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Smart services are ideal for monitoring and controlling processes, because they can be accessed via web applications - on your computer, cell phone, or tablet. 

What are Smart Services? Your benefits when you use them.

Digital Transformation streamlines processes, replacing paper and manual work with automation. Smart Services, including IoT-enabled devices and software solutions like Proficloud.io, prioritize user needs to enhance experiences.
The entire range of systems, services and software doing this is called Smart Services.

Part 2 of 2

Part 1 of this 2-part article series covered the following:

  • A short definition of Smart Services
  • Summary of characteristics
  • Advantages of Smart Services
  • What they can do: Examples for the industrial sector

This part will now shine a light on two different use cases, point out the three main challenges around using Smart Services and present four of our Smart Services to you.

Other use cases

Photo by husjur02 shows a charge@home scenario where a woman is charging her electrical car at home; licensed from https://www.shutterstock.com/de/image-photo/close-electric-car-charger-female-silhouette-1812967390

Charge@home

You can also use Smart Services in the e-car industry. For example, if an electric company-car is used, but charged at the driver’s home wallbox, the Charge Repay Service takes over the monitoring and billing of the electricity consumption from the charging process – all centrally controlled in one application. This solution is very user-friendly while providing reliable and transparent data for the company-car provider. All data is safe and secured by the Proficloud.io platform. The best thing: It works with any wallbox – making the whole charge@home process as efficient as possible, because there is no need to install a new wallbox for drivers who own a wallbox already, even if that one is not the newest model. 

Green energy

Green energy also benefits enormously from Smart Services. Take a wind turbine, for example. The rotor blades are exposed to high loads. They have a high potential for wear and damage. Only continuous monitoring allows damage to be repaired at an early stage. Expensive repairs as well as long downtimes are thus avoided. You can learn more about this here: Rotor blade monitoring.

Photo by PopTika showing a light bulb and green energy icons; licensed from https://www.shutterstock.com/de/image-photo/hand-holding-light-bulb-against-nature-767486674

The catch: Challenges of Smart Services

  • Complexity: 
    The smarter the service, the more complex the solution of systems and software can become. 
  • Security: 
    With each component, it is important to pay attention to security to prevent cybercriminals from accessing them. 
  • Privacy: 
    Much of the transmitted data is private and sensitive. If software is provided by vendors outside of Germany, the requirements regarding GDPR must be checked in detail. 
Photo by SFIO CRACHO shows people shaking hands on an agreement; licensed from https://www.shutterstock.com/de/image-photo/business-partnership-handshake-concept-two-coworkers-720820906

For a successful identification of use cases and implementation of solutions, it is essential to work with experts in the field. This way you can be able to overcome challenges and even avoid hitting obstacles, which can save precious time and costs.

Phoenix Contact Smart Business: Your trusted partner for Smart Services 

No matter where the data comes from: With Proficloud.io, you can create a smart network of systems and store, visualize, and analyze transmitted data. We have developed Smart Services that make your daily work in the industrial sector more efficient and easier:

Device Management Service | Device Overview

Device Management Service

The Device Management Service (DMS) offers standardized, application-independent device information in real time for all Phoenix Contact smart devices.

Manage and monitor your Phoenix Contact smart devices with The Device Management Service anywhere at any time. You get a direct overview of device information as a digital nameplate, such as device type, serial number, and installed firm and hardware version. In addition, you have a constant view of the state of health status as well as current and historical logs.​

Easily keep your Smart Device firmware up to date. This guarantees that you can immediately use the latest smart device features and that your machines and systems are permanently protected.

You can learn more about it on our internet page Device Management Service

Time Series Data Service

The Time Series Data Service enables users to access, monitor, and track process data anytime and anywhere.

Easily configurable and web-based dashboards quickly and precisely visualize all relevant parameters requested by the user, such as the rotation speed of a wind turbine, engine temperatures, flow rates, or reject rates.

They form the basis for data-driven decisions and big data applications. Thanks to Proficloud.io, you can use the Smart Service very easily and even with having no own or only limited IT resources!You can visualize all relevant parameters with dashboards.

Our web page about the Time Series Data Service explains its features in detail.

With the Time Series Data Service on Proficloud.io you can build a various number of individual dashboards tailored to your needs.
Proficloud.io | Impulse Analytics | Surge Detail View

Impulse Analytics Service

The Impulse Analytics Service offers standardized, application-independent device information in real time for all Phoenix Contact smart devices.

It helps you, for example, to measure the state of health (SoH) of every single protective device via cloud connection and provides new digital services. Benefit from predictive maintenance thanks to real-time measurement of surge currents and ransient overvoltages, you can continuously monitor the condition of the system and the surge protection. This makes the remaining service life expectancy (SoH) of the protective devices transparent so that maintenance services become more predictable.

You can learn more about it on our internet page Device Management Service

EMMA Service

The EMMA Service stands for Energy Measuring, Management & Analytics Service as it handles your energy management.

Take advantage of the cloud and benefit from many intuitive and flexible features to monitor, analyze, and evaluate your energy and performance data – anytime, anywhere. A range of easy-to-understand dashboards simplifies energy management. Thanks to EMMA, you can make faster, better decisions and streamline workflows through remote monitoring. This saves time and money.

Take a look at our web page about the Emma Service and learn more about its features! 

EMMA Service on Proficloud.io
Smart Services - powered by Proficloud.io
Benefit from Digitalization and IoT with Smart Services – powered by Proficloud.io

Conclusion 

Smart Services are highly efficient because they meet a specific customer need, can be updated centrally, and allow data to be accessed anytime and anywhere. However, the large number of components also increases the risk of security gaps. In addition, Europe as well as Germany place great emphasis on data protection, and externally hosted clouds must meet these demanding requirements. Therefore, trust a provider such as Proficloud.io who ensures data protection and data security through GDPR-compliant servers in Frankfurt and additionally offers TLS encryption. The VDE Institute has also certified Proficloud.io according to the highest requirements. Data sovereignty is always ensured.

If you want to get to know the platform, just create a free Proficloud.io-account. And don’t hesitate to contact us if there are any further questions.

Get in touch with us!

Are you interested in Smart Services Powered by Proficloud.io? Please do not hesitate to contact us. Also, if you have any suggestions or comments, just send us a message to inbox[at]phoenixcontact-sb.io and we will answer as soon as possible.