Augmented reality (AR) has been bleeding edge technology for a little while now. It wasn't until last year with the popularity of Pokemon Go that it didn't really hit the mass market appeal. Now with Tango devices being released, and more people realizing the potential of AR, the potential for service technicians is coming into focus. I spoke with Manuel Grenacher, CEO of Coresystems, about his vision for the future of AR and cloud-based management as it relates to the service market.
Manuel states that some of the goals for his company are to help businesses reduce time-to-resolution and have machines with 100% uptime. He wants to help enterprises do a better job and integrate cloud systems to have the best customers service in real time. Achieving these goals would bring fewer maintenance calls and increase up time for vital business equipment.
App-Connected Service
There are two ways Manuel sees VR working for service technicians in the near future. The first is using the camera of a smartphone. When an issue occurs a technician would connect to the end user's smartphone via an app. Once connected the user can point the phone to the issues in order to let the technician see the issue and walk the user through fixing the problem. Onsite visits could be greatly reduced as the user is more capable of being walked through the solution.
Another benefit to the app is when a technician is needed onsite, the app can notify the user of the status of their request. Through GPS the app could check the location of the technician. Notifications can then be pushed to the device informing the user that the technician is five minutes away. This ability to be constantly updated on the status of your ticket can really put a user's mind at ease and eliminate multiple phone calls checking the status.
The second way AR could help with onsite service is through the use of AR glasses. Enterprise level devices can have a pair of glasses assigned to the device, or a service technician could have the glasses in their toolkit. Through the glasses, a more skilled technician can walk a user or a less skilled technician through the solution.
AR Glasses Aid for Service Technicians
The main benefit to the glasses solution is training time for technicians. A highly skilled technician can only visit a specific amount of clients a day. If those clients are further away, or even out of the country, it can be a costly trip to obtain service onsite. If the technician can handle multiple clients without travel time, it increases the number of clients they can support in a day. A new hire can roll onsite with the more skilled technician behind the wheel, and they'll be able to fix the issue as well as someone who has been doing the job for years.
This level of service is a great solution for problems with cabling, networking, and telecommunications, where you can't control the device from a remote location. With the AR technology included in Tango devices and glasses, distance and heat will be able to be measured as well. This can help diagnose an issue much more quickly than snapping a photo of problem device.
Manuel is really excited about this cloud level service and what it means for the service management industry and is looking forward to implementing the technology in his business in the very near future. We'll definitely keep our eye on news coming from this company and let you know when this becomes a reality.
