Help Lightning Blog
Contactless Service: The Benefit For Utility Companies
In-person support is generally viewed as the gold standard of customer care. With in-person service not always possible, many companies have turned to contactless service (also called touchless service). COVID-19 travel restrictions and various quarantine protocols made contactless service a necessity during 2020/2021. Companies quickly realized contactless service needed to replicate in-person support as closely as possible to maintain quality, safety standards, and provide good customer experiences. Companies using remote virtual assistance technology found that not only can contactless service be effective—it can actually be superior to in-person support.
Contactless Service for High Quality Remote Support
Help Lightning’s remote visual assistance technology delivers high quality contactless service that feels as if it’s in person. Field technicians can use Help Lightning to engage customers and peers in the field and provide support in real time from anywhere using VR enabled features.
Any company requiring technicians in the field for in-person care, including government and utilities, can use remote visual assistance for a merged reality view of the field where service is required. The Help Lightning app provides a 3D shared view, allowing people on either side of the screen to virtually reach into the other person’s view for ‘hands-on’ collaboration that is as effective as in-person.
What Contactless Service Looks Like Using Remote Visual Assistance
Remote visual assistance technology allows users to engage in a merged reality where both sides see the same view on their desktop or mobile device. The person not physically present can reach into the screen to virtually touch objects, make annotations and drawings overlaid onto the shared view, and demonstrate how to do something as if both sides were in the same room together.
An Example: Fixing Utility Outages
- A telephone utility company wants fewer workers in the field to minimize handoffs. This is in the company’s and employees’ best interests because field work can be dangerous. And it’s expensive to have a lot of workers onsite.
- The company still needs to maintain optimal service, as poor maintenance or improper installations can cause major problems.
- The company sends two technicians into the field, and keeps a team of specialists in the office who can support them using the Help Lightning app.
- When support is needed, a technician in the field initiates a call using the Help Lightning app. The specialist who is not in the field can see everything the onsite technician sees. They can also reach into the field of view to provide guidance and support.
- Prior to the onsite technician executing work, the specialist can reach into the screen or draw on the shared view. This allows them to confirm all necessary steps needed to conduct maintenance or installation.
- The specialist can also monitor if the technician complies with all safety protocols.
The work is expertly completed using contactless service that is more effective than in-person. This is because it saves the telephone utility company from having to send additional technicians into the field.
Remote Visual Assistance Enables Effective Contactless Service for Utilities and More
The ability to merge video screens and collaborate for effective contactless service makes it easier to deliver high quality service, even when technicians cannot be onsite. Onsite service requests are costly and time consuming. Companies that employ remote visual assistance to help execute on contactless service make it possible to provide many needed services remotely.
Remote visual assistance technology supports several Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) connected to contactless service.
The KPIs Help Lightning Customers Experience Using Remote Visual Assistance Include:
- Avoid unnecessary dispatches
- Faster service
- Improved first time fix rate (FTFR) for utilities
- Increased net promoter score (NPS)
Interested in learning about more use cases and how other companies are using remote visual assistance? Review our full list of 20 remote assistance use cases. You can also download our shareable guide of use cases.
Contact Help Lightning to Learn How Contactless Service Can Help Your Company
With remote visual assistance, technicians can be safer, more productive, and deliver better results. Companies save time and money while enabling workers with the technology to work in a truly effective contactless environment.
Contact us for a free, no obligation demo of Help Lightning.
Our team is waiting to show you exactly how Help Lightning’s remote visual assistance software can help your company’s specific business needs.