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...
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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.
Further Reading:
- Learn more about how WorkLink seamlessly integrates with the ServiceMax FSM platform @ www.scopear.com/partners/servicemax/.
- Read more about Digital Transformation @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/tag/digital-transformation
- https://www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/tag/digital-transformation
- Read more about Augmented Reality in Field Service @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/hs-search-results?term=Augmented+reality+
- Follow ScopeAR on twitter @ https://twitter.com/scopear
- Follow ServiceMax on Twitter @ https://twitter.com/ServiceMax
- Find out more about the services ServiceMax offer to field service companies @ www.servicemax.com/
- Find out more about the services ScopeAR offer to field service companies @www.scopear.com/
Aug 18, 2020 • News • Augmented Reality • Digital Transformation • Scope AR • servicemax
New integration between the companies’ WorkLink and Field Service Management platforms gives field service technicians real-time access to augmented reality work instructions and remote assistance...
New integration between the companies’ WorkLink and Field Service Management platforms gives field service technicians real-time access to augmented reality work instructions and remote assistance...
Scope AR, the pioneer of enterprise-class augmented reality (AR) solutions, today announced it has partnered with ServiceMax, the leader in asset-centric field service management, to enable a visual knowledge base for industrial work processes. As a trusted technology partner, Scope AR’s WorkLink platform will integrate with ServiceMax’s Field Service Management (FSM) platform to give field service technicians the real-time knowledge they need to more efficiently and accurately complete work orders. Users will now have access to detailed augmented reality work instructions and the ability to initiate live, remote assistance calls, while enterprise organizations can now capture and scale expert knowledge through the creation of work instruction catalogs.
"We’re excited to be a part of the ServiceMax Partner Program and extend the value of their FSM platform..."
- Dave Gosch, Scope AR
“AR is uniquely positioned to help close the growing skills gap in field service across industries, and can deliver on-demand knowledge transfer and empower workers to become experts at any given task with very little training time,” said Dave Gosch, VP of sales and solutions at Scope AR. “We’re excited to be a part of the ServiceMax Partner Program and extend the value of their FSM platform.”
Beyond increased efficiencies out in the field, the partnership also delivers benefits at the enterprise level. Insights gained from data available across both platforms provide a comprehensive view of how work is actually completed, offering visibility into areas of continuous improvement or where additional training may be needed. Additionally, enterprise organizations can leverage the creation of work instruction catalogs to build a knowledge repository. This allows companies to effectively overcome the constraints of remote work and the growing skills gap that plagues field service teams. Additionally, companies retain and scale expert knowledge that can be permanently accessed after a worker retires.
“Visual work instructions that leverage AR provide the ultimate form of knowledge transfer to both novice and expert front-line workers alike, helping them perform the job faster, thus increasing overall business agility,” said Joseph Kenny, VP Global Customer Transformation at ServiceMax. “With the integration of all systems that affect this experience - from field service management and learning and development, to competency management, team communications and now AR work instructions - organizations are finally able to achieve optimized service and skills management.”
Further Reading:
- Learn more about how WorkLink seamlessly integrates with the ServiceMax FSM platform @ www.scopear.com/partners/servicemax/.
- Read more about Digital Transformation @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/tag/digital-transformation
- https://www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/tag/digital-transformation
- Read more about Augmented Reality in Field Service @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/hs-search-results?term=Augmented+reality+
- Follow ScopeAR on twitter @ https://twitter.com/scopear
- Follow ServiceMax on Twitter @ https://twitter.com/ServiceMax
- Find out more about the services ServiceMax offer to field service companies @ www.servicemax.com/
- Find out more about the services ScopeAR offer to field service companies @www.scopear.com/
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 classroom...
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 classroom and into the field...
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.
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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.
Further Reading:
- Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/tag/digital-transformation
- Read more about Augmented Reality and Remote Services @ www.fieldservicenews.com/hs-search-results?term=Aumented+Reality
- Read exclusive FSN news and features about OverIT & Space1 @ www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/overit
- Find out about the Space1 and OverIT solutions @ www.overit.it/
- Request a demo of Space1 @ www.overit.it/en/request-demo/
- Follow OverIT on Twitter @ twitter.com/OverITSpA
- Connect with Francesco Benvenuto on LinkedIN @ www.linkedin.com/in/benvenutofrancesco/
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...
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...
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.
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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."
