Visual assistance is key in improving first-time fix rates, decreasing downtime, reducing costly site visits, and improving customer satisfaction for many field service and customer service organizations. When visual assistance is servitized, companies can expand their revenue streams to include the services and solutions for their products as well as the product itself.
Visual Assistance adds more value to the service contracts and can be used to drive service contract sales.
Servitization is the strategy of monetizing service packages to create even more value for customers and establish long-term relationships with their customers while increasing satisfaction and loyalty. Visual assistance is a key differentiator for customers and can itself be converted into a commercial product for service organizations.
At SightCall, we’ve seen several ways that enterprises integrate remote visual assistance into service offerings to generate additional revenue:
Remote visual assistance can be offered as a premium-level feature to customers willing to invest in an end-to-end service agreement. The benefits of services that include AR-powered live video are attractive to customers who are willing to pay for top-of-line service.
The advantages of visual support make it attractive to customers wanting an effortless service contract, especially with companies that are sensitive to downtime. Visual assistance can increase the attractiveness of a responsive emergency service contract that’s available 24/7.
Additionally, visual assistance can be used to provide a premium "white glove" service for customers that demand excellent service or have high-value products where downtime must be kept to a minimum. SightCall can be deployed as a custom branded visual assistance app to streamline services for users.
Koenig & Bauer’s Visual Press Support, powered by SightCall, enables them to successfully solve almost 80% of their service cases with remote maintenance solutions. Their customers say that they have never experienced such a "unique" and "simple" way of communicating with service technicians.
Likewise, SightCall’s customer Sciex reports that 64% of their customers’ problems are now resolved remotely, through multiple service offerings.
In this model, a service organization offers remote visual assistance as part of a warranty phase free of charge, with an option to continue benefiting from the service for a fee. Customers who experience the value of the additional level of service and support with remote visual assistance will be more comfortable upgrading after their warranty expires.
For example, while Koenig & Bauer’s customers’ machines are under warranty, they have the option to access a video session with remote assist experts who use a robust set of AR and AI tools at their disposal to aid in troubleshooting and self-repair. When an in-person visit is required, the process is streamlined by determining exactly what the issue is and the needed tools and expertise to ensure a quick resolution.
Data collected on first-time fix rates and reduced downtime of machines can further justify the return on investment for upgrading to a comprehensive service agreement.
As a bridge between these two approaches, some clients have found revenue opportunities by offering a pay-as-you-go service that includes remote visual assistance , paid for by the hour Customers can access visual support calls on an ad-hoc basis. As live video allows for quicker problem resolution, this is often an attractive option to customers who are less cash-rich but still need a support option.For Sciex, the global leader in life science and analytical technologies, customers that opt out of a full-service contract can infer a significant amount of risk because Sciex machines are complex and can be quite costly to fix or replace.
Within their non-contract Assisted Service offering, Sciex has found an opportunity to leverage its remote visual assistance capabilities.
By offering pay-as-you-go visual support from remote experts, Sciex can generate an additional revenue stream while supporting their non-contract customers when they need it most and deterring them from going to a 3rd party to initiate the fix instead. Customers with at least two visual support calls a year are saving approximately three times the amount they would pay for a full-service contract with the company.
By adding visual support to their offering, customers get the support and expertise they need at a cost that works for them, and Sciex can expand revenue streams through existing accounts.
Offering visual remote support to customers is a win for everyone involved, enabling service organizations to provide exceptional service for their customers while increasing efficiency and opening new revenue streams through servitization. To learn more about how to integrate visual support into your offerings, contact us today.
