Augmented Reality (AR) has been long been predicted to become an important, even crucial aspect of field service operations in the future, yet in it’s first iteration it has failed to come close to reaching its potential as a radical force for...
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Sep 18, 2019 • Features • Management • Augmented Reality • future of field service
Augmented Reality (AR) has been long been predicted to become an important, even crucial aspect of field service operations in the future, yet in it’s first iteration it has failed to come close to reaching its potential as a radical force for evolution within our sector. However, as we begin to see a second iteration of AR in field service it is becoming an important part of a wider technology stack alongside the Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence. It is time to join the dots and bring AR tools to the fore within the field service sector writes Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News...
Sep 05, 2019 • Features • Software & Apps • Augmented Reality • future of field service • Remote Assistance • David Nedohin • Scope AR
It has taken longer than many predicted, but Augmented Reality is finally gaining significant traction in the field service sector. Indeed, evidence of this new momentum can be seen in the number of new AR vendors entering the space. One company...
It has taken longer than many predicted, but Augmented Reality is finally gaining significant traction in the field service sector. Indeed, evidence of this new momentum can be seen in the number of new AR vendors entering the space. One company that pioneered much of the technology and concepts now becoming increasingly explored in our sector is Scope AR. Kris Oldland sat down with their President David Nedohin, to get his take on the case for Augmented Reality in the field service sector…
For a long time, Nedohin was one of a very few voices in the sector that had both a deep level of knowledge and first hand expertise within the emerging industry of AR in field service.
The number of voices around him has increased dramatically in the last year or so, but the one thing that I always found gave Nedohin a defined sense of gravitas when he spoke was a firm grasp of the broader picture within the field service setting. This, coupled with a natural earnestness and a genuine belief that the technology can and will solve a multitude of challenges in the field service sector, always marked him out for me as a man worth listening to.
So, with the additional noise now swirling around AR, I was keen to sit back down with him and gather his thoughts on whether AR was set to become more prevalent within the field service sector, and if so how?
"To begin, let's take the remote support aspect of AR," Nedohin starts as we sit down over a coffee. "In all honesty, something we saw coming last year, which is now definitely coming to pass is that this side of the AR offerings is beginning to become heavily commoditised."
“Allow the AI to tackle the 80% of support queries, freeing up the remote expert to focus on the 20% of more challenging issues – where they can bring value to the table…”
"We find ourselves now in a situation where many of the people who come to us initially are looking at the remote support side of AR. It has become something of a common trend which I think has largely arisen because remote support is all most field service directors hear about when it comes to AR.
"Of course, for us, that is something we can and do support, but it does end up becoming a scenario of simple feature and price comparison and matching, and that's not how we want to sell our product. The bigger question for us is how field service companies create an interim strategy based around sharing expert knowledge with workers, regardless of where they are, and it doesn't have to be a case of using a remote expert every time your engineers need help.
"You need to have expert knowledge that's available to your workers in advance, and then if they need help, you have the additional option of calling an expert in. You need those guide instructions, you need support, driven through Artificial Intelligence (AI) highlighting best practices, and then, if needed, you also need an option to call the expert. You don't want to just be in a position where every time you're going to call an expert to help - because that's not a strategy."
Nedohin, makes a valid point here, in that as is often the way with new and emerging technology, sometimes in a rush to adopt a solution, the purpose of implementing the technology, can get overlooked.
Remote Assistance is very much a natural fit in field service, and ultimately, I believe it will become as widely used as video calls, but it is not always a necessary route for each and every call. AI-powered knowledge banks working in tandem with AR – something akin to what Nick Frank termed as "Augmented Knowledge" in a recent article for Field Service News, can help guide an engineer onsite through a repair without tying up remote support.
It is a modern example of the Pareto principle at work – allow the AI to tackle the 80% of support queries, freeing up the remote expert to focus on the 20% of more challenging issues – where they can bring value to the table.
It also brings to mind perhaps one of the most well-repeated mantras we hear in field service. Use the right tools for the job at hand. As Nedohin explains; "It's no different than let's say a mechanic working on replacing a flat tyre. They need to pick the right tool to solve that problem. I mean, some guy's not going to walk up and say, 'I sell hammers' when you've got a nut to take off, and then try to convince you that you don't need a wrench.