Further Reading:
- Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/tag/digital-transformation
- Read more about Augmented Reality and Remote Services @ www.fieldservicenews.com/hs-search-results?term=Aumented+Reality
- Read exclusive FSN news and features about OverIT & Space1 @ www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/overit
- Find out about the Space1 and OverIT solutions @ www.overit.it/
- Request a demo of Space1 @ www.overit.it/en/request-demo/
- Follow OverIT on Twitter @ twitter.com/OverITSpA
- Connect with Francesco Benvenuto on LinkedIN @ www.linkedin.com/in/benvenutofrancesco/
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 in...
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 in areas of strong coverage such as cities and towns...
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.
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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."
Further Reading:
- Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/tag/digital-transformation
- Read more about Augmented Reality and Remote Services @ www.fieldservicenews.com/hs-search-results?term=Aumented+Reality
- Read exclusive FSN news and features about OverIT & Space1 @ www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/overit
- Find out about the Space1 and OverIT solutions @ www.overit.it/
- Request a demo of Space1 @ www.overit.it/en/request-demo/
- Follow OverIT on Twitter @ twitter.com/OverITSpA
- Connect with Francesco Benvenuto on LinkedIN @ www.linkedin.com/in/benvenutofrancesco/
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...
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...
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.
Sponsored by:
Data usage note: By accessing this content you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content, OverIT, who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this presentation.
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."
Further Reading:
- Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/tag/digital-transformation
- Read more about Augmented Reality and Remote Services @ www.fieldservicenews.com/hs-search-results?term=Aumented+Reality
- Read exclusive FSN news and features about OverIT & Space1 @ www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/overit
- Find out about the Space1 and OverIT solutions @ www.overit.it/
- Request a demo of Space1 @ www.overit.it/en/request-demo/
- Follow OverIT on Twitter @ twitter.com/OverITSpA
- Connect with Francesco Benvenuto on LinkedIN @ www.linkedin.com/in/benvenutofrancesco/
Jun 15, 2020 • News • Augmented Reality • Digital Transformation • Field Service Management Software • OverIT • EMEA • north america
As part of its go-to-market initiatives, and in response to strong demand for its products, OverIT, a global leader in Field Service Management and Augmented Collaboration solutions, has opened its second location in North America in Miami, Florida....
As part of its go-to-market initiatives, and in response to strong demand for its products, OverIT, a global leader in Field Service Management and Augmented Collaboration solutions, has opened its second location in North America in Miami, Florida. The new office will become the US Headquarters, as the company plans to triple its US-based headcount by the end of 2020.
OverIT Accelerates North America Expansion to Meet Growing Demand for Asset-Intensive Field Service Management and Augmented & Virtual Reality Collaboration Solutions.
During the past twenty years, OverIT has been reshaping the operational processes of over 200 Fortune 500 companies. Their goal has always been simple: leading their clients into a new Field Service Management era, where on-field tasks are carried out efficiently, safely, and increasingly hands-free. Given the extraordinary results achieved in FY 2019, and the gap left in the market after vendor consolidation, increasing their international presence is a priority to sustain the ever-increasing demand for their solutions.
“Given the increased demand for our products in United States and Canada”, said Marco Zanuttini, CEO at OverIT, “we have invested heavily in our US subsidiary, growing it over 300% during the past six months. Our company is aiming at top industry leaders and has already hired a new SVP and General Manager for Americas, to guide the business during this new period for the subsidiary. Also, even though North America is the main focus in our strategic expansion plans, we are also in the process of drastically increasing our presence in the UK and Australia by opening up new offices to support efforts in those regions.”
Further Reading:
- Visit the OverIT website @ www.overit.it/
- Read more news and articles about OverIT @ www.fieldservicenews.com/blog/overit
- Read more about Augmented Reality @ www.fieldservicenews.com/augmented+reality
- Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
- Follow OverIT on twitter @ twitter.com/OverITSpA
Jun 12, 2020 • Features • 3D printing • Augmented Reality • Digital Transformation • Parts Pricing and Logistics • worldwide
Covid-19 has changed the world, Service leaders have to look beyond "business as usual" and find new ways to operate. Developing new solutions, delivered via strong leadership, is key to continuity. Bill Pollock explains...
Covid-19 has changed the world, Service leaders have to look beyond "business as usual" and find new ways to operate. Developing new solutions, delivered via strong leadership, is key to continuity. Bill Pollock explains...
While many would argue that a serious marketing and business development action plan is required at all times, this is especially true during turbulent times. During historical boom economic growth periods, post-war recoveries and peacetime economic expansions, it seemed that virtually any half-hearted marketing or business development activities led to continuing business growth.
However, when the going gets rough, there are two key factors that all services organisations must keep in mind:
- Life – and business – still go on, but
- Customers have neither the time nor the inclination to mess around.
