Deliver Service Anytime, Anywhere With Visual Remote Assistance

Apr 16, 2021 • Features • Remote Assistance • Salesforce • Managing the Mobile Workforce • Eric Jacobsen

With remote customer assistance, field service organisations can deliver service from anywhere, keeping both workers and customers safe writes Eric Jacobsen, VP Product Management, Salesforce...

No matter what’s happening in the world, customers still need service. Internet connections still go down, homes still need refrigerators, and washing machines still require maintenance. Customers still want fast and complete service the first time.

What has changed today is how customers feel about in-person service. Even with safety requirements for the pandemic in place, some customers are hesitant about having technicians on-site. Businesses are also concerned for employee safety and well-being.

Along with best practices, the right technology mitigates today’s safety concerns surrounding in-person service. That’s where visual remote assistance comes in to help customers get the service they need, while prioritising safety and maximising experiences for both customers and employees.

Support customer safety with remote support software

Provide visual customer assistance with remote support software to enable service or support from anywhere, anytime — without physical contact or high bandwidth connections. Remote support empowers contact centre agents and field service technicians to solve a customer’s problem through virtual real-time, guided interaction. It also allows experts to help on-site technicians resolve issues.

With advanced remote support software, an agent or technician sees a customer’s physical environment in real time through their smart device. They can guide customers using augmented reality (AR), which displays on-screen graphical information over the object that needs service. They provide targeted, step-by-step directions with annotations on their mobile screen to resolve many issues. And at the completion of the job, the service organisation has a visual record for future reference.

Depending on the service request, visual remote assistance can be used to solve customer problems on its own or in combination with in-person service as a hybrid approach.

Here are three examples of how remote support software can be used:

An agent resolves a customer’s issue: My washing machine sprays water all over my laundry room. I speak with a support agent, who determines there is a loose connection. The agent can guide me step-by-step on how to correct it using a visual remote assistant.
An expert helps an on-site technician solve a problem: A month later, my water heater starts making a funny noise. The agent can’t resolve the issue with remote assistance, so they schedule a visit. The on-site technician also can’t figure it out, so they use a visual remote assistant to get expert help to troubleshoot the issue.
A customer gets visual remote assistance and in-person support: In the winter, my furnace stops working. Using remote visual assistance, a technician determines two parts need to be replaced. The technician leaves the new parts outside my home and then uses a visual remote assistant to guide me through the repairs.

No matter how it’s done, using a visual remote assistant streamlines service delivery while boosting safety with access to knowledge and expertise in real time. Not having to always send an on-site technician also provides cost savings. Safe, complete, and efficient service leads to happier, loyal customers.

Boost worker safety, give back, and create employment opportunities

Addressing employee concerns about safety is equally important. This creates peace of mind and builds employee loyalty through mobile workforce engagement. In addition to keeping on-site workers safe, using a visual remote assistant also drives sustainability, creates jobs, and supports accessibility.

Stay safely off the road and support sustainability in field service

In some cases, using a visual remote assistant reduces or eliminates on-site service visits. This limits the time mobile field service workers spend on the road where they can encounter hazards. It also helps preserve the environment and infrastructure. For example, fewer trucks rolling means less emissions and wear and tear on roads — contributing to sustainability.

Retain and attract talent through job creation

Field service technicians work in remote locations and are exposed to heavy machinery, electrical equipment, and other hazards. Unfortunately, there are experienced and knowledgeable technicians who leave field service due to physical conditions, health concerns, and travel requirements.

Visual remote assistance enables technicians to provide field service in a setting more comfortable to them — helping retain mobile workers who otherwise may have left. This provides opportunities around accessibility and equality by opening up field service jobs to people who have strong technical skills, but are unable to do the on-site work themselves.

Get started quickly with remote support software

From an implementation standpoint, remote support software is quickly integrated into your existing service console. With a simple button click, agents can easily set up a virtual assistance session with a customer within the service console. Technicians can do this from their smart devices.

In a short time, you’ll provide visual remote assistance in real time from anywhere in the world — even if you’re in a remote location during a blizzard. It is designed to scale down and work even on low variable bandwidth connections, reducing the quality of the video and downgrading it to still frames, if necessary.