"Imagine that conversation, with the supplier saying, 'We've got the best hammers, you need to buy hammers and figure out what to do with the hammer.' The mechanic would think he was insane and go get a wrench from somewhere else," Nedohin adds.
“You have to work back on the problem and figure out what tools you need…”
It is a well-made point that illustrates the importance of understanding your specific use-case requirements before implementing any technology - something I have put forward on many an occasion.
"You have to work back on the problem and figure out what tools you need," Nedohin concurs. "Somebody who's working up on a telephone pole, obviously they need a wearable, they need a monocular device that's going to give them a safe environment and they can overlay some instructions.
"If it's somebody, who's working in manufacturing on the maintenance or repair of a big piece of equipment they must see exactly what they need to be doing and the AR overlaid on top can give them a bigger picture and surface resolution quickly and effectively. In this use case, a binocular device would likely be preferable.
"The first point on the map, the first question you have to ask yourselves as an organisation, has to be 'what is the right set of tools to help us improve what we're doing right now?'"
The potential of AR in field service is undoubtedly exciting, but as with other emerging technologies becoming integrated into field service such as IoT or drones, the use cases will vary from organisation to organisation. Identifying the gaps in your service delivery and where they can be improved is a crucial first step not to be overlooked. However, having taken that step, AR will likely become an important part of the technology stack that can drive your field service operation forward.
Aug 29, 2019 • Features • Software & Apps • Augmented Reality • Technology Investment • Augmentir
Augmented Reality has been widely predicted to become a fundamental aspect within field service delivery in the future. Here Jereme Pitts, COO, Librestream discusses how you can get a lead on your competitors and secure investment in AR for your...
Augmented Reality has been widely predicted to become a fundamental aspect within field service delivery in the future. Here Jereme Pitts, COO, Librestream discusses how you can get a lead on your competitors and secure investment in AR for your field service operations today...
According to The Service Council, 70% of service companies stated that within 5-10 years they will face challenges due to the retiring workforce. This fact has created an industry wide need to capture and leverage knowledge, one of the top drivers for augmented reality (AR) technologies. Compounded with this challenge are the increasingly complex assets and operations that service teams face.
After deploying AR technologies, service operations have reported strong outcomes in worker safety, increased uptime, accelerated training, and knowledge retention, employee retention and productivity gains. Over our 15 years of delivering AR solutions, we’ve seen these outcomes across our customer base.
To successfully deploy and adopt AR within an enterprise, it is important to understand which use cases will drive the highest value across your operation. These use cases will determine which form of AR solution you should focus on first. Two of the most popular AR solutions in the industry are remote expert assistance and digital work instructions. Both solutions capture and leverage knowledge and are ready-to-deploy with strong proof points in the industry.
The first solution, remote expert assistance, is the ability to connect with virtual specialists immediately by sharing live video, audio, telestration and augmented content through wearable or smart devices. This solution is making way for just-in-time training, which is the concept of giving workers the tools they need to learn on the job at the scene of an event. With the growing turn-over rate of millennial workers, taking the time and money to train a new technician is a huge investment. Just-in-time training reduces the investment in time and money and instead trains the technician when it’s needed.
"Investing in AR is proving to combat the loss of expertise and growing complexity within the field service industry
The second highest growth AR solution is digital work instructions. Digital work instructions involve transforming paper processes into digital step-bystep workflows - accessible to technicians on their wearable or smart devices. This solution provides enterprises with the opportunity to streamline processes for consistency and better accuracy across their entire operations. Creating actionable data enterprises can use to create smarter and more effective business decisions. Here are examples of benefits and outcomes our industry-leading customers have reported since deploying these two AR solutions:
• 20% accelerated time to resolution and 50% faster support calls
• 33% faster training by mentoring field technicians with live video
• 5-10% reduction in return visits with improved first-time-fix rates
• 70% time saved in total productivity hours of technicians
• Improved worker safety statistics measured by indicators such as fewer miles travelled.
