Manufacturing IT Services
Managed IT, Cybersecurity, and AI Readiness for Manufacturers
AdvancedBITS provides managed IT, cybersecurity, and AI guardrails for manufacturers, so production keeps moving and company data stays protected.
We run your technology or work alongside your in-house IT team, and we help you adopt AI without exposing production, customer, or design data. Start with a Complimentary Manufacturing Technology Assessment.
What Does AdvancedBITS Do for Manufacturers?
Five areas, one goal: keep production moving and protect what the business runs on.
- Managed and co-managed IT. Help desk, monitoring, and support, run for you or alongside your IT team, with after-hours coverage for plants that run nights and weekends.
- Cybersecurity. Multifactor authentication, endpoint and email protection, patching, remote-access control, and security awareness training, including how to spot fake IT support calls.
- Backup and recovery. Backups of ERP, manufacturing execution, and virtual servers with an offline or immutable copy, restore tests, and incident and continuity planning.
- Microsoft 365 and business systems. Identity, permissions, and secure access for office, remote, and multi-site teams, plus the servers and infrastructure under your ERP and manufacturing applications.
- AI guardrails. AI readiness assessments, shadow AI discovery, policy support, and a permissions review before Copilot is turned on.
Why Do Manufacturers Need to Act Now?
Manufacturing is the most targeted sector for ransomware, and an IT outage can stop the line.
- In the second quarter of 2026, Dragos counted 1,140 ransomware incidents against industrial organizations. Manufacturing was the most affected sector, with 747 of them, or 65%.
- Dragos found no case in which ransomware operators directly manipulated a control system. Where operations stopped, it followed encryption or a precautionary shutdown of the enterprise and virtualization systems that operational technology depends on.
- Black Kite counted 1,183 disclosed manufacturing ransomware victims in the first seven months of 2026, nearly 40% more than a year earlier, and reports a median victim revenue of $42.9 million, per a summary of the report. The mid-market is the center of attack activity.
Where Does AdvancedBITS Stop and Your Plant Team Begin?
We own the IT environment, share the boundary with your controls engineers, and leave the plant floor to them.
- Business IT. Office network, Microsoft 365, ERP and file servers, identity, email, endpoints, and backups. We manage, secure, document, and report.
- The IT and OT boundary. Firewalls, segmentation, remote access, and shared servers. We manage the IT side and agree changes with your controls engineers before they happen.
- Plant-floor control systems. Controllers, operator interfaces, drives, SCADA, and safety systems. Your controls engineers, integrators, and equipment vendors lead. We coordinate, and we do not scan or change these devices without your approval.
How Can a Manufacturer Use AI Without Exposing Its Data?
Use AI on approved tools, with clear rules about what production, customer, and design data may be entered.
AI can help with reporting, planning, knowledge sharing, and administrative work. The risk is shadow AI: AI tools, accounts, extensions, or meeting bots the company has not reviewed or approved. AdvancedBITS helps manufacturers find what is in use, review each tool’s data terms, write acceptable-use rules, and check Microsoft 365 permissions before an AI assistant is switched on.
Why Do Manufacturers Choose AdvancedBITS?
We pair managed IT experience with reporting you can read, and we are plain about our limits.
- 20+ years of managed services experience. Manufacturing is one of the industries we serve.
- Independently audited to the SOC 2 Type II standard.
- Managed or co-managed, so your in-house IT team keeps control if you want it.
- Measured. We set a baseline at the start and re-measure at 90 days.
- Plain limits. We do not guarantee outcomes, we do not replace your controls engineers or equipment vendors, and we do not give legal or compliance advice.
KEEP PRODUCTION MOVING. PROTECT WHAT YOU RUN ON.
Find out where your plant stands on uptime, security, and AI. A specialist will review your technology and show you where to improve. No cost, no obligation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What IT services does a manufacturer need?
A manufacturer needs managed IT support, cybersecurity, Microsoft 365 management, backup and disaster recovery for the systems that run production, and a plan for AI use. Together they keep production running and company data protected. AdvancedBITS provides these as a fully managed service or alongside a company’s in-house IT team.
Why can an IT outage stop a production line?
Production runs on IT systems such as ERP, manufacturing execution, identity, and virtualized servers. Dragos reports that industrial ransomware disruption has followed encryption or precautionary shutdown of the enterprise and virtualization systems that operational technology depends on, not direct manipulation of control systems. When those systems stop, scheduling, quality records, and shipping stop with them.
What is the difference between managed and co-managed IT for a manufacturer?
With fully managed IT, a provider runs the company’s IT environment day to day. With co-managed IT, the provider works alongside in-house IT staff and takes on defined work, such as after-hours monitoring, patching, backup testing, or security, while the internal team keeps control. Manufacturers choose the model that fits their staffing, shifts, and risk.
Can a managed IT provider secure plant-floor systems?
A managed IT provider can secure the IT environment and the IT side of the boundary with plant systems, including remote access, segmentation, patching, and backups. Controllers, operator interfaces, and safety systems belong to your controls engineers, integrators, and equipment vendors. Ask any provider how it avoids disrupting fragile devices, and whether it will scan or change them only with your approval.
How should a manufacturer protect backups from ransomware?
Keep at least one copy offline or immutable, protect backup systems with separate credentials and multifactor authentication, and cover ERP, manufacturing execution, and virtualization servers as well as file shares. Then test restores against a stated recovery time, because an untested backup is an assumption, not a control. Pair it with a plan for running manually while systems are restored.
What is shadow AI in a manufacturing company?
Shadow AI in a manufacturing company is the use of AI tools, accounts, extensions, or meeting bots that the company has not reviewed or approved, such as an engineer pasting process notes or customer drawings into a personal chatbot account. The company cannot see what data is entered or what the provider does with it, which puts intellectual property and customer confidentiality at risk.
Does a managed IT provider make a manufacturer more secure?
It can, but we found no published study that measures manufacturers before and after a managed IT engagement. The strongest evidence concerns specific services, such as managed detection and response, multifactor authentication, and tested backups. The right test is your own baseline and a re-measurement at 90 days. Insist on evidence, not promises.
What does a Complimentary Manufacturing Technology Assessment involve?
A specialist reviews your IT environment, remote access, backups, security, and AI use, and identifies opportunities to improve operational efficiency, strengthen security, and reduce risk. There is no cost and no obligation, and you decide what happens next.