For customers, it’s also easy to use. Visual remote assistance can be launched from a mobile web browser and doesn’t require an additional app or software download. Customers simply click a link in a text message to start a remote service session.

Scale service with visual remote assistance

Today’s world has changed the way we conduct business and interact with one another. With remote customer assistance, field service organizations have more flexibility to deliver service from anywhere while keeping both workers and customers safe. See how Salesforce’s Visual Remote Assistant empowers your field service team, no matter what’s happening today, tomorrow, or beyond.

This article first appeared on the Salesforce corporate blog www.salesforce.com/blog/remote-virtual-assistance-service/

Beyond the Headlines: Scope AR Partner with ServiceMax (Part One)

Sep 08, 2020 • Features • Augmented Reality • Remote Assistance • Digital Transformation • Scope AR • servicemax

A few weeks ago, Scope AR and ServiceMax announced that they had established a partnership that would allow ScopeAR to be embedded into the workflow of ServiceMax users...

On the surface, it promises to be a powerful alliance and one that could provide the ease of deployment that has been a barrier for many field service organisations adopting Augmented Reality (AR) solutions as part of their field service deployment.

As we build towards the recovery, many are envisioning a world where on-site touchpoints are to be minimised and so the focus on first-time fix is greater than ever before. Therefore, how we approach service delivery and ensure we are empowering our engineers and technicians fully by giving them access to the information, they need when they need it. The most efficient manner of communicating such information is very much centred around AR, which is now sitting at the very heart of how best-in-class field service organisations are focusing their efforts.

As part of our Beyond the Headlines series of features we Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief Field Service News invited Gabriele Bodda, Vice President of Product Management, ServiceMax and Scott Montgomerie, CEO and Founder of Scope AR to join in him for a discussion on the Field Service News Digital Symposium.

"For a ServiceMax user to utilise and harness the power of Scope AR within our platform is going to be straightforward..."

- Gabrielle Bodda, ServiceMax

In the first of two excerpts from that session, we look at the practical side of the discussion and ask how seamless the experience of is using Scope AR within the ServiceMax platform?

"For a ServiceMax user to utilise and harness the power of Scope AR within our platform is going to be straightforward,” commented Bodda during the session.

“This is something that we put a lot of attention to when we worked through the partnership, as we do with every partnership,” he continued.

“It is not just about a go-to-market, it is not just about the mutual endorsement, it is about bringing to our customers an end-to-end experience, it is about bringing to the customers something that is ready to use.”

However, the fact that there is an ‘oven-ready’ version of the tool doesn’t mean that it cannot be customised to suit any given companies more specific requirements. As Bodda confirms, “customers can of course change it and adapt it but they also have something to start with that can be deployed very quickly.”

One point that is raised often in conversations around AR in field service is whether there is a need for additional hardware, such as smart glasses or head-mounted computers. However, having led the way with apps for technicians on Apple’s iOS platform, ServiceMax is almost synonymous with harnessing the power of the engineer’s existing device. Will Scope AR fit in with that approach or will the additional investment be required for companies that are to make the most of this partnership“There is no additional hardware necessarily required,” confirmed Montgomery when this question was put to him during the session. “For more complicated use cases, we do support a number of headsets, but for standard integration, iOS and Android are more than capable.”

"We really think of Augmented Reality as a way to enhance the knowledge transfer that’s needed between someone that is in the field that is the hands to solve the problem and expert that knows what to do..."

- Scott Montgomerie, Scope AR

So how seamless is the integration itself? According to both Bodda and Montgomerie in effect, the integration should function intuitively and holistically. This is crucial to the success of the collaboration.

“We really think of Augmented Reality as a way to enhance the knowledge transfer that’s needed between someone that is in the field that is the hands to solve the problem and expert that knows what to do,” explains Montgomerie.

“The integration we’ve built with ServiceMax is geared towards that ideal scenario where they [the field technician] is already within the work order where they can click on the procedure through a deep linking mechanism – it’s very seamless,” he concludes.

Look out for the second excerpt from this session where we look at the broader use cases of Augmented Reality in general. In that upcoming article, we get Bodda’s and Montgomerie’s insight into how the companies they are working with are leveraging the tools to navigate their way through the current crisis we are all facing.

A Tool for Zero-Touch?