Field Service Strategy During and Post-Pandemic
The compound events of the sudden and unexpected spread of the Coronavirus, and the subsequent crash of the global economic markets have temporarily brought the world, and its businesses, to a stunned and sudden standstill. There is no longer “business (or life) as usual”. Many citizens are now “sheltered at home”, either voluntarily, or mandated by their respective governments. There is also an increasing realisation that life as we knew it would no longer be the same. As a result, neither would field services – nor services of any kind!
Already, there are many facets of the traditional services delivery model that have changed forever. However, workers will continue to use their computers, tablets and smartphones to get their day-to-day jobs done. The mobile workforce will become increasingly mobile – as will the pre-Coronavirus office workforce. As such, networks and carriers will become even more important components of the customer and field technician communications processes than ever before.
Payments will still need to be made, although there are likely to be less ATM transactions, as they will likely be replaced by an increase in online payments via the Internet, Apple Pay, PayPal, Venmo and the like. Chipped credit and debit cards were supposed to slowly replace the older magnetic strip cards; however, this transformation has been accelerated by the Coronavirus pandemic, where more and more payments will now be made via “tap” or “wave”, instead of swipe, insert or hand-to-hand transfers of cards or cash with human clerks.
Patients will still go for MRIs, CT-scans and surgical procedures – but, at least temporarily, not so much for elective surgeries or non-life-threatening medical situations. Milk will still be processed. Pharmaceuticals will be manufactured. Textiles will be sewn. And services organisations will still be called upon to support their customers, dealers and end users with a full array of new and steadily evolving services.
When you think about it, everything that we do in the services industry still needs to get done – especially in these turbulent times. In many ways, we are all doing the same things as we did pre-Coronavirus – although now, there is an extra measure of importance in everything we do, every step we take, and every customer we support. It’s just going to be different! And remain different!
"This may also be a good time to strengthen your own organisation’s relationships amongst its strategic partners..."
As recently as just a few months ago, undoubtedly, we were all dealing with customers (or vendors) who, for whatever reasons, simply strove to meet “acceptable” levels of service delivery performance and customer satisfaction. Some had internal goals, objectives or mandates that needed to be met; while others simply wanted to improve existing levels of customer satisfaction to “keep up with the Joneses”. Now, everything is different. The stakes are suddenly higher.
Every business, everywhere in the civilized world, now requires the highest levels of B2B (and, increasingly, B2C) support from its cadre of vendors and partners – no matter whether the support required is on-site break/fix, helpdesk or preventive maintenance; or systems integration, consulting or professional services. However, increasingly, there has been (and is now virtually mandated) a rapidly-moving transformation away from the traditional on-site, “hands-on” approach (whether supported by Augmented Reality or not) to a “hands off” approach where service and support is, instead, provided via Predictive Diagnostics, Remote Diagnostics/Maintenance, and now – Remote Expertise.
3D Printing within the Field Service Supply Chain?
Further, “last year’s technologies”, such as 3D Printing, have been propelled directly into the forefront of Parts & Inventory Management as global businesses have relied heavily on the ad hoc ability to manufacture parts – on-site, and immediately – to support local medical and related emergencies. Most analysts agree that 3D Printing will fast become a mainstay of parts and inventory management as quality continues to improve and costs come down further.
In today’s tense environment when an unforeseen development can bring air travel and mail service to a sudden halt, thereby stopping parts shipments or freezing deliveries; send unexpectedly high numbers of people to medical centers for tests, evaluation and possible hospitalisation; or disrupt field service operations as otherwise would-be mobile workers sit “sheltered at home” until they are permitted, once again, to make service calls on-site, there is a renewed need for services “above and beyond the call of duty” to support what used to be “business as usual”.
But how can this be done?
Quite simply, it will involve ramping up the types of services and support products that have been historically marketed to a higher level of contingency-based support as well. This may also be a good time to strengthen your own organisation’s relationships amongst its strategic partners. For example, whatever your company’s portfolio of service and support products may have been historically, now would be a propitious time to refocus it around professional services including contingency planning, business continuity and disaster recovery, etc. And, if you already provide these types of services yourself, now is the time to promote them more heavily to the marketplace. However, if you don’t – now may be the right time to find yourself a strategic partner in those fields with which to “piggyback”, or joint market, your services.
"Whatever happens from this point on, the world has changed..."
