Partnership empowers the shopfloor

Our relationship with ServiceNow began as a customer, benefiting from their expertise in IT asset and workflow management. Last year we formed a partnership with ServiceNow with the goal of bring their IT know-how into the world of OT – that’s IT/OT convergence at its best. Just recently, at the ServiceNow World Forum, we announced the expansion of our collaboration for OT security and industrial AI in operations.

According to ABI Research, the industrial cybersecurity market is expected to reach $21.6 billion by 2028, driven by increasing threats to operational technology (OT) systems and the need for more comprehensive vulnerability management. At the same time, the application of generative AI in industrial settings is also predicted to grow exponentially, with companies seeking to improve operational efficiency and human-machine collaboration. Solutions involving technologies and know-how from Siemens and ServiceNow address both of these trends.

Staying ahead of cyber threats

Asset manufacturers regularly publish vulnerabilities in security advisories and the number is rapidly increasing. Today, manual effort is required to match them to the asset inventory of the factory, for which dedicated security experts are often not available. SINEC Security Guard automates this process and helps to manage OT asset vulnerabilities and threats to OT networks. Based on OT asset management information from Industrial Asset Hub, SINEC Security Guard automatically matches known cybersecurity vulnerabilities to the OT asset inventory of industrial companies. Industrial operators and automation experts without dedicated cybersecurity know-how are notified of possible vulnerabilities among their OT assets on the shopfloor.

Due to the risk-based threat analysis specific to the shop floor environment, they can now ensure that the mitigation of the most vulnerable and critical assets is prioritized. SINEC Security Guard recommends and prioritizes mitigation measures, and with the integrated task management users can define, plan and track them. With the addition of ServiceNow's Operational Technology Vulnerability Response, SINEC Security Guard enables deeper insights into vulnerabilities of OT equipment.

This is how it works: ServiceNow users are notified about the affected assets, the severity of the vulnerability, recommended mitigation steps, and the urgency with which these steps should be implemented. Users are then responsible for engaging the appropriate stakeholders within the factory and relevant departments. ServiceNow helps orchestrate vulnerability management across the enterprise to reduce time to action.

Among the benefits are better workflow management, faster detection, and remediation of security threats. Vulnerability Response is part of the Operational Technology Service Management (OTSM) suite from ServiceNow. It helps organizations manage and secure their operational technology environments by integrating IT and OT workflows, providing real-time visibility, and automating processes across the entire factory floor.

Leveraging generative AI for operational optimization

Siemens and ServiceNow are also driving the adoption of AI in automation. The Siemens Industrial Copilots are powered by generative AI and offer transformative capabilities for human-machine collaboration on the shopfloor. Companies mapping their workflows with ServiceNow’s Now Platform can easily create even more transparency with the Copilot for Operations. This combination draws on the Now Platform’s excellence in orchestrating complex workflows and integrating AI insights into operational processes.

The Siemens Industrial Copilot for Operations supports service technicians and maintenance engineers in their work. When technical equipment malfunctions, Industrial Copilot for Operations provides service technicians with information on what went wrong and how to fix it. If the error can’t be resolved on the shop floor, they may need to escalate it and raise a ticket – a step that can be done directly in the Industrial Copilot for Operations. The resulting ticket automatically includes all relevant information about the incident. At the same time, a ticket is automatically generated in the ServiceNow platform, including a description of the incident, date and time, contacts, urgency level, and even resolution notes. This collaboration makes is possible to bring shop floor information into the OT ServiceNow platform for further action.

A new level of transparency and control over operational processes can be realized through this seamless interaction between static and dynamic machine data. Using natural language, the Operations Copilot assists shopfloor workers with detailed instructions and recommendations. ServiceNow’s ability to automate workflows — from maintenance scheduling to real-time problem-solving — helps enable these generative AI-driven insights to translate into tangible and efficient actions that improve productivity and minimize downtime.

Elevate your operations with Siemens Xcelerator

SINEC Security Guard and Siemens Industrial Copilots are part of our Industrial Operations X portfolio and are available via Siemens Xcelerator. This open digital business platform offers a robust ecosystem of sellers and developers with integrated hardware and software.

This joint offering lets customers optimize their cybersecurity practices, enhance operational efficiency, and bring cutting-edge AI to the heart of manufacturing processes. As a result, it sets new industry standards for resilience and innovation.

November 2024

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