The IoT and the smart factory trends are redefining today’s OEM business models. Predictive maintenance, overall equipment effectiveness, and zero equipment downtime are some of the sought-after capabilities in industrial machines, and machine builders are leaving no stone unturned to make these services available to their customers. In order to provide these services, machine builders need an effective way to gain visibility into their machines and be able to remotely connect to and manage their machines at field sites. In this white paper we discuss the key elements of a secure remote access solution for industrial equipment and explain why a cloud-based solution is ideal for machine builders as compared with traditional VPN and remote desktop solutions.