of these services.

But when considering the industrial services of the future, we also need to take into account the human factor.

Whatever the development in the industry thanks to technological advances and automation, the workforce will always remain its most valuable asset.