Aug 20, 2020 • Features • Artificial intelligence • Remote Assistance • Video • Zero-touch • Digital Transformation • Aquant • north america • Field Service News Digital Symposium

In a recent presentation for the Field Service News Digital Symposium, Mark Hessinger, Vice President, Global Customer Services, 3D Systems, Corporation, outlined the benefits his organisation had witnessed having implemented an Artificial...

One of the areas that Hessinger referenced during the presentation was the reduction in repeat visits and the increase in first-time fix rates. This, of course, will have a significant impact on the bottom line of the service P&L with the truck roll almost always being the most expensive line on the spreadsheet. As the adage goes, if you have to send an engineer on-site once then you are breaking even, even if you have to send an engineer twice, you're losing money. So this improvement, in and of itself, was a massive plus in the presentation.

However, given the backdrop of 2020 where the world has radically changed as a result of the reaction to Covid-19, the question was raised during the Q&A that followed Hessinger's presentation whether Aquant's AI-powered triage tool could be suitable to help facilitate zero-touch or remote assistance services as well?

Could the Aquant solution help provide a mechanism for service delivery for those customers who require a guided self-help approach to issue resolution?

"I'd say the tool is a building block to enable us to get there," Hessinger answered when the idea was put to him.

"We need it integrated with the other systems and information because it connects them to the knowledge management, to the information. We're currently doing a proof of concept to pull in some AR (augmented reality) technology as well. We believe integrating the AR technology can help guide someone first using the AI tool to go in the right direction and then guide them remotely on how to execute a repair. If you put both of these pieces together, I think the quantity of remote resolutions will go up dramatically," Hessinger added.

"Typically, your field service engineer builds a good relationship with the customer and becomes part of the face of the company right. We still want to have those touch-points, but we need to make sure we're doing them differently..."

This leads us to an interesting question - in a post-pandemic world just how much has the perception of value shifted in terms of remote service vs on-site service delivery?

Often it has felt that there's been a more perceived value to a site visit than remote services. As we mentioned earlier, it is an expensive line on the P&L compared to a remote service. This was one of the reasons that many felt that remote assistance technologies such as Augmented Reality have never quite taken off in the way that we might have imagined. However, that has changed massively in the last five months in the eyes of many customers.

Yet, for the savvy service organisation, the on-site service call is far more than a mere maintenance operation. It is an opportunity to engage with the customer, to showcase the expertise within the organisation, and ultimately to secure ongoing business and even open up new revenue streams.

So the question is, how do field service organisations use remote service within their service portfolio as an active engagement channel as many have mastered with the service call?

As Hessinger explains "Typically, your field service engineer builds a good relationship with the customer and becomes part of the face of the company right. We still want to have those touch-points, but we need to make sure we're doing them differently. If I can see you on video, I've made a better connection than if I sent you a text message.

"We need to leverage how do we continue to build those relationships. If we were with a customer three times a year, and now we can do things better, only one time a year, we need to make sure we still have a high touch with the customer to build that kind of rapport and relationship."

Key Questions: Can Augmented Reality Combat the Ageing Workforce Crisis?

Aug 17, 2020 • Features • Augmented Reality • Remote Assistance • OverIT • Managing the Mobile Workforce • Space1 • Field Service News Digital Symposium

In the final excerpt from this exclusive Field Service News Digital Symposium Presentation we look at how SPACE1's clever use of Artificial Intellignece could rapidly spped up the time it takes to get field service technicians out of the...

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One of the things that really stood out of the recent Field Service News Digital Symposium Presentation from Space1 was towards the end of the presentation when Francesco Benvenuto, who was displaying the solution outlined a function that really showcased the power of Artificial Intelligence

During the live presentation Benvenuto outlined how the embedded Artificial Intelligence, was able to pick out and build a transcription of a video.

However, what was a massive additional benefit demonstrated was SPACE1’s ability to also translate that transcription into a different language.

"With Space1, we provide the automatic digitilisation of content that has been captured and enhanced by the artificial intelligence algorithm..."

-Francescon Benvenuto, OverIT

This allows for training documentation to be captured in real time and in-situ and then almost instantly that training material can be available in different regions globally. For any global enterprise working across different international markets, this has the potential to be a huge plus.

