Five Providers of Augmented Reality in Field Service Named IDC Innovators

FRAMINGHAM, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#AR–International Data Corporation (IDC) recently published an IDC Innovators report profiling five companies that provide augmented reality (AR) applications allowing manufacturers to close the gap between remote field workers and real-time intelligence to deliver resolution. The five companies are Help Lightning, Librestream, Scope AR, SightCall, and Upskill.

The ability to deliver exceptional experiences for customers has never been more critical to manufacturers and service organizations. Competitive factors and the rise of customer expectations have led organizations to rethink the tools and capabilities needed to differentiate their offerings beyond the product itself to include the services being delivered. The desire to have a robust, secure collaboration platform or a set of tools is leading the field service market to explore the potential of augmented reality (AR) applications and platforms to enable a real-time connection between an expert and the field worker.

“Customers are less likely to tolerate waiting for resolution as we all become accustomed to on-demand answers and expert service on our schedules,” said Aly Pinder Jr., program director, Service Innovation and Connected Products at IDC Manufacturing Insights. “To meet this need for faster service, manufacturers and service organizations are looking to new tools such as augmented reality to equip the field team with remote expertise and on-demand knowledge to solve problems correctly on that first visit.”

IDC defines augmented reality as a technology that blends together the real world and the digital world by overlaying digital information or objects within a person’s current view of reality. AR technology is often first leveraged via a mobile device such as a smartphone or a tablet, but there are now many use cases and pilots of more enterprise-grade hardware to leverage AR software applications. These AR tools and platforms can also enable remote experts to seamlessly collaborate with field service technicians and help deliver real-time support to customers.

The report, IDC Innovators: Augmented Reality in Field Service, 2019 (IDC #US43759019), profiles five software companies in the emerging market of augmented and virtual reality applications to support the delivery of field service management and customer support. Their manufacturing industry expertise enables them to focus on industrial use cases and solutions specifically to support field service execution, knowledge capture and transfer, and remote assistance.

• Help Lightning offers a virtual interactive environment where a remote expert can interact and collaborate with customers or field engineers with live video streams and telestration tools to improve interactions and collaboration.
• Librestream offers a field AR platform that includes core capabilities such as remote expert assistance, digital work instruction, knowledge management and analytics, and specialized add-ons.
• Scope AR has an industrial AR knowledge platform that offers real-time remote support, access to AR work instructions, and the ability to collaborate with remote experts to solve complex issues.
• SightCall provides a platform that enables technicians or customers to receive remote visual assistance leveraging AR and artificial intelligence to automate and guide installations, repairs, and inspections.
• Upskill offers a secure AR platform with task guidance, knowledge capture, live help, visualization of work instruction, and the ability to interact with live data for use in highly regulated industries.

About IDC Innovators

IDC Innovators reports present a set of vendors – under $100 million in revenue at time of selection – chosen by an IDC analyst within a specific market that offer an innovative new technology, a groundbreaking approach to an existing issue, and/or an interesting new business model. It is not an exhaustive evaluation of all companies in a segment or a comparative ranking of the companies. Vendors in the process of being acquired by a larger company may be included in the report provided the acquisition is not finalized at the time of publication of the report. Vendors funded by venture capital firms may also be included in the report even if the venture capital firm has a financial stake in the vendor’s company. IDC INNOVATOR and IDC INNOVATORS are trademarks of International Data Group, Inc.

For more information about IDC Innovators research, please contact Catherine Bonner at cbonner@idc.com.

About IDC

International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. With more than 1,100 analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. IDC’s analysis and insight helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based technology decisions and to achieve their key business objectives. Founded in 1964, IDC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), the world’s leading media, data and marketing services company. To learn more about IDC, please visit www.idc.com. Follow IDC on Twitter at @IDC and LinkedIn.

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