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Help Lightning, the leading provider of remote visual assistance software, announced today the acquisition of Fieldbit, an augmented reality-enabled platform known for its innovative knowledge sharing, remote collaboration and workflow automation capabilities supporting both expert led and self-help solutioning. 

Help Lightning is a leading innovator in the application of augmented reality for use cases that deliver positive outcomes in industries such as complex medical equipment and telecommunications. According to Gartner®, “by 2026, 75% of capital-equipment-intensive industries will use AR as a key component for cost reduction/avoidance among frontline workers”. With significant category growth expected over the next 3 years, the acquisition of Fieldbit will provide the broadest and deepest value creation for its growing list of global enterprise customers.

THE ACQUISITION SIGNIFICANTLY ENHANCES HELP LIGHTNING'S INDUSTRY-LEADING REMOTE ASSISTANCE SOLUTION WITH NEW, EXPANSIVE CAPABILITIES TO DEEPEN CUSTOMER VALUE

“Today’s announcement represents another exciting milestone for Help Lightning and more good news for our more than 200 customers who benefit every day from our AR-enabled solution,” said Gary York, CEO of Help Lightning. “The acquisition of Fieldbit is an important step in fulfilling our vision to provide instant access to expertise, delivering dramatic improvements in first time fix rates, resolution times, and customer satisfaction.” 

With Fieldbit, Help Lightning customers will benefit from access to additional capabilities to enable real-time, expert-led problem solving while also supporting a variety of self-help scenarios. The combined solution will include an industry-leading set of capabilities such as:

• Remote video collaboration and technical support
• 3D annotation
• The industry’s only Merged Reality feature
• Knowledge capture and share
• Work instructions including operational & safety procedures
• Augmenting real time data from IIoT platforms

“Like few other technology vendors we partner with, Help Lightning has been both an innovator and a partner in support of our company’s success,” said Tim Spencer, Senior Vice President and General Manager Service Operations at BUNN. “We were excited to hear about Help Lightning’s acquisition of Fieldbit and anticipate an exponential growth in value internally and externally from our use of the newly combined solution.”

With this acquisition, Help Lightning improves support for the ever-expanding needs of enterprise customers who depend on its services, including leading brands like Ricoh, Bunn and Becton Dickinson. Fieldbit brings depth and breadth in comparison to other solutions on the market, allowing the combined power of these two industry leaders to successfully meet the needs of today’s global enterprises. Fieldbit has a strong roster of successful customers including large enterprises such as BP, Emerson, and Veolia. 

“From the beginning, our vision at Fieldbit has been to be at the forefront of technology so we can provide the most advanced AR solutions for our customers,” said Evyatar Meiron, CEO of Fieldbit. “With our strong footprint in the energy, utilities and manufacturing industries, and together with Help Lightning’s ability to create and expand customer value, we are now able to bring unparalleled expertise and powerful capabilities to create positive outcomes for our customers.”

For more information about how Help Lightning enables business experts to virtually work side-by-side with anyone needing help, anywhere in the world, visit helplightning.com.

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Further Reading:

• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Read more about Help Lightning on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/helplightning
• Read more about Remote Assistance on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/remote-assistance
• Find out more about Help Lightning @ helplightning.com
• Learn more about Fieldbit @ www.fieldbit.net
• Connect with Help Lightning on LinkedIn@ www.linkedin.com/company/helplightning/
• Follow Help Lightning on Twitter @ twitter.com/helplightning

In this the final week of the first edition of our new series "The Big Discussion" we've now looked at three key questions on the important topic of Augmented Reality.

The idea behind this new series is that we take one topic, bring together three leading area experts and put four key questions to them across four weeks, to help us better understand its potential impact on the field service sector...

Our first topic has been Augmented Reality and our experts are Evyatar Meiron, CEO, Fieldbit, Niklas Rengfors, Head of Sales & Marketing, XM Reality and David Nedohin, President, ScopeAR...