Customers, who only a few months ago, were primarily concerned with hardware, software and helpdesk support, are now also talking about contingency planning, business continuity and disaster recovery. Terms like “high availability” and “hot sites” have been around, it seems, almost forever. However, with the advent and proliferation of the Coronavirus pandemic, they are now “top of mind” for many businesses, and no longer on the “back burner”. Are these the types of professional services that are also “top of mind” to the marketplace when they think of your organisation? If not, what can you do to make it so?
The Critical Rise of Augmented Reality
Field service solution providers that did not offer an Augmented Reality (AR) or Merged Reality (MR) component to their respective portfolio of offerings yesterday, were still credible alternatives for supporting your organisation’s field operations – but, not any longer! If your services organisation is looking for a credible FSM solution today, you should only be considering those powered by the Internet of Things (IoT), and built on a foundation of AR/MR, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning.
However, AR/MR is mostly helpful for empowering on-site field technicians to perform the “fix” quicker, without mistakes, and without the need to carry pounds of paper or electronic schematics with them as they drive to the customer site – but they still need to drive to the customer site! Although an AR/MR solution is essentially resident in the Cloud, it still requires “feet on the street”!
One alternative would be to train the customer/user to AR/MR to perform the “fix” themselves – but this reflects an age-old conundrum as to how much power do you want to give to the customer? How much can they be trusted to make the “fix” correctly, and without damaging anything, or taking the equipment out of warranty? What about regulatory requirements, particularly in the medical/healthcare and other highly-regulated industry segments? There will need to be an orderly progression to allow some – but not all – customers to add this capability to their self-help capabilities. This is where Remote Expertise can be of great value, incorporating such features as a “virtual” technician on-screen presence, repair instructions shown via superimposed human hands, and on-screen telestration (i.e., similar to a sports commentator’s on-screen annotations during a football match, etc.).
Whatever happens from this point on, the world has changed. The way of conducting business has also changed; however, the way of supporting businesses with the services and support they require to satisfy their customers has not – it just got a lot more complicated, and, perhaps, a bit more serious. With this increased seriousness, we can “kiss goodbye” all those meaningless and frivolous attempts to “bundle” our existing services products into a “new” branded package, or otherwise try to disguise our “same old, same old” offerings by thrusting them into a tiered, or “bullion” packaging portfolio (i.e., Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze, etc. – that would be so 1990’s). Our customers have always been too smart for that anyway!
What the market wants – and needs – is an honest and forthright offering of service and support that will give them one less thing to worry about as they attempt to meet their immediate struggles, and their customers’ quickly evolving needs in this “new” – and very different – world.
Turbulent times require a serious approach, plus serious marketing and promotion – and it doesn’t get much more turbulent than this! We owe it to our customers, ourselves and our respective communities to rise to the occasion, and ensure that we can provide the services and support that our customers require immediately, as well as in the short-, mid- and longer-term. Services marketing and business development have never been more serious.
Further Reading:
- Read more articles by Bill Pollock @ www.fieldservicenews.com/billpollock
- Read more about Covid-19 in service @ www.fieldservicenews.com/en-gb/covid-19
- Read more about Digital Transformation in field service @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
- Read more about 3D printing in service @ www.fieldservicenews.com/3d+printing
- Read more from Bill Pollock's own blog @ https://pollockonservice.com
Mar 19, 2020 • News • Augmented Reality • XM reality • Covid-19
AR firm says service firms affected by virus can use tool free of charge during trial-period.
AR firm says service firms affected by virus can use tool free of charge during trial-period.
Augmented reality company XMreality is offering firms impacted by Covid-19 free use of its Remote Guidance Service tool for an extended trial period.
Remote Technical Suppport
As the knock-on effect of the virus hits travel logistics - an essential strand of service delivery - experts who take up the offer can effectively provide technical support remotely without having to leave the office or home.
"Being able to provide swift and efficient technical support to customers or colleagues is crucial to the competitiveness of businesses and, in some cases, even for keeping vital infrastructure working," a press release accompanying the announcement read. "XMReality has now decided to help those companies whose operations have been affected by travel restrictions. The solution is already used in over 40 countries, including China. Accessibility is maximized because the recipient does not need any special hardware or software to receive instructions. All you need on site is a mobile phone with internet connection."
Commenting, Johan Castevall, CEO at XMReality said the company were happy to offer assistance during these difficult times for the service industry: “We are pleased to be able to help in a crisis. “We can see that a large number of companies are being hit hard by the effects of the Coronavirus, so we want to support them and facilitate their operations.”
XMReality's announcement joins others in the service sector who are offering free use of their tools during the pandemic including Augmentir and ServiceMax. The software outfit are allowing new customers to access their real-time communication platform Zinc free of change for three months.
More information about XMReality's offer can be found here.
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