Automating the industrial sector thanks to the acquisition of 4Industry

Automating and digitising work processes on the factory floor is an important consideration for all companies in the industrial sector. Companies often struggle with how they can do this. Now that ServiceNow has acquired 4Industry, it’s easier to answer this question. Luc Raeskin, co-founder of 4Industry, explains how.

What is 4Industry?

It started in 2017 at the consultancy firm I was working for at the time. A client asked us to develop a solution for digitising and automating work processes on the factory floor. We developed this on the Now Platform.

The client was so impressed with the result that we decided to look at whether other companies were also experiencing this issue. The numerous visits we paid to companies throughout the world as a result showed that this was a challenge that everyone was facing.

During a ServiceNow Accelerator event, ServiceNow invited us to build a prototype of the Connected Worker solution at the headquarters in Santa Clara. We spent 10 days and nights working incredibly hard, with the help and support of ServiceNow.

After that, things moved quickly. For this very first client, we started by digitising two processes. Now, we are able to automate more than 27 processes. We have expanded our solution in recent years, releasing 14 new versions in total.

At the start of 2024, we were acquired by ServiceNow. Looking back on the last few years, we really went from highlight to highlight: from developing the first prototype to getting our first client to being nominated Worldwide Built on ServiceNow Partner Of The Year to the takeover in 2023.

How did you find the transition to ServiceNow?

The transition was really good, but we actually knew that already because we’d been in touch for quite some time. What I love about ServiceNow is that it’s obvious that it is a genuine technology company; they just want to produce technology that works.

One of the core values of ServiceNow is to wow our customers—that’s exactly what we are looking to do at 4Industry too. We really want to make a product for end users. It’s clear that there is great similarity in the ultimate goal.

The way of working takes a bit of getting used to, but that makes sense: we have gone from less than 30 people to a global organisation of 24,000 employees. But we’re a very good match when it comes to how we think.

What plans do you have for the future?

When ServiceNow took over, they also adopted the connected digital employee application Smart Daily Management from EY. These two teams have been merged, as it were, to form a new team within ServiceNow, with some ServiceNow employees also being added.

We are now working together to develop the Industrial Connected Workforce (ICW), which combines the best of both worlds. By combining our expertise and technology with the power of the Now Platform, we are in a better position to help industrial clients reduce downtime, work more efficiently, and improve the quality of their products.

In fact, it’s the best of three worlds: 4Industry, EY Smart Daily Management, and ServiceNow.

What are you most looking forward to?

The experience we will be offering to operators is really next-level. The aim is to simplify their work as far as possible. The ICW solution means that they can instantly see the information they need, without having to search for it. This is partly thanks to the possibilities that ServiceNow offers to use AI.

The new solution will be much smarter than what we have developed so far. The new ICW application will really help when it comes to carrying out standardised processes and reducing downtime in the production process.

All of this used to be done manually, but ICW automates everything. All this is possible thanks to AI. If the toolbox we previously used was made up of 10 LEGO bricks, theoretically speaking, there would now be 100 bricks. We can now make even better things than we did before.

Thanks to AI, we are in a better position to retrieve the right information that operators can use to solve problems immediately. This in turn improves the user experience—it works like a flywheel. It will represent another highlight in the evolution we have undergone since 2017.

Find out more about how ServiceNow helps manufacturing organisations.