So far we've asked our panel:

"Just how big an impact can and will Augmented Reality have on field service delivery?" , 

"What advantages does Augmented Reality offer over video calls such as FaceTime and Skype etc?" and 

Do you see Augmented Reality ultimately becoming a standard tool included within wider FSM solutions or should it be viewed as a specialist standalone application?

and now onto our final question in our Augmented Reality Big Discussion...

 

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Question Four: How closely tied to the development of smart glasses is augmented reality – are the two co-dependent or are tools on smartphones/tablets sufficient?

Many visualise the ability to have a hands-free environment, where AR information shows up in front of them through smart glasses. However, very few enterprises have yet to adopt and deploy smart glasses, including devices such as Microsoft’s HoloLens, ODG’s R7 or RealWear, at scale. Although these glasses are advancing quickly. adoption of wearables in today’s market can be hindered by price, production and specific product limitations depending on the environment and user.

While hardware manufacturers continue to address these challenges, field workers are starting to reap the benefits of augmented reality using the hardware (smartphones/tablets) currently available to them, and most importantly, that they are comfortable with, while exploring glasses.

With so many AR tools available on today’s smartphones and tablets, enterprises are already realising success without having to make an additional investment in new hardware. With the addition of depth cameras and new computer vision techniques, handheld devices are becoming more and more practical.

 

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Smart glasses are poised to take the world by storm. Leading smart glasses companies (including Microsoft) have already invested billions of dollars in design and development. Clearly, augmented reality is a key driver behind the development of smart glasses.

With respect to field services, it’s important to remember that we’re still at a very early stage. Most smart glasses on the market today cannot support all field service needs. The decision on whether to use smart glasses or a smartphone depends on the industry segment and the use case. For example, when working with ink-filled printing systems or in high-voltage environments, smart glasses are critical for enabling hands-free collaboration.

Another key advantage of smart glasses is that they enable both augmented reality and mixed reality. A hybrid of augmented and virtual reality, mixed reality enables users to overlay digital content onto a realtime physical space in 3D mode for highly realistic interactions.

 

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Development of smart glasses are important but not crucial. For XMReality with core focus on customers within industrial field service, hands-free options, like glasses working in rough environment is something there is a demand for.

However our customers struggle a bite on how to use glasses, there are also so many different preferences on what you like, monocular, binocular so smartphones/tablets are sufficient in most cases and also something one in general carries.

For us it is important to get an understanding on the customers use cases, to recommend what would be their best choice to use.

 

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The next instalment of The Big Discussion will be focussed on the topic of IoT and Servitization is coming soon... 

 

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As we move into week three of our new series we've now addressed a couple of big questions around the core topic of Augmented Reality.

The series is called The Big Discussion and the idea is that we take one topic, bring together three leading experts on that topic and put four key questions to them across four weeks, to help us better understand its potential impact on the field service sector...

On this first topic of Augmented Reality and our experts are Evyatar Meiron, CEO, Fieldbit, Niklas Rengfors, Head of Sales & Marketing, XM Reality and David Nedohin, President, ScopeAR...

So far we've asked our panel  "Just how big an impact can and will Augmented Reality have on field service delivery?" and "What advantages does Augmented Reality offer over video calls such as FaceTime and Skype etc?"

and now onto this weeks question in the Big Discussion...

 

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Question Three: Do you see Augmented Reality ultimately becoming a standard tool included within wider FSM solutions or should it be viewed as a specialist standalone application?

Augmented reality is a communication technology that will be integrated into FSM tools and made available to the workforce to access when and where they need it.

This may be required to meet government regulations, to engage with an expert, or improve competency or safety.

However, AR will be a tool in the toolkit that will be used when needed, and part of a larger set of technologies.

If a picture, voice call or video is appropriate, perhaps AR will not be needed, but as workers become more familiar with the value of AR once integrated into their FSM apps, it will be a tremendous resource, when it is needed.

 

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As mentioned earlier, augmented reality is a disruptive technology that is radically changing the way organisations perform field service maintenance. It is an innovative platform that uses new technologies.

For this reason, augmented reality is more likely in the short term to remain a standalone tool that complements FSM solutions. That said, some of the more basic telesupport-oriented augmented reality features - those that enable real-time remote communications between the onsite technician and the expert at company headquarters - could be integrated at some point with the FSM software.