After selecting the highest value use cases and type of AR solution needed, the next step is often creating a successful business case. This step is crucial to gain consensus internally for a successful deployment of the AR solution. Over the years, we’ve worked with our leading customers to compile the main requirements they recommend in building this business case. Here are three important aspects to consider:
1. Name all the important stakeholders who should be involved from the beginning. For example, who are the executive sponsors, key team members, IT and security personnel?
2. Set benchmarks for success. Create a way to measure how well the solution is performing against the ‘old’ ways to help with determining the success of the project.
3. What are your formal KPIs? Make a list of your tangible and intangible benefits and how you will collect that data. These are just a few of the key thing to consider when building a successful business case for AR. To learn more, you can read the ‘Build a Business Case’ chapter in Librestream’s Industry guide on remote expertise.
This guide includes helpful content on the entire process from selecting an AR remote expert vendor to successfully deploying and gaining adoption.
Investing in AR is proving to combat the loss of expertise and growing complexity within the field service industry. Choosing the right AR tools and creating a strong business case are vital to the success of the deployment. As a part of many companies’ digital transformation strategies, AR is becoming the new industry standard.
Aug 28, 2019 • Features • Augmented Reality • future of field service • OverIT
In the Era of Digital Transformation most businesses have begun to be acquainted with the tremendous potential of Augmented Reality (AR). As more enterprise-focused case studies are emerging proving the effectiveness of such technology, today companies are increasingly implementing AR as a strategic part of their technology stack. Enterprises are deploying Augmented, Mixed and Virtual Reality across a variety of sectors, including maintenance, repair, manufacturing, field service, and training.
Whether converting paper instructions into digital AR workflows or quickly enabling a remote technician to get the expert support needed through an AR-enabled live collaboration call, an AR solution always delivers unprecedented levels of knowledge sharing. AR products lead to improved workforce efficiency and safety, as well as reduced errors and equipment downtime. But with so many possible use cases, how can field service organizations easily get started? Field Service Managers are looking for gaining competitive advantages by deploying AR, MR and VR solutions to improve key service metrics, such as first-time fix rates, average repair time, SLAs compliance, and equipment downtime.
BENEFITS
The value of AR in the workplace is not just claimed, but proven thanks to longitudinal data coming from actual deployments. At OverIT, thanks to the SPACE1 Extended Field Solution, we have seen our customers increase productivity by as much as 43% and decrease their error rates by as much as 30%. Benefits can be seen in terms of:Knowledge Transfer
Experienced technicians with decades of institutional knowledge are reaching retirement age and many industries are coping with a lack of younger employees.The support of a remote expert through Virtual Collaboration can therefore facilitate and accelerate the process of transferring knowledge and know-how.
Increase in efficiency and productivity
Field Service technicians and engineers frequently need to consult technical documents and manuals. Allowing them to visualize pertinent information hands-free during all phases of the work order debriefing is a key element leading to a huge increase in productivity.
Increase in first-time fix
The availability of digital and work-related information allows the user to have immediate access to the documentation needed to solve the problem, both reducing the time required to access it and increasing first-time fix rate.
Lower disassembly time
Thanks to the ability to display Digital Twins and the related animations, the user can efficiently disassemble any assets. Error minimization - The availability of work instructions guiding the user step by step drastically reduces errors.
Accident prevention
For industrial operators performing complex tasks with both hands, the need for a hands-free experience is paramount. Visualizing workflows supporting them in the execution prevents accidents resulting from unnecessary and potentially dangerous activities. By viewing assets in 3D and configuring animations, enterprises are able to organize training sessions for employees in a safe environment. SPACE1 – Extended Field Solution goes beyond the conventional Field Service concept improving the efficiency of technicians by:
• Positively impacting recruitment, training, procedure documentation, knowledge management, resource allocation, and much more;
• Efficiently capturing and transferring service knowledge;
• Building and enhancing field operators’ knowledge and skills.
CHALLENGES
Although AR has proven benefits as well as an undiscussed potential across a wide variety of industries, there are still challenges to be addressed.
Hardware
Despite successful application, hardware volatility characterizes the AR market as new hardware emerges. Partnering with a provider who follows a hardware agnostic approach will empower your company to immediately deploy AR applications on the devices currently used.
Digital Content
In order to make the most of the full potential of AR, lots of digital content is required. The ideal product has easy-to-author workflows accessing data and content from existing integrated systems, as well as easy-tonavigate instructions allowing the video guidance and/or the remote mentor assistance. It captures the metadata related to the workflow execution, such as the technician who performed a step, the time when the step was performed and its duration, making such information accessible for Analytics and for measuring the execution compliance.
Integration
Choosing an integrated platform which is flexible and easy to connect with existing systems, such as ERP and IoT, will allow you to quickly get up and running with AR applications to start reaping the benefits such technology can offer. In order to successfully implement this game-changing technology, companies should rely on providers showing already valuable use cases and customers in their portfolio. Moreover, an experienced AR partner will always provide customers with features that are always in step with the latest technological innovations, safeguarding their investments.
THINK ABOUT THE FUTURE
AR, MR, VR are here to stay. Such technologies bring information to life and enable users in remote locations to feel like they are interacting with experts on the scene, thus helping field service companies to drive improved customer satisfaction and loyalty.
OverIT is the pioneer of enterprise-class Augmented Reality, revolutionizing the way field service companies work and collaborate thanks to an integrated AR product providing more effective and efficient knowledge-sharing to conduct complex remote tasks, employee training, product and equipment assembly, maintenance and repair, field and customer support, and much more. Leading enterprises like Cobo Group, Nice, ABS, to name just a few are employing SPACE1 to quickly scale their use of AR
Aug 27, 2019 • Features • Augmented Reality • future of field service • Augmentir
Much has been said and written about Augmented Reality (AR) and its benefits n the field service arena – from improved field technician performance to reductions in field service operating costs. However, these early success stories masked the reality of Enterprise AR in the industrial sector – companies have been slow to adopt this technology and have had difficulty moving beyond the experimentation and pilot phase
The first wave of vendors in the Enterprise AR space were overly focused on wearable technology, believing the early predictions that there would be millions of sets of smart glasses deployed in the enterprise by 2018. This directed their efforts to getting work instructions running on a variety of wearables, and many also invested solely in using AR to present information to technicians in the field with rich content and 3D CAD overlays.
It has become clear that these investments have not delivered the value expected to the enterprise, which is reflected in the lack of mainstream adoption. What has been overlooked is the real opportunity of leveraging the new found connectivity to service workers to create sustainable value throughout the organization. Not only by delivering personalized information to each worker, in the ideal format, but also using artificial intelligence and machine learning to augment the intelligence of the organization relative to how it engages, empowers, and continually improves its human workforce.
This is the beginning of a new era, an era not of Enterprise Augmented Reality, but of Augmented Operations where AR is but one of many ways to present data, support, and guide field workers. Augmented Operations has the opportunity to transform human worker productivity much like automation has done in the past 30 years.
This transformation is driven by the combination of two key technology trends – Enterprise AR and Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning.
Why is Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Important?
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) has been around for a long time and has historically been applied against external data sets. A recent trend is to embed AI in software platforms, and have it act on the internal data, eliminating the estimated 80% of AI/ML project efforts around labelling and cleansing external data. This is frequently being applied to solutions focused on improving outcomes in business processes where the human worker is at the center. Artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) is ideally suited to understanding patterns in the noisy data sets generated by humans workers.
At Augmentir, we are using our AI engine to identify patterns in the data generated by field technicians and highlight areas that can then be used to improve overall worker performance, as well as act in real-time to provide personalized procedures based on the proficiency of each worker. The AI engine is able to help continually deliver insights and recommendations based on that human worker data – this is valuable intelligence that can be used to help drive continuous improvement across the entire organization – from operations to training to quality.