“With Space1, we provide the automatic digitilisation of content that has been captured and enhanced by the artificial intelligence algorithm. As we have many clients who are working globally, the idea is to allow them to acquire data from the technician in a specific language to translate it automatically and to create a new content out of the dialogues, video recordings or any data that we capture. Using AI we can translate automatically and from there create a new digital work instructions, started from the content translated.”

This is perhaps one of the key areas of benefit for tools such as SPACE1 – it allows field service organisations to get their new technicians out of the training room and into the field where they can bring value to the business a lot quicker.

With almost every company in our sector, all around the globe facing their own challenges around an aging workforce, plus the additional challenges of recovering a lot of lost capacity as a result of the lockdowns it is imperative that we reduce the time it takes to get engineers out into the fild – is SPACE1 allowing companies to achieve this?

“We are seeing for many customers that leveraging augmented reality/mixed reality/virtual reality but also the knowledge management they can use just such data to train people in a much faster way so they no longer need to travel to visit other countries to meet new employees to train them in person today, thanks to the collaboration tools. We can do everything remotely. And most of all, we can leverage the technology to share data that were part of previous session. The time spent to train new resources really can be reduced drastically.

Key Questions: Do We Need Extra Hardware for Augmented Reality in Field Service?

Aug 10, 2020 • Features • Augmented Reality • Remote Assistance • Digital Transformation • Smart Glasses • OverIT • Space1 • Field Service News Digital Symposium • realware

One of the things that has often been suggested as a potential barrier to the adoption of augmented reality in field service has been the reliance on additional hardware. Indeed, during a recent presentation on the Field Service News Digital Symposium demonstrating OverIT's Space1 Augmented Reality solution for field service workers, a slick video showed the potential use of the tool, with transportation workers using a real ware head-mounted computer...

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While the technology is a fantastic device, it is, as are all such devices an additional expense. Of course, the ability of an engineer to work hands-free is hugely valuable. But at a time when we are looking at an ongoing and unprecedented global economic downturn, many field service organizations may be looking at such additional costs as a barrier to adoption. This may even be the case even though such solutions could become essential in a world where remote assistance is becoming increasingly important.

So is that a requirement for the Space1 solution to be utilized in the field? Does it require a head-mounted computer or smart glasses? Does the solution have to run on a real ware device, or is it device agnostic?

"We typically support any hardware that it's available on the market, and most of all, we support our customers in finding the device that will work best for them..."

- Francesco Benvenuto, OverIT

"In space one, we are agnostic in terms of hardware," explained Francesco Benvunto of OverIT during the Q&A section of the presentation.

"We typically support any hardware that it's available on the market, and most of all, we support our customers in finding the device that will work best for them. This ranges from tablets and mobile phones to devices like the real wear head-mounted device and even more immersive tools such as Hololens. We are totally agnostic.

Of course, another big question around hands-free devices is just how easily they can respond to voice commands. In the demonstration provided by Space1, for example, the worker was in a busy rail depot where one would imagine there could be a significant amount of background noise.

In such environments, noise cancellation and the ability for the device to read and respond to aural commands effectively is crucial to whether it is fit-for-purpose. One question field service organizations must consider when exploring such solutions is the effectiveness of the solutions ability to operate in such environments - and is that a hardware or software consideration?

"It's both on the hardware and the on the software," explained Benvenuto.

"We have optimized our solution to work in the best possible way with various hardware. We have so many customers all over the world that are; you know that have those requirements in that they want to allow a technician to work in places where there's a lot of noise. So noise cancellation that is a vital part of the solution.

"Everyone can calibrate the solution for working in such environments. We are also readily available to allow customers to try the solution and to demonstrate the capabilities."

Key Questions: Can Augmented Reality Operate on Low Bandwidth?

Aug 03, 2020 • Features • Augmented Reality • Remote Assistance • Digital Transformation • OverIT • Space1 • Field Service News Digital Symposium • low bandwidth

One of the things that is often questioned about the suitability of augmented reality as part of the field service delivery tool kit is whether it is able to operate on lower bandwidths. This is because by default field service doesn't only occur...

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Low bandwidth is a major issue particularly for organisations in sectors such as oil and gas, transportation or utilities who often work in remote locations. Ironically, it is also the harder to get to locations, where bandwidth could be restricted that augmented reality is needed the most.