In contrast, the knowledge management component, including the information capture, storage, sharing and search capabilities, is more complex in nature and requires specific expertise. I believe that this component will continue to develop as a separate specialist system.

 

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Definitely included within wider FSM solutions, we are currently working with different partners already, IFS to mention one is strong partner in field service.

By connecting information flows between systems for example between mobile work orders and XMReality, it adds a lot of value to the customer.

Can be things like storing for documentation purposes, saved videos later then used for training purposes etc. As solutions to display or create content gets more efficient AR will most likely become a standard tool.

 

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Next weeks the final question: How closely tied to the development of smart glasses is augmented reality – are the two co-dependent or are tools on smartphones/tablets sufficient?

 

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Last week we launched a new feature called the Big Discussion where we take one topic, bring together three leading experts on that topic and put four key questions to them across four weeks, to help us better understand its potential impact on the field service sector...

Our first topic is Augmented Reality and our experts are Evyatar Meiron, CEO, Fieldbit, Niklas Rengfors, Head of Sales & Marketing, XM Reality and David Nedohin, President, ScopeAR...

Last weeks question was Just how big an impact can and will Augmented Reality have on field service delivery? Check out our panel's answers here if you missed them

and now onto next weeks question in the Big Discussion

 

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Question Two: What advantages does Augmented Reality offer over video calls such as FaceTime and Skype etc?

Unlike a video call, augmented reality offers the ability to overlay specific content (animated instructions, annotations, drawings, 3D content, graphics, text, etc.) onto the real-world and have it “stick” to the part or area being referenced. Using AR, field workers can visualise content, such as predefined instructions, on top of a piece of equipment they’re assembling or repairing to show exactly the right steps, regardless of previous training.

Another advantage that AR presents is that it facilitates more efficient and effective knowledge transfer from a subject matter expert in real-time -- who may be located at the company’s headquarters or a call center -- to the remote worker. With an AR-enabled video calling platform, an expert can collaborate with a colleague out in the field, seeing what they’re seeing in real-time and simulate an “over-the shoulder” view of having someone walk the field worker through the correct procedure.

For example, while viewing a live video stream of a machine undergoing maintenance, an expert could use augmented reality to circle a bolt in real-time and tell the technician in the field to remove it. And with today’s AR technology, the correct bolt would stay circled even as the technician moves around, allowing for an unprecedented level of interaction between the expert and technician. Instead of just “telling” a worker how to do something, the expert can now “show” them and then document that conversation.

 

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Real-time video can be useful for remote diagnostics, allowing the technician to transmit video from the faulty machine to an expert off-site. Effective field service, however, requires two-way data transfer beyond the capabilities of video.

Augmented reality allows the flow of knowledge from the expert to the technician or user on site. It enables the quick addition of context-sensitive information, such as text annotations, diagrams and other messages, on top of the live video so technicians can zero in on how to fix the machine.

Another key advantage is knowledge capture. Advanced augmented reality platforms, such as Fieldbit, accumulate practical knowledge related to service and repair processes by recording all actions and information exchanged between experts and the field technician.

All visual records, including augmented reality, are stored and are retrievable from a central repository, allowing information to be shared and re-used across the organisation.

 

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At XMReality we are focusing on industrial users and field service. We have taken experience and put it into features that match customer needs.

We have seen impacts on our low bandwidth functionality and also since we add AR, problems are solved quicker and more efficient and more accurate.

The customisation and integration part we offer also comes into play our discussions with our customers.

 

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Next weeks question: Do you see Augmented Reality ultimately becoming a standard tool included within wider FSM solutions or should it be viewed as a specialist standalone application?

 

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In a new series of features we will take one topic, bring together three leading experts on that topic and put four key questions to them across four weeks, to help us better understand its potential impact on the field service sector...

Our first topic is Augmented Reality and our experts are Evyatar Meiron, CEO, Fieldbit, Niklas Rengfors, Head of Sales & Marketing, XM Reality and David Nedohin, President, ScopeAR...