• AI can help each worker perform at their peak – dynamically changing the instruction to one that allows each worker to perform their job as fast as possible, while meeting quality and safety targets;
• AI understands the patterns and outliers in the vast instruction/job execution data to identify the largest capturable opportunities in the areas of: productivity,. worker effectiveness, training materials effectiveness, and instruction effectiveness – and provide insights and recommendations on how to capture these opportunities. This is the only way to deliver the actionable information required for industrial organizations to drive continuous improvement on a year-over-year basis;
• With AI, companies can optimize troubleshooting/ diagnostic procedures by observing the attempts and results of technicians in the field;
• With AI, companies will be able to capture tribal knowledge from participating in the interactions between Experts and frontline workers, over time making the expertise/tribal knowledge a scalable corporate asset.
With this concept of Augmented Operations (using AI/ML to deliver intelligence across the organization from your augmented workforce), we are seeing a step change in how organizations are making informed decisions, empowering workers, and improving the productivity of humans in the workplace.
Augmenting the Service Workforce of the Future
Despite some early momentum, Enterprise AR alone isn’t enough to deliver sustainable value in the field service sector.What has been ignored is a real opportunity to create sustainable value throughout the organization – not only giving workers the ability to consume information and apply knowledge, but also augmenting the intelligence of the organization relative to how it engages empowers, and continually improves its human workforce. At Augmentir, we are calling this Augmented Operations, and we believe that this will transform the service workforce of the future.
Aug 07, 2019 • Features • Augmented Reality • Future of FIeld Service • Workforce • IFS • skills • The Big Discussion • OverIT • Librestream
In the final part of our forum on Augmented Reality, contributors including Stephen Jeffs-Watts, Senior Advisor Service Management, IFS, Francesco Benvenuto Product Marketing Manager, SPACE1 by OverIT and John Bishop, President, Librestream offer their advice on what service professionals should ask an AR vendor when considering an AR solution.
What is the one key question you would advise a field service director to ask an Augmented Reality vendor when potentially seeking a solution to implement within their business?
JOHN BISHOP, PRESIDENT, LIBRESTREAM
There will be many questions the field service director will be asked by colleagues, customers, or supply chain partners. Addressing the questions upfront is very important and the AR vendors should all be able to answer them. For example, you need the answer to questions like ‘how do you handle privacy issues’? Or, more basic than that, ‘when I move beyond the pilot phase, will IT let me deploy?’
We felt it was important to identify the common challenges we’ve experienced with customers during deployment. We worked with customers and analysts to develop the Remote Expert Industry Guide.
Our longevity in the AR space has made it clear that sharing video or capturing data digitally can be a touchy subject, especially when end customers are involved. Field service directors and their colleagues need reassurance that the vendor they choose can provide the solution.
FRANCESCO BENVENUTO, PRODUCT MARKETING MANAGER, SPACE1 BY OVERIT
I would like them to ask: “Do you provide an AR App or an Augmented Reality product?”
An Augmented Reality product, such as SPACE1, is a no-code authoring platform, which allows non-technical users to create intuitive and visual work instructions, making them virtually available to any technician. Furthermore, it enables collaboration for training and maintenance purposes.
Any company, looking into AR, should consider only products offering crossplatform support for handhelds, desktop and AR wearables where both realtime remote assistance and access to pre-built AR work instructions can be
served simultaneously, in one single application.
Moreover, decision-makers should select only solutions providing secure data handling in compliance with IT requirements and online/offline capabilities which make the information technicians need available, regardless of any potential connection issue.
Last but not least, features to capture images, annotations and screenshots, add documentation and record live support sessions under the expert guidance (both verbal and supported by visual annotations) are particularly useful in view of future use and sharing.
STEPHEN JEFFS-WATTS, PRODUCT MANAGER, SERVICE MANAGEMENT, IFS
“What areas of my service delivery organisation will be affected by deploying AR technology and how do I manage change effectively to ensure successful adoption of your product?”
You can read the first instalment of this Big Discussion here, the second here and the third part here.
Jul 31, 2019 • Features • Augmented Reality • Future of FIeld Service • Workforce • IFS • skills • The Big Discussion • OverIT • Librestream
In the third of a four part series on Augmented Reality, our panel including Stephen Jeffs-Watts, Senior Advisor Service Management, IFS, Francesco Benvenuto Product Marketing Manager, SPACE1 by OverIT and John Bishop, President, Librestream ponder AR's future role in service. Will it be ubiquitous as a rugged device?
