The next industrial revolution is upon us, as Industry 4.0 brings in a new wave of connected manufacturers and smart factories. Industry 4.0 is a current trend in manufacturing that involves a combination of cyber-physical systems, automation and the Internet of Things (IoT), which together create a smart factory. It is the fourth Industrial Revolution, following in the footsteps of computers and the internet (Industry 3.0), mass production and electricity (Industry 2.0) and mechanization and water/steam power (Industry 1.0). Industry 4.0 manufacturers worldwide are connecting their machines to the cloud and developing their very own industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). In doing so, they are scratching the surface of untapped potential, which promises exponential growth and enormous scalability for their business.

As a provider of cloud-based field service and workforce management software, I experience firsthand the effect that Industry 4.0 has on our customers in the manufacturing industry. In order to perform maintenance and repairs on connected machines, technicians must offer a level of technical expertise, in addition to their foundational mechanical knowledge, in order to keep up with the accelerated service demand that comes with IoT connectivity. Because of this, manufacturing customers turn to our crowd service model to alleviate the pressure that comes with servicing IoT devices.

Digitizing manufacturing processes is not as simple as connecting devices to Wi-Fi. For one, the manufacturing industry is historically known for a mechanical marriage of oil and steel to make moving metal parts — not so much cloud computing nor cyber-physical systems. With that, a manufacturing organization’s upgrade to Industry 4.0 can require a full-fledged paradigm shift — from factory floor workers to C-suite decision-makers — to instill organizational change and company-wide rethinking of existing processes. While machine-to-machine and human-to-machine connectivity are the paramount focuses of Industry 4.0, the true underlying benefit of Industry 4.0 resides in the machine-to-business connectivity, which we call “machine-as-a-service.”

While there is a wealth of “-as-a-service” buzzwords already in the technology realm today, machine-as-a-service encompasses a manufacturing machine’s contributions to business goals through Industry 4.0 connectivity. Today’s enterprises look past the speeds and feeds of machine equipment and rather focus on how said equipment drives business revenue. For example, companies no longer purchase manufacturing equipment in a one-and-done payment for the nuts and bolts. Instead, they negotiate the key performance indicators (KPIs) of the equipment in advance and then partially finance the payment based on the machine’s output. In essence, they do not just purchase the machine, but they also purchase a “subscription” to ensure that machine continues to drive and enhance the business, hence machine-as-a-service.

Service life cycle management is a key component of this model, as connected equipment requires maintenance on a more regular basis. However, service is no longer limited to equipment maintenance and repair — service also entails software updates with enhanced features that enable your connected machine to support larger business goals, such as sales efforts.

Another key component of machine-as-a-service is customer touchpoints. Companies must look beyond their machines to keep pace with heightened customer expectations, finding new ways to increase customer satisfaction. One way is to accelerate the pace of service to real-time. Another is to further develop the touchpoint to and from the customer to cover all bases. For example, the most successful businesses today have expanded their portfolios from search engines and bookstores to technology mega-conglomerates, offering end customers a comprehensive way of life instead of individual products.

Historically, customer touch points have revolved around the product themselves. For example, touch points would start from the purchase of the product, continue through setup with account setup and other related processes and then trickle off with the occasional service request under the warranty. With the onset of the IoT, the “trickle” of the third stage is extended through continued software updates until the true end-of-life of the product. In order to make the most of that extension, businesses can incorporate upsell and expansion opportunities within the regular software updates, which in turn results in a more scalable product with a longer shelf life that continues to drive revenue.