Efficient Working with Remote Service: Augmented Reality in Field Service Management

Take advantage of the possibilities of remote service to improve the quality of your customer service and optimize your first-time fix rate. With the help of the integrated augmented reality solution of the L-mobile service field service management software, service calls can be carried out more quickly, the productivity of service technicians can be increased, and field service work can be made simpler and more efficient.

Using the mobile service app, both service technicians and your customers themselves can use the AR solution to contact experts in your service organization in order to fix malfunctions and faults on machines, production lines, or systems. This saves you time, reduces travel costs, and allows you to respond more quickly to your customers’ problems, which in turn reduces the downtime of devices—ensuring customer satisfaction with the service you provide.

Remote service and augmented reality: The path to the field service of the future

Repairs, maintenance, installation, and quality testing—there are many types of service calls that field service technicians have to handle on a daily basis. The complexity of the calls can therefore vary greatly. While the technician may find it a breeze to install a machine, they are later faced with the question of how to best repair the system. Of course, the service technicians in your technical field service usually have extensive expertise and first-rate skills for field service work. Nevertheless, there are times when support is needed to fix the customer’s problems. However, this usually delays the service call, as another visit to the customer is required. While this mainly causes annoyance for your customers, it also costs you time, money, and valuable staff resources that cannot be used elsewhere at that moment.

Using augmented reality (AR) in field service management enhances your customer service with the addition of a first-rate remote service. This helps your service technicians to carry out repairs or maintenance on site at the customer’s location quickly, efficiently, and without errors, even in the event of questions or problems. Experts and colleagues are contacted via video call using the integrated augmented reality function in L-mobile service. Using their tablet or smartphone, the service technician can bring in their colleague live on the service call, so they can provide remote service using virtual symbols, drawings, spoken instructions, or chat messages. The technician is guided quickly and precisely through the service call so that they can complete it successfully—without their colleague having to travel out to the customer.

The assistance provided by remote service using augmented reality is fully documented by L-mobile service. Notes, images, and screenshots are stored directly in the associated field service order. This makes it possible to build up a transparent and comprehensive knowledgebase for future service calls, which all service technicians can access via the mobile service app. In addition to the increased transparency, working with remote service also helps to reduce the resources and costs involved in the service process. After all, traveling to the customer’s location is expensive, especially when several visits are needed to fix a problem. With the help of augmented reality, you can reduce the additional time required at the customer’s location and thus save travel costs and resources. Instead, the expert knowledge of your service employees can be deployed remotely, flexibly, and cost-effectively.

Simple functions for remote service in technical field service

Augmented reality in field service management provides you and your service team with various options for implementing remote service. The L-mobile service field service management software features an integrated remote service module that your service technicians can use via the mobile service app. Whether via tablet, smartphone, or smart glasses, one call is all it takes for your experts to remotely attend the service call. With a clear view of the working environment, your employees are able to support the technical field service staff using symbols, drawings, SMS, or simple spoken instructions and help them complete the field service order. All remote service calls are documented in a transparent service history.

Remote service via video call Visual instructions Complete documentation

Remote service at the customer’s location via video call

Contact experts via a mobile field service order

The appropriate expert can be selected in the mobile field service order and contacted via video call

The repair, maintenance, and installation of different machines and systems generally involves varying levels of complexity. Accordingly, specialist knowledge is sometimes required in order to be able to successfully complete a service call. If service technicians discover that they lack the necessary knowledge when on site at the customer’s location, experts can be easily brought in to assist with the service call—without them having to travel out to the customer. Augmented reality technology enables easy knowledge transfer via video call. The service technician can call up the field service order on their chosen mobile device and select the remote service function from there. Using the search function, they can find the relevant colleague in a flash and instantly see whether they are currently online. If this is the case, a video call can be started, via which the expert can give your service technician the specific guidance and instructions required. If the expert is not online, they can still be assigned a task and another colleague can be contacted.

During remote service, the service technician can provide the expert with a view of the service call and the relevant machines via their tablet, smartphone, or special augmented reality smart glasses. This allows the expert to see what the technician can see and assist them in fixing the problem.

Visual instructions during remote service

Supporting the technician with drawings and images

Remote service allows experts to guide your technicians through the repair or maintenance work with visual instructions

As soon as a service technician has made contact with an expert for remote service support, the expert can of course guide them by providing verbal instructions. But that’s not always enough. Sometimes remote service requires additional support in the form of visual instructions, so that the technician can complete the service call more quickly and easily. With the augmented reality function of L-mobile service, the expert can therefore support your technician with various symbols, drawings, or SMS if required. For example, if a technician cannot find a hidden switch despite their colleague’s description, they can simply show them the location via a visual marking which the technician can see on their mobile device.

Supporting technical field service staff via remote service also offers another advantage. Service technicians receive continuous training and can continue to improve their knowledge and skills, so that they will be able to successfully complete service calls without assistance in the future.

Complete documentation of remote service calls

Store all data centrally in the customer’s service history

The entire remote service call is stored in the associated field service order together with all the information

During the service call, the service technician can take pictures, videos, and screenshots as part of remote service in order to document work steps. L-mobile service automatically saves all documents in the associated field service order so that all information is available centrally for future service calls. This saves you time and money in the long run, as a wide range of solutions to problems can be accessed quickly and easily—even without remote service.

At the same time, the entire remote service call is documented in the service history. The time, duration, and the colleague called via the augmented reality function can be transparently traced. Notes can also be added, which your service team can use to build up a comprehensive knowledgebase for future service calls.

