The ongoing Microsoft Ignite 2022 event is showcasing many of the Redmond, Washington-based tech giant’s prolific solutions from 12 to 14 October. Many company executives have joined to offer their knowledge along with partner firms, analysts, and others to global audiences for the three-day gathering.
One such company, Infosys, is a major provider of FSM solutions that explained how its technologies transformed the customer experience (CX) with Microsoft’s Dynamics 365, Teams, and Power Platforms.
Sreeram Lekshminarayanan, Industry Principal Consultant for Infosys and Rithika Messiahdas, Infosys Principal Consultant, joined the Microsoft Ignite 2022 session to discuss current trends in Field Service Management (FSM).
Microsoft’s technologies provide the company with major solutions to develop customer insights on the internet of things (IoT) and mixed reality (MR), among others.
XR to Tackle Severe Labour Challenges
Industries such as Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC), energy, and manufacturing, where field services depended on the skill of workforces, faced severe challenges, he explained.
He noted there was a significant shortage of talent, an ageing workforce, and a lack of “tacit knowledge” needed to conduct operations. Such challenges needed immediate resolution as they affected the quality and total time needed to provide services, both for companies and customers, Lekshminarayanan said.
Explaining further, he told the audience,
“Customers also had higher expectations for experiences as well. It’s no longer about ‘Yes, we need to get the task done, I raised a request, and it’s carried out at the technician’s earliest convenience,’ but customers in the digital expect everything to be better, smarter, faster, and when they want it”
Field services required new technologies such as mixed reality (MR) and artificial intelligence, and digital self-services for clients along with the official services, he said.
Such measures to tackle ongoing concerns required an “industrial lens service,” he added.
Rapid On-Site Efficiency with MR Field Assistance
Speaking further, Messiahdas explained that MR and AI solutions could apply in the energy and utility spaces, where her firm had found growing use cases.
Applications such as smart grid management were rising, she said, citing one of her company’s clients. Greater efficiency in power and service.
She added Microsoft’s HoloLens were instrumental in conducting field inspections and remote assistance, which “eliminates the need to have on-site service technicians at all times.”
Explaining further, Messiahdas said,
“You have remote services that are expected, but not the right skilled resource or senior official available at all times, but you can use remote support, and in some cases, enable customers to be completely self-sufficient with our features”
Other verticals such as real estate, facility management, and property management rapidly adopted such field service solutions. Some clients used “all aspects of digitisation,” including automated predictive maintenance and command centre dashboards to track and manage all facilities.
In-store experiences, retail, and university campuses also had a large number of adopters of field service solutions to manage refrigeration, automated systems, and other infrastructure.
“This is no longer a system of records or a system of operational efficiency-focused concept alone, but rather a system of insights, innovation, and customer experiences (CX), who use these services as well as workforces that execute the services.
Potential Use in High-Risk Environments
When asked about use cases for the Bangalore-based firm’s remote guidance and inspection capabilities in high-risk environments such as nuclear power plants and airports, Messiahdas told XR Today said such systems were “viable” pending evaluation for potential use cases.
Some may not be feasible for using HoloLens headsets, but enterprises could instead work with remote assistants in such high-risk facilities, she explained.
Continuing, she explained,
“It’s not an augmented reality experience, but an app-based solution to coordinate, collaborate, and make updates, even if it is offline. What also comes with this offering is that we give them a checklist of service tasks they have to follow and look out for. That’s where we bring in aspects related to safety checks”
Remote assistants allowed firms to conduct safety checks and operate as part of the full suite of solutions needed for conducting remote field servicing, Messiahdas said.
Concluding, she told XR Today that Infosys and similar companies could explore the viability of such systems depending on each use case and their respective systems.
Microsoft XR meets Industry 4.0
The comments come as massive firms deploy Microsoft’s remote operations and maintenance (O&M) platforms for intricate manufacturing systems.
Firms such as Kognitiv Spark and LeeWay Marine have leveraged Microsoft HoloLens solutions with the former’s own RemoteSpark platform to build more resilient remote support for smart shipyards.
One of Microsoft’s Gold Partners for MR and cloud computing, Kognitiv Spark has significantly reduced equipment downtime and expedited repairs and troubleshooting for smart maritime systems.
Trimble, a provider of industrial MR solutions, also upgraded its XR-10 headsets in February, which combine bespoke HoloLens technologies with its FieldLink solution.
Users could tap eye and hand-tracked inputs for hands-free navigation, eliminating physical controllers.
US tech giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) also deployed Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 headsets to repair large-scale printing services via the former’s xRServices solution currently as a beta release.
The tool integrates with HP’s Print OSx operating system to offer remote workers guided instructions and real-time overlays for repairing industrial printing devices.
