The great technological development that has gripped the world at the same time is giving great progress to businesses operating in various fields by providing innovative solutions to issues that may hinder them in their operating processes. Recently on the scene has appeared Augmented Reality (AR), as a technology that overlays digital content and information onto the physical world. The impact of this technology is being seen in various industries including the field services management industry. One of the main goals of field service organizations is to adopt such innovative technologies as AR to increase the efficiency of their operating processes as a whole. With AR support, various important processes such as installation, inspection, and repair can be performed remotely, without the need for site visits or the client’s location.

As it happens in every business, even field service organizations are also dealing with other processes that must be performed after the sale of a product or a service. Field services that refer to any work conducted at a customer site where specific products are installed are of great importance because they make possible not only gaining of new customers but also their return to loyal customers. So for these organizations, after-sales service is very essential but at the same time, there are many challenges. Ensuring after-sales customer satisfaction is one of the main challenges of field service organizations. This is now significantly facilitated by AR technology. Before the adoption of this technology, field service technicians had to personally visit clients, now they can connect and collaborate with them in real-time.

Through the help of AR technology, drastic changes are already taking place in the transformation of field management from the traditional way to a completely digital one. Let’s take a look below at how AR applications are innovatively facilitating field service industry operations.

In most cases when clients encounter a problem with their products, a field technician is required at their location. This is due to the fact that traditional manuals contain a lot of incomprehensible information which makes it impossible to solve a problem without the presence of a technician. Thanks to AR Remote Assistance, clients now have in their hands in real-time all the necessary information they may need to understand the features and functions of their product, thus finding effective solutions to the problems that arise. This information that is delivered to clients thanks to the AR Remote Assistance is enriched with 3D models, graphics, and pictures that make the obtained information many times more understandable. Through this visual information, clients take on the role of a technician by performing all the processes themselves without the need for a technician by their side.

As we said above, through the visual information, clients manage to find quick solutions to the problems encountered without the need for technicians. In case this can’t be achieved, the connection between the technician and the client becomes possible thanks to AR Remote Assistance in real-time. Through any application that enables the empowerment of AR Remote Assistance, it is worth mentioning VSight Remote here, ensures very effective collaboration between the technician and the client. Field service technicians no longer have to personally visit clients and address any complaints. Thanks to AR tools field service technicians are able to virtually guide clients through maintenance or repair procedures. In cases where clients find it difficult to deal with product issues, technicians can determine what the customer needs to do to get the product back to normal work. This way the service is immediate and easy.

Knowing that the field services industry often faces many challenges that in most cases are unprecedented. This means that field service technicians must have extensive knowledge and experience to successfully resolve the many issues that clients may have. At the same time, we must keep in mind that due to the aging and retirement of experienced technicians the lack of a workforce is another challenge of this industry. AR technology also comes here to help facilitate the training of new technicians without much experience. Thanks to detailed instructions and 3D illustrations by an expert center technician, it is possible to train at the same time many new technicians located in different locations around the globe. Thanks to AR Remote Assistance, it is possible to realize problematic scenarios in real environments, thus preparing these new technicians with situations that may appear in the future. In this way, a specialized workforce is provided that will later affect the service that will be provided to customers. This type of training through this technology is many times less costly than traditional high-cost training that requires gathering all the new workforce in a common location.

Not only what we mentioned above, but there are many other advantages that AR technology brings to both field service organizations and their clients. For these organizations, we have the reduction of costs of sending technicians to the location of clients, efficient cooperation, and effective training of the new workforce. At the same time clients without having to wait to receive understandable answers and instructions in real-time for unexpected problems that may arise after purchasing products. Continuous collaboration enriched with AR elements between technicians and clients for periodic maintenance of products leads to the successful fulfillment of tasks by technicians and brings a high level of customer satisfaction. Now, this technology eliminates any possible boundary between field service organizations and their clients, bringing real and very effective solutions.

Augmented Reality in Field Service Management was originally published in AR/VR Journey: Augmented & Virtual Reality Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.