The Complete Guide to Secure Remote Service for Industrial Machinery

If you're an OEM building complex, high-value machines, remote access isn't a luxury anymore—it's essential. With hundreds of machines in the field and a growing aftermarket to support, your team is under pressure to reduce downtime, lower service costs, and deliver better support without adding headcount. But enabling remote access raises real security concerns, especially in manufacturing, one of the most targeted industries for cyberattacks.

You need a way to support your customers without putting your operations, IP, or reputation at risk.

Why you can trust ei³:

Part 1: The Opportunity

1 - How Remote Service Has Evolved and Where It's Headed

Remote service has come a long way. If you've been in the field, you've probably experienced this shift firsthand—from reactive site visits to secure, remote-first strategies. Here's how the model has evolved, and what's coming next.

Traditional Service Model (Pre-2000s): In the early days, machine service was entirely reactive. If something broke, someone had to travel—usually with limited insight into what they'd find:

Basic Remote Connectivity (2000-2010): As internet access improved, so did early remote support tools. You likely started using these to reduce travel and improve response time—but they came with limitations:

Modern Secure Remote Service (Today with ei³): Today's remote service capabilities look very different. If you're already using—or considering—ei³'s platform, you're tapping into a more secure, scalable way to support machines:

Future Remote Service (Emerging with ei³): Looking ahead, remote service is becoming even smarter and more autonomous. Many of these innovations are already part of forward-thinking OEM roadmaps.

Customer Relationship Challenges: 

Support delays don't just cost time—they can cost trust. When machines go down and help is slow, your reputation and renewal pipeline take a hit:

Secure remote service isn't just about convenience, it's about protecting your margins, meeting expectations, and strengthening your position with every machine you support.

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2. The Business Case for Secure Remote Service

Quantifiable Returns Across Every Metric That Matters

Implementing secure remote service delivers measurable, bottom-line results that justify investment and drive continued expansion.

For Machine Builders (OEMs):

For Machine Owners (Manufacturers):

Real-World Success: Bobst's Transformation

Bobst, a global leader in packaging and converting machinery, faced the same challenges many OEMs encounter: rising service delivery costs, overextended technical teams, and customer expectations that couldn't be met with in-person support alone.

The Challenge: Flying factory experts around the world was no longer sustainable, especially when problems often involved both machines and operator processes requiring expert guidance.

The Solution: Bobst launched 'Helpline Plus' services using ei³'s white-labeled remote service platform, empowering service technicians to securely access customer machines from anywhere.

The Results:

"We look at connectivity, digitization, automation, and sustainability as the cornerstones of packaging production. We set out on this journey with ei³ in 2004. It has been a close relationship, and we now have over 5000 machines connected."

— Alex Gigon, Director Service Operations at Bobst North America

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3. Security Challenges in Remote Machine Access

Manufacturing: The Bull's-Eye on Cybercriminals' Target

You operate in one of the most attacked sectors in the world. These threats aren't theoretical—they're happening daily, and they're costly:

Why Traditional Remote Access Tools Fall Short

If you're still relying on basic VPNs, remote desktop protocols, or consumer-grade tools, you may be exposing your operations to more risk than you realize.

Critical Gaps in Legacy Approaches:

What Modern Industrial Security Requires

To truly protect your operations, you need more than just another firewall or VPN—you need a remote access solution that addresses both your digital systems and your physical equipment, with zero assumptions of trust.

Critical Requirements: A secure remote service model for modern manufacturing must include:

Modern solutions no longer force a tradeoff—security and usability can (and must) go hand in hand.

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Part 2: The Solution

4. ei³'s Security-First Approach

Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) Protection Platform

When your business depends on both digital systems and physical machines, you can't afford to rely on IT security alone. ei³'s Cyber-Physical Systems Protection Platform delivers integrated security designed specifically for industrial environments.

Core Protection Elements:

Zero Trust Remote Access (ZTRA)

Instead of opening up networks, ei³'s Zero Trust approach ensures users access only what they need, when they need it—no more, no less.

Key ZTRA Features:

2. Edge Security: Secure the endpoints where industrial connectivity begins:

3. Application Security: Control who gets in, what they do, and how long they stay connected:

4. Cloud Infrastructure: Ensure your data is managed in a resilient, secure environment:

Read more about ei³’s security architecture

5. Edge Technology and Connectivity Options

If you're serious about implementing secure remote service, you need to start with the right foundation—and that means your edge technology. Edge devices are more than hardware add-ons; they're the gatekeepers that connect your machines to remote teams, securely and reliably.

These devices play a critical role in enabling connectivity without exposing your operations to unnecessary risk. They ensure remote access works seamlessly while keeping security and control intact at the machine level.

Role of Edge Devices in Secure Remote Service

Here's what your edge devices need to deliver for a secure, scalable remote support environment:

Whether you're supporting five machines or five thousand, edge devices are what make secure, industrial-grade remote access possible—without compromising uptime or safety.

Choosing the Right Edge Connectivity Solution

When you're ready to roll out secure remote service, your edge connectivity strategy matters. Not every plant—or machine—is starting from the same place. Whether you're equipping brand-new equipment or looking to modernize existing remote access tools, there's an edge solution that fits your environment.

Here are the three primary options, each tailored to different operational needs and infrastructure realities:

Deployment Architecture Models

No matter which edge connectivity solution you choose, the way you deploy it matters. Different plants, machine layouts, and security requirements call for different architectural approaches. The good news? You have flexible options that scale to your needs—from full plant-wide protection to single-machine pilots.

Read more about connectivity and deployment options

Implementing Secure Remote Service

The Proven 4-Phase Approach

Based on 25+ years of industrial deployments, ei³ has refined a methodology that minimizes risk while maximizing speed to value.

Phase 1: Foundation

Assessment and Planning:

Phase 2: Pilot Deployment

Technical Implementation:

User Enablement:

Phase 3: Optimization

Performance Validation:

Phase 4: Enterprise Scale

Strategic Expansion:

Critical Success Factors

Key Success Metrics to Track