Augmentir have announced free use of its Remote Assistance Tool for front line workers to help companies address travel and social distancing issues around pandemic.

Augmentir have announced the free use of its Remote Assist support and collaboration tool for the remainder of 2020 to help industrial companies address the growing workforce and supply chain disruption created by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Employee Health a Priority

As Covid-19 continues to spread across North America, the CDC has suggested that businesses implement remote work policies and travel restrictions to help slow the spread of the virus. The situation has become more troublesome over the past few weeks, and many companies are looking for ways to help limit business disruptions while keeping the health of employees a top priority, influencing Augmentir's decision.

Russ Fadel, Co-Founder and CEO of Augmentir, said, "COVID-19 is impacting the lives of people all around the world, and is forcing a change to the way we work. At Augmentir, the health and safety of our employees, as well as the employees of our customers and partners is the Company's top priority. Therefore, in a response to COVID-19, Augmentir will be offering its Remote Assist tool at no cost through the end of 2020 in an effort to help the many businesses affected by the sudden increase in work-from-home policies and travel restrictions resulting from the global outbreak of the virus. We hope to curb the predicted impact this virus will have on industrial companies and will remain steadfast in our commitment to serving the industry we call home." 

During this challenging time, video-conferencing, chat, and remote support and collaboration will be more important than ever in maintaining the wellbeing of employees while also enabling people to continue to work and businesses to operate. Augmentir's Remote Assist tool helps to minimize the negative impact that COVID-19 is having on businesses by providing a remote collaboration and support solution that can be adopted in less than 60 minutes, so that workers, technicians, and customers can get the support they need to do their jobs without compromising health, safety, or productivity.

Companies that sign up will have free use of the tool for the remainder of 2020, will be able to: stream live video and audio to remote experts to improve issue resolution and remote knowledge sharing; guide field technicians and customers with live annotations for enhanced collaboration and support remote users on their existing devices as well as AR-enabled smart glasses.

Commenting on the company's decision, Russ Fadel, Co-Founder and CEO of Augmentir, said, "COVID-19 is impacting the lives of people all around the world, and is forcing a change to the way we work. At Augmentir, the health and safety of our employees, as well as the employees of our customers and partners is the Company's top priority. Therefore, in a response to COVID-19, Augmentir will be offering its Remote Assist tool at no cost through the end of 2020 in an effort to help the many businesses affected by the sudden increase in work-from-home policies and travel restrictions resulting from the global outbreak of the virus. We hope to curb the predicted impact this virus will have on industrial companies and will remain steadfast in our commitment to serving the industry we call home."

Kris Oldland, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News announces the publishers's response to Corona Virus... In an open letter to Field Service News subscribers Kris Oldland has announced two key initiatives to bring the global field service community together during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Firstly, Field Service News will be hosting an 'Emergency Symposium' this Friday (20 March) at 16:00 hours GMT. There will be a panel of senior industry leaders brought together to discuss the potential impact of the pandemic as well as best-practices for field service companies at this time. 

Register to attend @ https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7852140705125027853

 

Fostering Ongoing Communication within the Field Service Sector

In addition to this, Oldland announced the launch of an ongoing 'Digital Symposium' to host industry presentations that have had to be either postponed or cancelled. Thus facilitating the continued sharing of industry knowledge and learning during this period of wide-scale isolation. Any industry practitioners who have presentations they wish to give to the wider audience at this time will be able to utilise the platform free of charge, whilst commercial solution providers to the field service industry will be able to claim significant discounts from the standard FSN Webinar rate throughout the duration of the pandemic.

Commenting Oldland said: "One of the things that I have always found quite incredible within the field service sector is the commitment to knowledge sharing at large within our community, on a global basis. As the leading voice for field service professionals within the world, I feel it is is simply the right thing to do for Field Service News to help facilitate this communication at a time of crisis and I am happy to bear the brunt of the costs in doing so. Field Service is the community we serve and this is just another we can do in that endeavour. 

"I am hugely proud that we are able to offer this facility to not only our subscriber community but also with those within the sector who have yet to become part of the FSN family. Together, I am sure that we will all be able to cope, adapt and then thrive in the face of adversity." 

Oldland's full email to the Field Service News subscriber base is below: 

---

 

In light of the current situation we are all facing with the global pandemic of Covid-19, I would like to announce that Field Service News will be hosting an 'Emergency Symposium: Coronavirus and its potential impact on field service delivery' this Friday at 16.00 hours GMT.

I have already spoken with a number of key industry leaders who are prepared to give their time for free to join a panel for this session to discuss the potential challenges of the situation, as well as looking at best practice at this current time and also how we can utilise technology to help ensure any disruption to field service delivery is minimised.  

The session will be open and there will be opportunity for wider discussion with all attendees. For those of you who cannot make the live date, a recording of the session will automatically be sent out to all registrants - so please do register to attend on the link below. 

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7852140705125027853

In addition to this session on Friday we are also creating an ongoing 'Digital Symposium" which will be hosted on Field Service News. The thinking behind this is that as movement is becoming increasingly restricted whilst the virus is contained, we are acutely aware that many industry events, including customer days, conferences and seminars are unfortunately at risk of being postponed or cancelled entirely.

Whilst, this is the sensible route to follow, I appreciate just how much work and effort will have been put into many, many excellent presentations that can help drive our industry forwards together. Having worked with so many of you myself personally, I know just how valuable your insights can be to the industry at large and in times of crisis like this, it is through a continued sense of global community and support that we will be to help drive our sector forward.

Equally, I feel it is essential that we as an industry remain focused on the journey of continuous improvement that will allow us to achieve our common objective of delivering service excellence.

With this in mind I am pleased to offer completely free access to our 'Digital Symposium' to any field service management practitioners who have presentations that were scheduled to take place at any cancelled industry event, that may now not reach their full intended audience. 

If this could be of use to you, email me directly on kris@fieldservicenews.com

Additionally, I am also pleased to offer considerable discounts to any commercial solution providers who can also benefit from presenting on our 'Digital Symposium' and these discounted rates will be in place for the duration of the current pandemic related travel restrictions. 

If you are a commercial solutions provider looking to access the platform please contact Steve White onsteve@fieldservicenews.com

With regards to our own event, The Field Service Expo 2020...

As it is a Q4 event we currently do not anticipate any disruption to this going ahead, but we will of course be monitoring the situation and will keep both sponsors and attendees updated in an honest and transparent manner, as soon as possible should we see any potential issues. 

Finally, I would just draw your attention to the recent additions to our digital portfolio which include research.fieldservicenews.com, thinktanks.fieldservicenews.com and www.fieldservicenews.com/fsn20

These bring together some of the very best insight and intelligence from the global field service community and in addition to our industry leading news and analysis at fieldservicenews.com can provide a wealth of information for the field service manager and director alike, particularly if you are unable to make it to any industry events currently. 

As always, it is with great pride that we at Field Service News serve this excellent global industry and community and I thank you all for your continued support. 

Regards, 

Kris Oldland, 

Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News