You have to see it to believe it. This old adage certainly applies to augmented reality. Until a person actually wears and uses an AR device, the potential just doesn’t register. For instance, the impact AR has on remote expertise and assistance is often not appreciated fully.
Unfortunately, we can not transform the screen you are using right now to an augmented reality wearable. So in order to provide some more insight into the advantages of AR assistance, we will show you five great use cases.
1. Collaboration
One person can never know everything. Teaching course after course to the same employees is just not very efficient. You will end up with a workforce consisting of “Jack of All Trades, Master of None” personnel.
It’s usually more effective to teach the staff collaboration skills, so they can work together on projects using their own unique skills. With augmented reality the threshold for collaboration is greatly reduced, just rely on AR remote expertise and call in an expert that can assist you.
This does require a database of employees and unique skills for the staff to pull from, this way an expert in a certain field can be contacted immediately. For some reason many organisations organize staff meetings, roundtable discussions and presentations for the upper level positions, meanwhile other employees are left to their own devices.
By implementing AR within the company for remote assistance, collaboration will be enhanced throughout the organisation.
2. Repairs
When a machine breaks down it’s always at an inconvenient time. Repairs can take a long time, especially if a certain skill or person is required to fix the problem.
There are two ways of speeding up the process; either hire more skilled employees and have them wait until something breaks down, or make use of remote expertise and let a specialist take a look without actually being present.
This is possible by using AR technology. An employee with the basic skills to repair a machine can use digital manuals and such to look up information, at the same time an expert in a different location can help the colleague step by step.
The expert can see and hear thanks to a camera and microphone, it’s like this person is looking over the shoulder of the employee on site.
3. Customer service
The level of customer service has been greatly improved in the last couple of decades, in no small part due to the increased usage of internet technology. Instead of driving to a service center, customers can now contact a customer service representative online. By chat, voice assistance or in a video call, whatever is required.
For some businesses the stakes are very high, and the consequences can be enormous. However, it’s not always feasible to support your clients at every single moment.
With AR technology and AR headsets, like the Realwear HMT-1, it’s possible to place a customer service employee right there in the room without actually being there. The necessary equipment can either be purchased by the client, rented or supplied within the standard contract agreement.
If a client needs assistance they can use an AR wearable device for personal assistance right away. And that is the next step in customer service.
4. Quality control
There are many reasons to invest in quality control. If you are a manufacturer it’s important that the yield is optimized, defective products will cut into the profits. There are several methods to assure the quality of both the output as the complete workflow.
Remote expertise allows for a more hands on, or perhaps eyes on approach. For instance, a specialist can look through the eyes of an employee while working. Not literally of course, but the eye of the camera on the wearable AR device.
This allows the organization to examine every step in the proces, from the very start up to the final product. Using remote expertise the best in the field can analyse the situation in order to improve the quality of the process and the output. Instead of random visits QA can be embedded as a standard method within the organisation.
5. Education
Learning doesn’t stop at the moment a diploma is handed out by a school. Education is a lifelong process, either by practice, learning on the job or courses within a company or organization.
Augmented reality remote expertise is a new and effective method of teaching new skills, that can be implemented in many ways. For instance, an assembly line worker can be coached in real time using AR prompts on screen, with live commentary by a coach.
The employee does not have the stress of a trainer looking at their hands, even though someone is actually following every move through the AR wearable device. A practical application is in medical fields.
A medical professional can communicate with a patient, while wearing an augmented reality device. The communication with the patient remains personal, at the same time a remote coach can provide the professional with added information and expertise.
These are just five practical examples of AR remote expertise. For every field and sector there are many advantages waiting to be discovered.
Contact us today to discuss your use case