Currently, a lot of the focus in the potential of XR in the Telecom and Media landscape focuses on how the combination of XR and 5G can lead to the creation of new content. However, it’s worth noting these industries can also achieve powerful outcomes with XR from a productivity and efficiency perspective.
Managing a successful telecommunications landscape, for instance, requires significant focus on the maintenance and management of complex tools and data centres. As the marketplace grows increasingly advanced, and consumers continue to rely on faster connections and reduced downtime, the demand for a strong maintenance strategy is greater than ever.
AR-guided speed, safety, accuracy, and efficiency can help telecom brands to delight their audience in today’s digitally transforming landscape, and ensure long-term success in a range of environments. When a leading telecom provider in the Netherlands, KPN, needed to empower and upgrade its workforce to ensure the success of its brand, it turned to market-leaders like Accenture, Google Glass, and Upskill.io (Now part of TeamViewer).
Here’s what happened when these companies worked together.
Using Extended Reality to Boost Operational Scale
Perhaps the most significant benefit of AR in the telecommunications landscape, comes from its ability to empower, educate, and inform employees wherever they are. AR technology and smart glasses can deliver line-of-sight information for front-line workers, guiding them through complex tasks without the need for in-person specialists.
KPN, one of the leading telecom providers in the Netherlands, discovered these benefits for itself recently when it decided it was time to upgrade it’s operations and maintenance strategy. KPN currently serves more than 33 million fixed-line and mobile communication subscribers across Europe. For the Netherlands, KPN is the biggest telecom company by far.
The massive scale of KPN’s operations means that, like many large telcos, they’re constantly working to maintain network equipment, and deliver on uptime guarantees. To achieve their service goals, the company already employees more than 3000 field technicians, responsible for everything from base station repair to routine maintenance.
However, a lot of the challenges tackled by field employees each day requires access to specialist guidance delivered over the phone. Throughout the process, technicians need complete insights into how to fix and maintain equipment, which includes accessing field equipment manuals, retrieving diagnostic data, and getting feedback via voice.
Unfortunately, while these low-tech methods of providing maintenance are common, they often lead to inefficient operations, ineffective repairs, and wasted time among staff. In some cases, secondary technicians also need to be dispatched for additional visits to sites.
Implementing the Power of Extended Reality
KPN decided it was time to unlock the benefits of extended reality for their maintenance strategies, to ensure higher levels of speed, accuracy, and safety, while minimizing bottom-line expenses. The KPN team enlisted help from leading communications brand, Accenture, alongside Google Glass, and the Upskill (Now TeamViewer) software. The resulting solution was a customised service built to guide field technicians in a more streamlined and efficient format.
KPN leapt into the project with a focus on improving safety, speed, repair quality, and first-time closing rates for their agents. At the same time, the company also wanted to stretch the value of the scarcest asset it had at the time – seasoned technician knowledge. With AR solutions, KPN could ensure even new hires had access to senior expertise.
The result of the program was a powerful hands-free, and connected process. With smart glasses from Google Glass, AR software, and Accenture technology, field service technicians were able to gain complete insights into the same repair instructions, diagnostics and live guidance they needed to access in the past, from a single pane of glass.
Instead of following the old-fashioned and time-consuming workflow, the employees could make the most of an automated system. New orders were pulled from the queue automatically, and delivered directly to the smart glasses through the company’s new AR software. Technicians were then given direct guidance to the equipment they needed to work on using Bluetooth beacons.
Using Google Glass, the team could also access live feeds of network diagnostic information, which allowed access to a real-time feedback loop of essential work status information. This capability alone led to considerable time saved compared to the previous practice of stopping and checking physically-separated diagnostic reports.
Achieving Better Results with Disruptive Technology
The results of the project for KPN spoke for themselves. AR adoption led to 5% faster competition of jobs on average for individual employees. At the same time, the wider company achieved 11% lower operating costs, and a 17% reduction in rates of errors. When you consider the sheer scale of KPN’s operations, these are very significant results.
Adding to the benefits mentioned above, the field technicians using the Google Glass technology and bespoke software were also able to initiate live calls via video with experts in a central environment. This meant that on-the-field employees could immediately get support from specialists, who could see the whole situation through a video stream.
The remote support feature has proven to be extremely valuable to KPN’s goal of expanding the value of the seasoned experts they have on their team. The experts with the highest degree of knowledge can be situated as centrally-located professionals who can cover more ground helping field workers through the presence they can access with remote AR.
What’s more, the AR program was also able to gain better loyalty and employee satisfaction from field technicians, who immediately saw the benefits of the new ecosystem for their day-to-day work. Even technicians who weren’t familiar with smart glasses before the project found they were extremely useful in helping to complete jobs faster.