Do you think AR will become a mainstream/commonplace part of field service operations within the near future?
JOHN BISHOP, PRESIDENT, LIBRESTREAM
This question is an interesting one. AR is a large bucket. If you look at proven capabilities such as remote expert guidance and digital work instructions, AR is already a mainstream capability for market leaders.
Other AR capabilities such as 3D modeling and cognitive services, while important parts of the digital transformation journey, are further out in maturity. For these proven AR tools, we’ve experienced a shift from Operations to IT led sourcing to deploy at scale across an enterprise.
At scale, these enterprises report strong operational results such as:
• 30% Productivity gain from ‘just in time’ mentoring of field techs;
• 5-10% Increase in asset up-time;
• 50% Reduction in support call duration;
In addition to these tangible results, our customers describe how AR also provides them with competitive differentiation, worker safety, premium service offers, and worker retention opportunities.
FRANCESCO BENVENUTO, PRODUCT MARKETING MANAGER, SPACE1 BY OVERIT
Most consulting firms agree that by 2022 over 50% of field service providers will offer a specialized digital customer experience enabling both two-way interaction and workflow initiation through multiple human and non-human channels.
The prediction is confirmed by the fact that OverIT, as an AR product supplier, is no longer reaching out to potential customers to make them aware of the power of such technology, but instead is proactively contacted by prospects who have already developed a well-defined AR strategy for their business. OverIT with more than 85K active users on field have the expertise to guide them in this process.
We are facing the ROI era and Augmented Reality is no longer a proof-of concept.
STEPHEN JEFFS-WATTS, PRODUCT MANAGER, SERVICE MANAGEMENT, IFS
The current technology inflection point, where technologies like AR, Artificial Intelligence and machine learning will become pervasive, makes it one of the most exciting times to be working with service companies.
Many use-cases that, only a couple of years ago, seemed aspirational at best, are becoming more real and accessible every day.
We are certainly seeing more interest in this area from the industry as cost and complexity reduce – making the technology more accessible to a wider range of organisations.
The Feasibility of AR in Service report produced by the Service Council in 2017 found that 33% of respondents were already using AR, with 43% evaluating it. From what we see in the market, this upwards trajectory has continued and momentum is continuing to build.
The final part of the big discussion will be published next week. You can read the first instalment here and the second here.
Jul 30, 2019 • Features • Augmented Reality • future of field service • Software and Apps • Augmentir
Augmentir is a relatively new startup in the growing Augmented Reality (AR) space that is focussing on the field service sector. Indeed this is a market that is becoming quite quickly crowded with AR vendors dominating industry conferences both in the US and Europe this summer in terms of the new entrants into the market.
However, three things, in particular, made Augmentir stand out from the crowd when I met with their VP of Marketing, Chris Kuntz, at the Field Service USA conference in Palm Springs recently. Firstly, there is much pedigree in this seemingly wet behind the ears startup.
The team that has put together Augmentir have been together for a long time on different projects which have included bringing the pioneering industrial IoT platform ThingWorx to market, as well as Wonderware, which was the first HMI interface in the manufacturing sector and is now in place in an estimated 60% of manufacturing plants worldwide.
So before we even start to look at the technology driving Augmentir, it’s fair to say that there is more than a good chance we shall potentially see another success story here.
However, the fact is that even without the well established pedigree, the vision behind Augmentir have taken a different yet thoroughly logical approach that sets them apart from many of their peers in the market.
As Kuntz, explained when I met with him in California, “We’re taking a different spin on what’s out there today. We’re the first software platform built on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the world of the augmented or connected worker. Historically, what’s happened in field service is roughly as follows: A new job is created when a customer reports a problem with a piece of equipment. This results in a worker getting dispatched, who then attends the job and either fixes the product or has to reschedule a second visit. Then at some point later, he updates a system with the notes outlining the actions he took,” Kuntz says recalling a scenario many of us in the sector recognise.