 

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Question One: Just how big an impact can and will Augmented Reality have on field service delivery?

Many analyst firms forecast that the AR market will continue its rapid growth, reaching upwards of $140 billion in just a few years. The impact augmented reality can have on field service specifically is unprecedented as it pertains to training, equipment maintenance or repair and knowledge transfer.

For the first time, augmented reality is allowing field workers to take advantage of the power of computers and interact with them in the real world -- moving from a two dimensional screen to seeing information locked on top of the image of the equipment in the real-world and in real-time. I believe AR will be the user interface of the future, making all of a company’s information, intelligence and analytics actionable, by overlaying content directly on top of the real world - when and where a worker needs it most.

The reason that field service industries will lead in benefitting from AR is due to a combination of an ageing workforce that is retiring at staggering rates, and a younger workforce that changes positions quicker than ever.

Expert knowledge is difficult to retain and even more difficult to get into the hands of those in the field without significant delays and expense. AR allows organisations to retain their experts without sending them into the field, while being able to rapidly leverage and measure the expertise they have by putting it right in the hands of the worker who needs it. Augmented reality is enabling “on-demand knowledge transfer.”

 

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Augmented reality is changing the way people live, work and interact with one another. The introduction of augmented reality for field service represents nothing less than a seismic shift. The magnitude of its potential impact is comparable to the impact that personal computers had on office workers.

FSM solutions address the communication and workflow needs of service managers, allowing them to tell technicians where to go, what problem needs to be fixed, and which spare part to use. Augmented reality platforms complement FSM by telling the technician how to fix the problem.

This was the missing link.

With this capability, enterprises will be able to drastically boost the productivity and efficiency of their field service operations.

Using augmented reality, technicians can receive precise visual instructions from remote experts to execute complex machinery fixes. Not only does this increase first time fix rates, it also relieves mental stress since technicians can enjoy “over-the-shoulder” coaching throughout the process.

 

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We believe it has a big impact already today, business cases show unreal savings by making the field service delivery more efficient, due to less travelling, increased uptime etc.

We also see big drivers at customers in being able to deliver more profitable service offerings and in the end gain more satisfied customers.

 

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Next weeks question: What advantages does Augmented Reality offer over video calls such as FaceTime and Skype etc?

 

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Michael Blumberg, President of the Blumberg Advisory Group looks at how Augmented Reality can quickly become a standard part of the very fabric of field service delivery...

The importance of service to the manufacturing sector 

Industrial Machinery and Equipment (IM & E) manufacturers form an integral part of the manufacturing supply chain as their equipment plays a critical role in the automation of production processes such as shaping, extruding, moulding, crimping, cutting, folding, etc.

In addition, every manufacturing process has its own set of specialised machinery. For example, manufacturing equipment in the food processing industry is different from equipment found in the apparel manufacturing industry.

These machines must perform at very high levels of reliability to keep manufacturing processes operating at optimal levels of productivity.

The lost value to manufacturers of machine downtime is extremely high. It is not atypical for a manufacturer to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars a day in lost revenue due to machine downtime.

Challenges to keeping factories running

Providing fast and efficient service in the industrial machinery world is no a small feat for equipment service providers. Diagnosing and resolving equipment problems quickly is challenging when the machinery is highly complex, the installed base is relatively low and plants are scattered worldwide. Service organisations of IM&E manufacturers are usually staffed by a small cadre of field service engineers (FSEs) and technical experts. IM &E FSEs often possess deep subject matter expertise in some but not all product lines.

The FSE who assembles and installs the machine is often the same person who diagnoses the problem and initiates corrective action.

In addition, machines are manufactured to customer specifications. Thus, service is not standardised from machine and there is often a huge knowledge gap among FSEs and between customers. Language barriers can also make it difficult for customers in one country to communicate with FSEs in another and vice versa.

 

Furthermore, machines often have a long service tail and be in operation for 10 or 20 years. Thus, there may be no one at the customer’s site who has the knowledge to maintain the equipment properly. Tribal service knowledge, where knowledge that rests in the minds of individual FSEs is shared with others through verbal communication, is the norm within the IM &E service market.

