Digital change and the innovations it brings are making our everyday lives increasingly complex. At the same time, technological progress not only affects our private lives, but has already reached far beyond the industry.

But despite the omnipresence of Industry 4.0, some companies are still not equipped for digitization and are not sufficiently prepared for this change.

The Corona Virus Accelerates Digitization

The low level of digital equipment in schools, communes and many companies became particularly apparent after the outbreak of the corona virus. In many areas, there has been insufficient strategic consideration. This resulted, among other things, in an insufficiently developed infrastructure and in employees who were unable to acquire the necessary digital skills due to a lack of training and continuing education programs. In addition, for companies where the digital work environment is not developed, but who wanted to send their employees to the home office as quickly as possible due to distance regulation, legal framework conditions or IT security also represented an obstacle. Such issues had to be dealt with, as they go hand in hand with comprehensive digitization and are of great importance.

The various industries and company divisions were faced with the challenge of providing employees with access to all necessary company data for their home offices. In addition, it had to be ensured that the necessary mobile devices were available for each employee and that employees had the necessary know-how to operate them. Tools for virtual meetings and agreements became essential and in some cases had to be set up from scratch.

However, the use of video chat tools became more important than just for normal office work. In addition to virtual school lessons, workshops, courses or doctor’s appointments, after sales service in the investment and industrial goods sector is increasingly making use of such tools. Customer support after the purchase of a product can no longer be provided on site as usual. The alternative is remote service.

Remote Services as a Driver of Digitization in the Industrial Goods Sector

With the help of data glasses, a tablet or smartphone, for example, the worker at the machine can share his field of vision with a technical service expert. This enables the service employee to assess the object from the customer’s direct view, provide targeted, unambiguous assistance and (if necessary) give immediate correction instructions. Markings, information and circuit diagrams entered into the display also enable a much more efficient working method than looking up in a manual or file in parallel.

The data goggles enable the customer to work hands-free under the reliable guidance of the connected expert: all his actions are performed under a professional shoulder view.

In addition to overcoming barriers, such as the travel ban during the Corona pandemic, Remote Service naturally brings a number of other advantages, such as saving travel costs, higher availability of service personnel and faster commissioning, maintenance, inspection and problem solving for machines and systems.

All in all, one thing is clear, at the latest after the outbreak of COVID-19: digitization in work and private life must be accelerated. Companies need a reliable and powerful digital infrastructure. This includes a faster and comprehensive expansion of mobile communications and broadband, but also the companies themselves should push ahead with speedy digitization projects.

Further Digital Solutions for the Industrial Goods Sector

In our E-Book you can read about the possibilities of digitization in addition to the remote service and the accompanying remote maintenance described above, especially for the area of industrial after sales service. This e-book will first discuss technical solutions from Industry 4.0, such as the Smart Factory, Big Data and the Digital Twin.  Afterwards, the after sales service in general is described and the opportunities and challenges it brings with it. It also discusses the importance of high service quality and how digitization can ensure high service standards with the appropriate solutions such as remote service, automated workflows, predictive maintenance and more.

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