“However, the activities that happened from the time the engineer was dispatched to the time that that job is complete, remain a relative unknown, it’s a black box today. People don’t know what’s happening on the job site. Is that worker struggling with some of the steps? Does that worker speed through the repair procedure? Did the worker follow the right steps to meet health and safety requirements?”
There are all sorts of things happening. The problem then gets compounded for some companies who offer self-service or routines their dealer network or to their end customers. Now, you don’t know if they’re following the correct maintenance procedures or not. This, in turn, could affect the warranty status, and so on and so forth.”
"Augmentir have taken a different yet thoroughly logical approach..."
Of course, the result of the scenario Kuntz outlines is one many of us are familiar with. Companies have thus started to push technology down to the worker to make them better connected, to make them ‘augmented’.
This is at the heart of the current play for many AR providers, which in essence builds upon the case put forward for mobile a decade ago. Ultimately field service organisations are still attempting to solve the perennial question of “How can we give our engineers more information, give them more instructions on how to guide them through their process”.
“That’s all fine,” Kuntz states referring to the approach most of his peers are taking in resolving these issues, “But most companies aren’t collecting how their engineer’s work is performed. They’re just saying to the engineers, ‘Here are your instructions.’
“What we’re doing is taking that one step further. Firstly, we provide what we call ‘augmented work instruction’. By that, we mean work instructions that have information related to the case the engineer is doing, the piece of equipment they are working on and its work history that make the instructions interactive and personalised work instructions.
“If you’re an expert, that’s gone through this procedure a million times, you might get a more summarised view of the instructions, whereas if you’re a novice and this is the first time on a specific repair, our AI engine might provide you with a required training video along with a more detailed step-by-step guide. All to meet the goal of fix it right the first time …in the least amount of time.
“The next thing we do is we’re collecting all the granular data on how the workers performing their job and interacting with the instructions. We’re then using this data with our Artificial Intelligence engine in a way to help them become better at what they’re doing.
“Maybe an engineer is performing tasks slower than the average worker, is that an opportunity for training? Maybe they’re faster than the average worker? Is it an opportunity to tap into that person to say, how are you doing it? Have they found a more effective way of completing a task? Alternatively, maybe most of the workers are having trouble with a specific procedure/step – is there an opportunity to improve the instructions or associated training materials?”
Compliance is, of course, a crucial part of a field engineers role - both for legislative and internal efficiency purposes. However, often, it is the case that compliance steps happen after the fact.
One of the crucial aspects of digital transformation is making sure actions like these can now be electronically verified in real-time, in an interactive manner - and not just be an afterthought added to the notes a service engineer completes at the end of the job.
It is a small shift in a workflow that can have multiple big benefits, and the fact that Augmentir has baked such factors as this into their solution from the get-go does suggest they have a firm understanding of the field service engineers day to day workflow and the broader processes of the field service operation.
“This information can be used for compliance purposes, can be used for warranty purposes, it can be sent back to the customer to say, ‘this is a service procedure, this is exactly what happened,’ offer them a full inventory, step by step of what happened,” Kuntz explains: “We’re taking augmented reality, infusing it with artificial intelligence to collect the data, analyse it, and push it back to the organisation. Moreover, we’re doing it in a way that offers our enterprise software platform in a more modern approach.”
It is here we come across the third facet of Augmentir’s approach that also separates them from much of the pack - their route to market is equally accessible for the SMB sector as it is the large enterprise.
Kuntz continues: “If you think about how companies in this space adopt technology, Salesforce, Clicksoftware, ServiceMax; it’s a very lengthy process to implement any of these systems. Certainly, when it gets down to other AR solutions, it is no different and implementation can become even more time consuming. A pilot may take nine months; it could cost up to $150,000 to test out an AR solution.
“What we’re doing is trying to take a model that Slack, Atlassian and Dropbox have taken - make it easy to try, easy to buy, easy to own. The way people adopt Dropbox, the way people adopt Slack today is typical of how the modern world works, and we think we can apply that to the field service sector.
“What that allows us to do is not only work with the large enterprise companies, but also the small to mid-sized companies that don’t have the time and money to spend a large amount of money on implementing a large complex system."