Therefore, when OverIT's Francesco Benvenuto presented the latest updates to their augmented reality tool SPACE1 the importance of an inclusion of a low-bandwidth mode was a crucial element that caught the eye of host Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News.

"Basically, there are so many solutions in the market and this is where we can differentiate ourselves from others," commented Benvenuto.

"Since we [OverIT] are coming from the field service management industry, we know how important it is for technicians to be able to operate in a location where there's a bad connection. For this reason, we have implemented the low bandwidth mode where we are able to bring the resolution to 640 by 480 pixels so we can guarantee a good quality of the streaming. We also reducing the frames per second to two values that are ranging between 0.5 and three. There are lots of different ways to provide the technicians good audio/media streaming but for sure low bandwidth is among the ones that is really, really important."

"We are working in different industries, energy, utility, oil and gas, where every industry has its own slightly different use cases, we wanted to provide a solution, where we can customize the way that we leverage artificial intelligence..."

While the low-bandwidth mode is a critical component for any AR solution that is targeting the field service sector another of the impressive features of Space1 that was on show during the demonstration was the embedded Artificial Intelligence in the tool.

In a similar way to how a dynamic or optimised scheduling engine learns and improves over time so too does Space1's ability to improve the way it surfaces information in an iterative manner essentially allows it to become an increasingly more powerful tool over time. Essentially, the more it is used the more powerful it becomes.

"In Space1 we provide the ability to train the machine learning techniques," Benvenuto explains.

"This way we can provide even more precise data to the technicians that are that are working out in the field. Since we are working in different industries, energy, utility, oil and gas, where every industry has its own slightly different use cases, we wanted to provide a solution, where we can customize the way that we leverage artificial intelligence.

"From the back-end side of SPACE1, we can set up different values in order to be more precise when it comes to extracting data."

Panasonic Ensures Customer Experience Consistency With IFS Remote Assistance

Jul 20, 2020 • News • Panasonic • Remote Assistance • Digital Transformation • IFS • Software

IFS, the global enterprise applications company, announces that Panasonic Appliances Air-Conditioning Europe, a leading provider of heating and cooling solutions, has chosen IFS Remote Assistance™, to enable installers, field technicians, engineers and customers to share real-life situational context with remote product experts so that hands-on service and repair instructions can be visually demonstrated and acted upon.

With a company-wide, strategic shift toward a servitized, subscription-based business model, the Panasonic Appliances Air-Conditioning Europe business, comprised of sales, support and technical service staff across Europe, needed a central software solution to ensure a consistently excellent service experience for its clients.

A MERGED-REALITY SOLUTION FROM IFS TO PROVIDE REMOTE PRODUCT SUPPORT

With IFS Remote Assistance, Panasonic Heating & Cooling Solutions is able to remotely diagnose issues, ensure real-time knowledge sharing, and significantly speed up repair rates, which was typically seven days. By reducing or even eliminating the need to make site visits, the company is also able to lower travel costs and environmental impact.

“Our investment in the IFS solution is part of a larger strategy to transform our business mindset from product-centric to service-centric and to develop the maturity of our service organization,” Head of European Service at Panasonic Appliances Air-Conditioning Europe Karl Lowe said. “With IFS Remote Assistance, we are leveraging state-of-the-art technology to unleash the full potential of our highly skilled workforce, regardless of where they are based. Not only are we able to navigate constraints, we are actually able to improve repair rates and access real-time performance data to help us gauge and improve our service.”

Alain Laing, Managing Director, IFS UK and Ireland, added, “Across the globe, we are seeing visionary manufacturers invest in technology to enable a servitized business model. We are thrilled to be part of Panasonic’s transformation journey and look forward to doing our part to provide the tools they need so they can ensure the safety of its workforce and a great customer experience.”

Key Questions: Differences Between Augmented, Mixed & Merged Reality

Jul 20, 2020 • Features • Augmented Reality • Remote Assistance • Digital Transformation • OverIT • Space1 • Field Service News Digital Symposium

As part of an exclusive Field Service News presentation with the team at Space1 Kris Oldland talks to Francesco Benvenuto of OverIT the creators of Space1 and augmented reality tool designed for field service organisations to find out the difference between Augmented, Merged and Mixed Reality technologies as well as discussing the importance of Artificial Intelligence when it comes to the application of such technologies...