The Service Conundrum

IIM&E manufacturers typically help customers resolve service issues by first attempting to diagnose and resolve problems over the telephone and prior to dispatching a FSE to repair the machine. However, there are certain times when the service expert cannot resolve the issue remotely. In other cases, the remote service expert may not understand what the customer is describing over the telephone or vice versa, or maybe the technician simply needs to see the problem for himself.

When situations like these occur, the FSE must travel to the customer’s site to troubleshoot, diagnose, and resolve the problem.Onsite travel is both time-consuming and expensive. It may involve a flight to another country and days at the customer site to resolve the issue. Capacity constraints may prevent that technician from traveling to the customer’s site. Also, if the FSE is at the customer’s site, no one else may be available to handle incoming requests from other customers.

At times the IM&E service provider may send an alternative FSE. There is a chance that the FSE who arrives onsite may not have seen this issue before and needs additional assistance to resolve the problem. In this case, the FSE assigned may need to telephone a more experienced technician for back-up support.

Other challenges include the fact that many IM&E manufacturers do not charge for service.

Furthermore, lengthy road trips add significantly to operating costs and place a great deal of stress on technicians.

From Road Warrior to Service Hero

Fortunately, IM&E Manufacturers now have a solution to their challenges; Augmented Reality.

By using smart glasses or a smart phone, machine operators at the customer site can capture a video image of the equipment and then transmit it to the equipment manufacturer’s service technician at another location.

If it is a relatively simple issue, for example one that can be resolved through a customer replaceable unit, the remote support specialists can send images, text, and annotated repair instructions back to the customer so that the customer can resolve the issue himself.

This saves time and money, as downtime and lost productivity is minimised for the customer. A live chat session can also be opened so that the customer and technician can communicate in real-time.

Considering FSE travel and per diem costs (e.g., meals, hotel, etc.) to another country can be quite expensive, savings from providing remote support through an AR platform can add up to thousands of dollars per service event.

This is a huge savings given the fact that a large percentage of service issues are the result of enduser (e.g., machine operator) error.

[quote float="right"]With AR, the remote service specialist can obtain rich contextual information about the machine problem, isolate or identify the fault, and then determine what skills and parts the FSE needs to have with him when he arrives onsite.

Fieldbit, Ltd., a leading provider of AR solutions, has been able to help its customers in the IM &E market improve remote resolution rates by as much a 50% AR solutions like those provided by Fieldbit also make it possible for IM & E suppliers to improve first-time fix rate. Repeat visits to solve the same problem are costly for the IM &E service provider not to mention stressful and embarrassing to their FSEs.

 

Normally, if the FSE lacks proper parts and/or skills to enable a fix, he must return or wait onsite until the correct resources are supplied.

However, with AR, the remote service specialist can obtain rich contextual information about the machine problem, isolate or identify the fault, and then determine what skills and parts the FSE needs to have with him when he arrives onsite.

The FSE can also use the live chat to communicate with the remote support specialist while onsite if additional troubleshooting and diagnostics are required. Utilising AR to improve FSE proficiency minimises the percentage of times onsite service calls are broken or extended due to the lack of spare parts or skills, thus improving “First Time Fix” rate.

Another practical application of AR solutions like Fieldbit is in the creation of a self-learning knowledge base. Remote support specialists can use the platform to develop and record step-by-step repair procedures for resolving equipment issues that are stored in a searchable database.

When a customer or FSE encounters a similar situation, he can search the database for the right solution.

The technical learning curve is shortened and on-the- job training time can be reduced by as much as 40% using this approach.

Recognising the high value in use for machine uptime and the tremendous impact Augmented Reality plays in cost avoidance, many end-users have begun to monetize their investment in these platforms.

For example, Fieldbit’s customers include downloadable, one-time-use licenses for Fieldbit Hero™ in the service level agreements they sell to their end customers (i.e., machine users).

These end customers can of course purchase additional licenses when they need them.

However, the benefit is clear: AR not only improves customer satisfaction and reduces service delivery costs, but drives additional profit to the service provider’s bottom line.

 

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