This strategy really could be a game changer in the Field Service/Augmented Reality sector, which for a long time I have identified as one that has a vast potential to improve field service delivery, yet has ultimately struggled to truly take a prevalent hold in any meaningful way as yet.
SMBs are in prime position to benefit from many of the potential benefits, both in terms of reducing costs and increasing revenues that AR could yield. A solution that allows them to step into this world, virtually risk-free could become a massive gateway for widespread adoption on a mass scale.
The pedigree of Augmentir’s senior team, the intelligent well thought out use cases presented and a strategy that makes the solution easy to trial are three significant areas that can make them stand out from this increasingly busy pack.
However, the biggest reason I see Augmentir becoming an established provider within our sector is that I don’t actually think they are an AR provider at all. Instead, having spent some time with Kuntz looking at and discussing the solution, I believe they are best described as ‘an AI company that specialises in knowledge transfer and interpretation, who happen to have chosen AR as the primary interface for their solution'.
It might not roll off the tongue quite as easily, but it sure ticks a lot of boxes that many, many field service companies are looking at - and this may make Augmentir a key solution in the sector.
Jul 24, 2019 • Features • Augmented Reality • Future of FIeld Service • Workforce • IFS • skills • The Big Discussion • OverIT • Librestream
In the second of a four part series on Augmented Reality, our panel including Stephen Jeffs-Watts, Senior Advisor Service Management, IFS, Francesco Benvenuto Product Marketing Manager, SPACE1 by OverIT and John Bishop, President, Librestream discuss what role the technology can play in the challenge around an ageing workforce.
What role can AR play in helping field service companies overcome the ageing workforce crisis they may be facing?
JOHN BISHOP, PRESIDENT, LIBRESTREAM
As the ageing workforce continues to challenge field service operations, the need to transfer and harness the knowledge of these experts is undeniable. With statistics such as 10,000 workers retiring every day in the US market for example, it is clear why this trend is a major driver for AR within field service.
The ageing workforce challenge is also compounded by the introduction of millennial workers. One of our industrial customers shared that it costs up to $1M and nine months to train a new worker to the previous SME standard. With millennials staying an average of three years, doing things the old way is not sustainable.
Using AR to provide ‘just in time’ training instead of ‘just in case’ training is essential. This ‘just in time’ training is achievable with AR solutions like digital work instructions to step them through a process and remote expert guidance to access advice on the job.
FRANCESCO BENVENUTO, PRODUCT MARKETING MANAGER, SPACE1 BY OVERIT
AR makes it easier for companies to move from an employee-centric approach to a wider and constantly evolving enterprise-centric approach where knowledge and know-how transfer are the core elements.
Every company should aim at equipping both technicians and operators with a user-friendly solution which does not require any coding skills for generating new content but instead creates a collaborative working environment where knowledge is easily shared.
Customer satisfaction plays also a pivotal role when it comes to determining the success of a company and the ability to provide the technician with the expertise needed at the right moment helps to reach this ambitious goal.
The spread of consumers’ devices and user-friendly AR products is smoothing such transitions provide all employees, from millennials to more senior operators, with the essential skills required. An AR solution should always adapt to the company information architecture employed and each user should be able to access the data needed to augment the real world with rich and intuitive content.
Choosing an integrated platform, which is flexible and can be easily connected to the existing systems, such as ERP and IoT, will allow enterprises to quickly see the benefits AR can offer to pave the way for success.
STEPHEN JEFFS-WATTS, PRODUCT MANAGER, SERVICE MANAGEMENT, IFS
The key use-case in this area is the remote expert whose expertise can be leveraged across multiple field technicians to rapidly increase competency in the field.
This is critical in supporting the next wave of service technicians which the industry needs as more experienced technicians leave the workforce.
This use-case also provides a potential way to extend the career of some technicians, re-deploying field-based workers as remote experts whose specific objective is to increase competence and transfer their extensive knowledge, gained through years of in-field experience, to the next generation of technicians.
The third part of the big discussion will be published next week. You can read the first instalment here.
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