Field Service News | Mobile Merged REality

Technology spotlight: Mobile Merged Reality

Feb 23, 2016 • Features • Augmented Reality • Future of FIeld Service • Mobile Merged REality • Help Lightning

We look at what Help Lightning are terming Mobile Merged Reality, An innovative mobile solution goes beyond augmented reality (AR) to redefine the future of help...

I need to be able to...

This commonly heard phrase fuels new ideas, creative thinking and innovation which often start many successful companies. A prominent Neurosurgeon, Dr. Bart Guthrie, used this phrase in frustration as he found his task list growing ever longer and more complex.

He needed superpowers to be able to consult on cases, prep support staff, collaborate with other physicians in surgery and meet with patients — in other buildings, in homes, in offices across town, across the state, even in other countries, all on the same day, often in the same hour.

Given the expense and reimbursement issues in health care, he needed an innovation that wouldn’t cost an arm or a leg or require brain surgery to operate. As a result, instant, virtual presence was born. In fact, it was the genesis for a new product category for superior service and knowledge exchange called mobile merged reality. With over 15,000 users in 50 countries, Help Lightning’s patented technologies and processes made it the global leader in merged reality. Augmented reality technology combines live video or a user’s environment with computer-generated digital information in real time.

Merged reality goes beyond AR.

33% of service work orders require a second trip. Merged reality and virtual presence is able to help eliminate 18% of second trips that are required due to a lack of experience, alleviate 19% of second trips caused by limited access to information, and avoid 28% of second trips caused by wrong diagnoses.

It merges two users’ real-time mobile video and audio streams, along with visual inputs from a growing array of tools and modes included with the app. Mobile merged reality allows video interactions to have similar characteristics to in-person interactions, adding interlaced hand movement, gestures, visual clues, real remote objects, telestration, drawing, pointing and pictures. Adding gestures and nonverbal clues substantially improves speed of understanding, resulting in an enhanced recipient/customer perception of overall experience. Instant, accurate communication augmented by mobile merged reality and virtual presence can have a dramatic impact on service operations.

You can proactively, efficiently and effectively attack hard costs that plague the efficiency and effectiveness of operations and customer interactions. Customers can experience a 7 to 15 times hard cost savings for every dollar invested.

Expert personnel can see a 10 to 20% increases in efficiency. According to the Aberdeen Group 33% of service work orders require a second trip. Merged reality and virtual presence is able to help eliminate 18% of second trips that are required due to a lack of experience, alleviate 19% of second trips caused by limited access to information, and avoid 28% of second trips caused by wrong diagnoses.

Quickly solve problems for customers, assist newly on-boarded personnel, eliminate wasteful trips and differentiate the way your products are sold, implemented and serviced. Technical, healthcare, manufacturing, and service experts can show a resolution, not just describe it, even when thousands of miles away. Visually collaborate, assist with issues, and resolve problems as though you were working side-byside with a colleague or customer. Download the app for any iOS or Android mobile device and start helping and sharing ideas instantly. No additional special equipment is needed to start a merged reality session.

The uses are endless; from live knowledge exchange to never before imagined consumer experiences. Giving better, faster help and care for customers, friends and colleagues is universal.

Once you’re in a merged reality call with a colleague, customer or friend, tap to change how you interact. Choose whether you’re giving or receiving help, and start collaborating in seconds. Merged reality adds missing visual cues, gestures, and non-verbal communication methods to any session. If you’ve selected Give Help, simply place your hand behind your device. You’ll see your hand appear on top of your colleague’s image. For best results, use a white background such as a wall or piece of paper. Telestrate, freeze images, use hand gestures, pictures and even add real objects into the merged reality scene.

If you selected Receive Help, position your iPhone, iPad or Android device over something you’re working on, like a circuit. When the person you need help from reaches behind his or her device, you’ll instantly see the other person’s hand (or anything that is necessary to help) appear merged with your normal image view. Dr. Guthrie uses Help Lightning’s merged reality solution on a regular basis.

However, applications of merged reality and virtual presence are not limited to healthcare settings. The uses are endless; from live knowledge exchange to never before imagined consumer experiences. Giving better, faster help and care for customers, friends and colleagues is universal. By using ordinary smart phones and tablets, users add non-verbal, visual cues and critical human gestures to video calls for superior communication, collaboration and cognition.

Welcome to the future. Instant help anywhere in the world.

We call it Help Lightning.

This feature is sponsored by: