Remi Ojo

5/5 (1)

Picture being a field technician out on a maintenance job.

Let’s say you’re an engine repair technician, and upon opening the hood you find yourself unsure of exactly which steps you need to follow.

The increase in field service and complexity with connected machinery with the advent of the information age and the Internet of things (IoT) phenomena, has left a fairly large gap in service offerings. Enter Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Augmented reality (AR) as it intersects with the field service industry to illustrate immense benefits and opportunities for this technology.

Augmented Reality is has become a technology with tremendous potential and future applications across almost all industries. The global market for augmented reality is estimated to increase from a total value of $3.5 billion in 2017 to a forecast of $200 billion by 2025 (Liu, 2019). This is an average expected growth of 75% (Voigt, 2019).

Figure 1: Augmented Technician (Twitter Tech News, 2018)

For a technician, they can typically spend from hours to days identifying the root cause of a trouble, conducting a diagnosis, and finally rectifying the fault. Augmented reality enables a technician, or a less experienced user, to analyze the machine at a faster rate within the virtual environment. As seen in Figure 1 above, all components, as well as walkthroughs, are displayed either on a tablet or through a headset.

The advances in AR will help service technicians quickly execute repairs on-site, consult with their managers, access relevant information, and accelerate field service. In addition to the operational efficiencies and cost savings, the augmented worker can be confident that they are working more safely and effectively.

There is a real opportunity to create sustainable value in this space. Granting workers the ability to consume information and apply knowledge in real-time increases engagement and improves the human-centric workforce environment (Augmentir, 2019).

Where will Enterprise Augmented Reality go next?

5/5 (2)

“Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicles. Facebook, the world’s most popular media owner, creates no content. Alibaba, the most valuable retailer, has no inventory. And Airbnb, the world’s largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate. Something interesting is happening.”
-Tom Goodwin

Tom Goodwin very well may be on to something. The sharing economy has taken off due to incumbents like Uber and AirBnb that have disrupted the conventional ways of personal mobility and hospitality. Between the two, they have achieved a market cap of $103 billion. Amid the information age, we are laying witness to the power and impact that platforms have to connect people, goods, and services.

Long before the digital revolution and the information age, communities have been sharing assets with friends and neighbors, but with the advent of the internet, has made it exceptionally easy for asset-owners to connect with asset-seekers (Chappelow, 2019). In short, the sharing economy utilizes crowd platforms to establish a peer-to-peer (P2P) network. This allows for underutilized to provide value to others.

As one of the fastest-growing trends in business, the share-based model is making impressive gains. Since 2010, more than $23B in investments have been secured for startups since 2010 (Miller, 2019). It is expected that the market will continue to grow and reach a forecast of $335B by 2025.

The sharing economy is one of the most recent economic trends that has had an enormous impact on how businesses operate. The phenomenon has paved the way for the development of new business models. It has granted people and communities to create, connect, and collaborate. From a humanity standpoint, by placing sharing and accessibility at the epicenter of commerce, tremendous value can be unlocked for the economy, people, and planet (Matofska, 2019).

Which industries will the share economy disrupt next?

References
Chappelow, J. (2019, Jun 25). Sharing Economy. Retrieved from Investopedia: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sharing-economy.asp
Matofska, B. (2019, June 18). The Sharing Economy: Changing Business For The Better. Retrieved from Disruption: https://disruptionhub.com/sharing-economy-better-business-benita-matofska-6357/
Miller, D. (2019, June 25). The Sharing Economy and How it Is Changing Industries. Retrieved from The Balance: Small Business: https://www.thebalancesmb.com/the-sharing-economy-and-how-it-changes-industries-4172234

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