In a method and system for operating a machine from the field of automation engineering, operating inputs entered at an operating unit of the machine and an identification code are transmitted via a data network to communication server software running on an external computing device. The communication server software determines MMI (machine-machine-interface) application software associated with the machine and with the operating inputs and transfers the operating inputs to the MMI application software, which in turn determines visualization data on the basis of the operating inputs. The visualization data specify a graphical output image to be represented on a display screen and are transferred to the machine via the communication server software and the data network for display. The performance characteristics of the machine can thereby be enhanced, without increasing demands on the hardware.