Goals that you can achieve with the use of remote service

Faster handling of service calls

Cost and time savings

Increased first-time fix rate

Frist-rate service quality

Greater flexibility and transparency

Reduced downtime for the customer

Die passende Hardware für den Remote Service

Rugged Tablets und Augmented Reality Equipment für den Einsatz im Field Service Management

Damit Ihre Servicetechniker im Außendienst erfolgreich mit der mobilen Service App von L-mobile service arbeiten können, bedarf es der passenden Hardware. Klassische Consumer Tablets sind den robusten Umgebungen im Field Service oft nicht gewachsen und halten Stürze, Verschmutzungen und Temperaturunterschiede nicht immer besonders gut aus. Rugged Tablets dagegen sind speziell für den industriellen Gebrauch gefertigte Tablets, die sich ideal für den Einsatz im Field Service eignen – und mit denen sich auch ein Remote Service hervorragend realisieren lässt. In unserem Hardwareshop finden Sie neben einer umfassenden Auswahl an Tablets außerdem passende Augmented Reality Hardware in Form von Datenbrillen, die ebenfalls für den Remote Service mit L-mobile service genutzt werden können.

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Advantages of remote service and augmented reality for maintenance and service

Simple training for new service technicians

Everyone starts small. This also applies to your technical field service employees. When new colleagues are supported during service calls with remote service, they can easily get practical work experience and apply what they have learned directly. This means that service technicians can be sent out on service calls on their own more quickly and do not have to be supervised by experienced colleagues.

Reduce travel expenses

Using remote service can reduce travel expenses for both national and international service calls. Via the mobile service app and augmented reality, service technicians can communicate with experts at other locations around the world, without the experts themselves having to travel out to the assignment location.

Easier communication in the service team

When a service technician requires spontaneous support, communication via email or phone can be very challenging. It can be difficult to describe the problem and something may end up being misunderstood, which costs valuable time and causes a lot of stress. With remote service, verbal and visual communication between the technician and expert takes place in real time and is made much easier.

Transparent documentation

All measures that were discussed and implemented during a remote service call at the customer’s location are documented digitally in L-mobile service. This means that the malfunction or fault can be fixed even more quickly on future visits to the same machine.

Simple problem solving by the customer

For simple system updates, it is often no longer necessary to spend time and money sending a service technician out to the customer. Instead, an expert can guide the customer through the work steps via augmented reality.

Greater efficiency in the service process

Instead of creating a delay for the customer by having to arrange another service call, with remote service it is still possible to fix problems that same day, even if the technician lacks specialist knowledge—thus optimizing service processes.

How mobile service calls are handled with the L-mobile service field service management software—including remote service

Discover the functions and highlights of our field service management software in the free on-demand webcast—when you want, where you want!

Transparent, mobile, and digital handling of service calls
In our webcast, we show you how your service technicians can efficiently process field service orders with the mobile service app of L-mobile service and we explain how you can use remote service to do this.
Live demo of the field service software’s main functions
Discover the highlights of L-mobile service in the office and in the field—from order management to automatically generated field service reports.
Field service management software in actual use
Learn how one of our customers made their entire service process paperless and field service staff can now work offline and without a network connection.

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Real-life use cases: Supporting technical field service staff with remote service and augmented reality

Remote support from experienced service technicians for the entire team of technicians via augmented reality

In every company there are service technicians who already have many years of technical field service experience and are well-versed in the type of service calls handled by the respective company. At the same time, of course, new technicians are always joining the team. Whether they have just completed their training or have already worked as a service technician for several years, they must also get up to speed in their new job and gradually gain the experience that long-standing employees already possess. In practice, experienced service technicians can now provide new team members with excellent support with the help of remote service. For example, these technicians can “switch” to the office for two days a week to assist their colleagues with their assignments via augmented reality. This means that experienced colleagues don’t have to rush from one appointment to the next to help new team members. Ultimately, this saves a lot of time and allows them to assist with even more assignments than would be possible on site.

The service technicians in the office can use the appointment calendar to see which assignment is being carried out by which colleague and when. The individual appointments can be opened with a click to call up the stored field service order. It is then immediately clear who the customer is, which machine it is, the nature of the problem, and which technician is handling the assignment. Via video call, the expert can now give their colleague the necessary instructions to successfully complete the service call.

Problem resolution directly by the customer without a service technician thanks to remote service

Malfunctions and machine failures are a major problem for many companies, as the downtime caused by machine stoppages can cost a lot of money. Quick action by the service provider is essential in the event of problems. Typically, the first step is to contact customer support by phone to report the problem. It takes time for a service technician to finally arrive on site. Remote service can reduce this waiting time by having a service expert guide the customer through doing the repair using augmented reality. All the customer needs is the L-mobile video client on their smartphone or tablet to contact customer service. The customer service team can view all customer data and device history records via L-mobile service and help the customer solve the problem accordingly. This results in shorter downtimes, swift resolution of problems, and the service provider being able to save on travel expenses and effort.

Our customers benefit from greater efficiency in field service with L-mobile service and the integrated remote service function

L-mobile reference Grimme Landmaschinenfabrik GmbH & Co KG

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L-mobile reference Deutsche Windtechnik Offshore und Consulting GmbH

L-mobile digital warehouse management Infor COM and digital service management case study INOTEC Sicherheitstechnik GmbH

Additional functions of L-mobile service for a digital and successful service process in the office and in the field

Discover more highlights of our field service management software for the optimization and digitalization of your customer service

L-mobile service is a comprehensive solution to support your service processes. It gives you and your service team access to a remote service solution with augmented reality as well as a number of additional functions that support top-quality field service management. Discover the software highlights of our field service management software—from paperless order management, through route-optimized route and deployment planning using digital planning boards, to the mobile service app for your technical field service staff.