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Different Technologies, With Different Applications Within Field Service

When it comes to dialling in the experience required directly to your field service engineers or technicians, we are becoming more familiar with the processes and the technology. However, what can be confusing in identifying the solution your business needs is the various terms which, to the layperson at least, appear to largely to be synonyms. But is this necessarily the case?

"There is a technical difference," explains Francesco Benvenuto, OverIT when this question was put to him during a recent presentation of the Space1 Augmented Reality solution designed by the team behind Field Service Management solution OverIT.

"Augmented reality is a little different from mixed reality and very different from virtual reality. With Space1, we can leverage the three technologies in different application areas.

"Many of our clients are leveraging virtual reality so they can create a reproduction of a real environment giving them the ability to train an employee in safe conditions..."

- Francesco Benvenuto, OverIT

"I would say that today, augmented reality is a technology that is ready to be used in the field for maintenance activities for training also for presenting service related reports. Mixed reality I would say that slightly behind augmented reality in terms of its readiness to be used in the field which is mainly with due to restrictions on the hardware side of the equation.

"When it comes to virtual reality, mostly our clients using VR within Space1 for training, many of our clients are leveraging virtual reality so they can create a reproduction of a real environment giving them the ability to train an employee in safe conditions.

Of course, during the last four months, where we've seen digital transformation accelerate as a result of the pandemic and remote assistance tools have been at the forefront of that. However, before this period, there has always been something of a slight reluctance to fully embrace augmented reality solutions within field service than might have been perhaps anticipated.

There have always been some nagging doubts. It felt there were just a couple of dots that needed to be connected before AR could indeed live up to its potential as a cornerstone of field service delivery technology. For me, one of those critical dots was the knowledge management piece.

This was something that leapt out of the presentation given by Benvenuto and his colleagues. Artificial Intelligence impressively powered the knowledge management aspects of the Space1 solution. As soon as I saw the solution being demonstrated, I could see that indeed, AI was potentially the one tool that could join an awful lot of those dots together.

As Benvenuto said during the Q&A, "we see that artificial intelligence today is making our solution stand out from other products that are available in the market. We are using artificial intelligence because we believe that it's very important. Companies are facing challenges to be able to store such information, and with so many employees are leaving the company, it's often hard to find new workers.

"Also, it's getting harder and harder also due to the complexity of the assets that are being maintained on field to be able to store such data. So knowledge management, artificial intelligence, augmented reality are really key in helping organizations to solve this issue."

The Three Phases of Zero-Touch Service: Today, Tomorrow, and Years From Now

Jun 15, 2020 • Features • Mark Brewer • Remote Assistance • Zero-touch • servicemax

Only a few months ago the concept of zero-touch service was a niche within a niche. Today is has proven critical in ensuring continuous service delivery in the light of Covid-19. Mark Brewer, Vice President Service Industries, IFS looks at what...

Over the course of the last five years or so, we’ve seen the steady creep of businesses in a variety of industries moving towards completely contactless service in various ways: fast casual restaurants putting mobile orders on shelves, retailers creating online pickup lockers, self-checkout kiosks, and IoT-enabled fixes for devices like routers and cable boxes.

ZERO TOUCH SERVICE

Given the current crisis that we face with COVID-19, I believe that it’s safe to say that the creep will begin to accelerate into an avalanche, and service in many ways will lead that charge. It’s easy to pigeonhole these innovations into one or two technologies, but zero-touch service will likely be achieved through dozens of technologies, sometimes working in tandem, sometimes tied to the specific needs of an industry.

Below, though, are three benchmarks based on what we can accomplish today, and what our current technology decisions can already tell us about what tomorrow will look like. Let’s start with what companies can do right now:

Remote Assistance

We’ve already seen in recent years the prevalence and usability of augmented reality creep forward, and this has become increasingly commoditised and utilised for service functions across a variety of disciplines. I’ve long since promoted it as a means to train up new and contingent employees quickly on company policies, but it’s a clear vector for augmented reality.

When zero-touch is the only way to reach your customer, remote assistance can be a quick and effective way to get you there today. An IFS customer, Munters, was able to deploy a solution in six days. For them, it was an existential decision, and it kept them whole in a time where their contemporaries were melting down.

