IoT Drives Industries Toward Zero Unplanned Downtime

Mark Homer of ServiceMax, a GE Digital company

As industrial automation increasingly digitises, unplanned downtime has emerged as a critical risk. The move to outcome‑based business models, the proliferation of IoT sensors on connected equipment, and the ever‑greater reliance on machines all amplify the pressure to eliminate outages. In the digital age, reducing downtime is not just a cost‑saving measure—it is a strategic priority that underpins organisational maturity and transformation.

Fortunately, technology has finally caught up. IoT‑enabled connected service is closing the downtime gap—an essential step for any company that wants to progress toward digital maturity and secure a competitive edge, says Mark Homer, Vice President of Global Customer Transformation at ServiceMax, a GE Digital company.

Automation’s growing ubiquity is already widening performance gaps. Many businesses are losing visibility of their assets, especially regarding efficiency, leading to fragmented insight into manufacturing and service delivery. This lack of awareness makes unplanned downtime inevitable and unnecessarily prolongs recovery times. Closing this gap is therefore fundamental to digital maturity and transformation.

According to a new Vanson Bourne global study, After The Fall: Cost, Causes and Consequences of Unplanned Downtime, 82% of companies experienced at least one unplanned outage in the past three years, with an average of two outages per organisation. These events typically last around four hours.

Financial impact varies by industry. For example, a medical device firm may lose between $50,000 (€42.56k) and $150,000 (€127.69k) per hour of downtime, while a major outage on a critical industrial asset can cost up to $2 million (€1.70 million). Aberdeen estimates the average hourly cost across all businesses at $260,000 (€221,000). The study also revealed widespread ignorance of asset health: 70% of companies do not fully know when equipment requires maintenance, upgrade or replacement.

Beyond monetary loss, the research found that nearly a third of respondents were unable to service or support specific equipment assets. In the energy and utilities sector, 65% of firms and 62% in the medical sector reported losing customer trust after a high‑profile incident. Across all sectors, about 10% admitted their organisation would never recover from a critical incident and would ultimately cease to exist.

These figures underscore why many companies are now recognising the problem and investing to solve it. Vanson Bourne notes a tipping point: zero tolerance for unplanned downtime is becoming the norm as firms build and invest in industrial digital strategies. Key to this shift is a focus on field service management and asset performance management.

Eight in ten companies already recognise that digital tools can improve asset visibility and eliminate unplanned downtime. Roughly 50% plan to invest in field service and asset management technologies over the next three years, while 72% list zero unplanned downtime as their top priority. The message is clear.

However, digital transformation alone does not automatically deliver better control or visibility. Companies must adopt a service‑led approach, ensuring that the assets that create products or support services remain continuously operational. A robust asset management and predictive maintenance strategy is essential for reducing—and ideally eliminating—downtime.

Predicting problems before they occur, supported by digitally empowered technicians, will accelerate this goal. Digital twins of physical assets can play a pivotal role; the study shows that 54% of organisations plan to invest in digital twins by 2020. Coupled with the fact that field service is expected to become a primary revenue driver for most businesses within the next two years, the pathway to transformation becomes clearer.

Will it be for the better? If zero downtime matters to a business— and it should—then embracing IoT, digital twins, and proactive service management is the only realistic transformation path until machines can fix themselves or never fail.

The author of this blog is Mark Homer, Vice President Global Customer Transformation for ServiceMax, a GE Digital company