IBM, Rockwell Automation, and Google are among the leading industrial automation companies in the robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) theme, according to the latest Thematic Scorecard for the industrial automation sector from GlobalData.

RaaS is closely tied to the Industrial Internet, which is driving advances in automation. All of the leading robot manufacturers have implemented cloud connectivity, enabling robots to be monitored, managed, and maintained remotely. That has made it possible for suppliers to support a consumption-based as-a-service model.

The three companies gained a Thematic score of 4 out of 5 for the RaaS theme in GlobalData’s Thematic Scorecard for the industrial automation sector. A Thematic score of 4 out of 5 indicates that the company’s competitive position in this theme will improve its future performance.

Also identified as leading players in this theme are Amazon, SAP, Ocado, HollySysAutomation, Nippon Ceramic, Microsoft, Kuka, Alibaba, Teradyne, Tesla, Baidu, Honeywell, General Electric and Bosch.

GlobalData’s Thematic Scorecard ranks companies within a sector on the basis of overall leadership in the 10 themes that matter most to their industry, generating a leading indicator of future performance.