Obviously this is not always a reasonable replacement for an in-person meeting, as there is often a skills or resource gap between the back office and the field in remote service. But if you’re able to keep 50% of your clients up and running without a truck roll, the trickle-down benefits to your business are substantial. It’ll keep contracts renewed, avoid SLA penalties, and keep employees where they want to be: On the job. This is what we can do today. What about tomorrow?

A New Kind of Parts Management

Triage might be the best use for remote assistance today, but often the process of repair makes that a bit more challenging. It doesn’t have to be, though. If you have a fleet of vans with parts inventory on them that are sitting in a depot, you have a fleet of zero-touch delivery vehicles ready to go.

"Theoretically, the infrastructure is mostly there to make this work today. The most important part is a thorough, consistent, and comprehensive parts management and reverse logistics system..."

Imagine a scenario where a customer initiates a remote repair call, and the technician identifies a part that needs to be replaced based on a combination of IoT data and visual inspection. Rather than dispatch a technician, you could dispatch the part itself—often within a reasonably small window—then provide step-by-step replacement or repair instructions via the augmented reality array. It could be done live, with an actual person, or, increasingly, step-by-step instructions could be prerecorded and validated using the AR screen.

Theoretically, the infrastructure is mostly there to make this work today. The most important part is a thorough, consistent, and comprehensive parts management and reverse logistics system. You need to know inventory on every truck, at every warehouse, where each piece is in the depot repair process, and where and how remittance, reissue, or scrapping occurs.

With these two pieces in place, companies will be well-suited for today’s challenges. Remote assistance is available today, zero-touch parts allocation will take time to map out. The third phase takes it a step towards science fiction, though it’s a sci-fi that’s well within the realm of possibility over the next few years.

Assisted Repair

Imagine a scenario where, when a break occurs or is expected, a Roomba-like robot is dispatched, and through a drone-like interface is able to eliminate an issue without involving any humans. This may seem outside the realm of possibility today, but many industrial manufacturers are deploying fleets of robots specially designed to assist with simple repairs. From lifting and handling heavy parts to replacing faulty ones, to running routine security checks and providing a photo log that is attached to the customer account.

There’s obviously a huge amount of hardware infrastructure that needs to be considered here, and this is completely impossible in a number of industries, but think about the degree of customer attrition you’ll mitigate by having your customer add your robot to their family. Combine these capabilities with remote parts remittance and shared view repairs, and you’ll see the cost per truck roll plummet, and customer satisfaction skyrocket.

ARCHIVE FOR THE ‘remote-assistance’ CATEGORY

Support customer safety with remote support software

Boost worker safety, give back, and create employment opportunities

Stay safely off the road and support sustainability in field service

Retain and attract talent through job creation

Get started quickly with remote support software

Scale service with visual remote assistance

Further Reading:

"For a ServiceMax user to utilise and harness the power of Scope AR within our platform is going to be straightforward..."

- Gabrielle Bodda, ServiceMax

"We really think of Augmented Reality as a way to enhance the knowledge transfer that’s needed between someone that is in the field that is the hands to solve the problem and expert that knows what to do..."

- Scott Montgomerie, Scope AR

Further Reading:

Further Reading:

Would You Like to Know More? www.fieldservicenews.com subscribers can access the full presentation by clicking the button below. If you are yet to subscribe the button below will take you to our subscription page, where you can see the range of subscription options available.

Further Reading:

Would You Like to Know More? www.fieldservicenews.com subscribers can access the full presentation by clicking the button below. If you are yet to subscribe the button below will take you to our subscription page, where you can see the range of subscription options available.

Further Reading:

Would You Like to Know More? www.fieldservicenews.com subscribers can access the full presentation by clicking the button below. If you are yet to subscribe the button below will take you to our subscription page, where you can see the range of subscription options available.

Further Reading:

A MERGED-REALITY SOLUTION FROM IFS TO PROVIDE REMOTE PRODUCT SUPPORT

Further Reading:

Would You Like to Know More? www.fieldservicenews.com subscribers can access the full presentation by clicking the button below. If you are yet to subscribe the button below will take you to our subscription page, where you can see the range of subscription options available.

Different Technologies, With Different Applications Within Field Service

Further Reading:

ZERO TOUCH SERVICE

Remote Assistance

A New Kind of Parts Management

Assisted Repair

Further Reading:

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