What Can Connected Worker Support Do For My Business?

Here’s a question our team often receives from managers at industrial companies, when we’re promoting the benefits of remote worker support technology.

What we’re talking about is a pair of smart glasses or another form of headset worn by a frontline worker who is tasked with achieving something – maintenance, repair or installation – with a piece of industrial equipment. The worker can communicate with an expert or superior anywhere in the world using this headset. Both parties can view the equipment being worked on, and the workers hands are free so the task can be completed during the conversation. The device can also display PDFs or other resource material within the worker’s field of vision. This means the front-line worker can consult manuals or notes as they work.

What can this technology do for my business?

That’s it. These managers get that the smart glasses are cool and it’s great to have new technology coming into the organization to promote innovation. But it all comes down to this single question: how will this help my business?

Of course, every business is different, so connected worker solutions could help your company in different ways than another enterprise. However, companies across the industrial landscape are improving efficiency and cutting costs by adopting remote worker support technology. The biggest beneficiaries are those with remote assets and/or operations located in several parts of the world.

Here are three solid answers on how this technology can benefit your business, regardless of its specific circumstances:

Improve Knowledge Transfer

Every industrial organization can benefit from its front-line workers gaining knowledge from experts, whether they work in-house, for your suppliers or elsewhere. If you have remote operations, the need for such a knowledge transfer is heightened because you need knowledgeable people on the ground. Remote support tech allows experts to impart knowledge to field workers regardless of where in the world they are. The most obvious benefit of this is convenience – experts or inspectors don’t have to get on a plane, and the expert has the ability what the field worker sees in real-time.

What’s less obvious is the quality of knowledge transfer. First, the worker actually performs the task during the call, which helps solidify the processes in his or her brain. It will help them carry out the task quicker and better the next time they have to do it.

Second, the frontline worker is conversing with the expert, not just receiving dictated or written instructions. It means the field worker can ask questions. This enables a situation where the expert can impart to the field worker the soft knowledge gained in years of working with the equipment. How does it perform in extreme weather? How does it interact with other pieces of equipment at the site? What settings on this machine will help to optimize other machines in the facility? The stuff that may not be found in manuals.

But what about the stuff that is in the manuals? Field workers have headsets or smart glasses at their disposal at all times. We should remember we’re all human and we tend to forget things over time. This is especially true with tasks that are infrequent, like the sort of repairs that are usually carried out about once a year. So if the field workers forget part of the instructions, they just have to put on the device and they can consult instructional resources while carrying out the task.

Every time centralized experts work with remote team members using this technology, they are contributing to your company’s digital transformation and improving productivity. Over time, this becomes a pillar of support, an essential component in the optimum performance of your company. Very quickly, remote support technology can become standard operating procedure (SOP) in developing your most important assets – your employees.

Expanding the Reach of Support

To maximize the benefits of remote support technology, it is essential for each company to assess the specific challenges it faces and select use cases that address those challenges effectively. Begin with an honest appraisal of your company's obstacles and how they impact critical metrics. Once you've identified these issues, you can pinpoint a use case that could enhance the quality of your operations. (If you need assistance with this crucial step of adopting the technology, feel free to contact us — we have extensive experience in this area.)

Companies adopting connected worker technologies gain the immediate ability to inspect remote equipment and infrastructure without the need to fly experts or inspectors to the location. An expert at headquarters or from the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) can collaborate with an end-user, examining equipment in real-time to ensure everything is running to specification. This approach not only boosts productivity but also helps to reduce risks to workers by minimizing the need for multiple physical presences and the need to wait for expert opinions rather than having the capacity/guidance to act in potentially hazardous environments. Additionally, it ensures that repair workflows are followed accurately and adhere to your organization's SOPs, maintaining a consistent level of quality in the work completed.

By eliminating the need for senior technicians to travel for routine maintenance and inspections, these processes can be conducted more regularly. This leads to cost savings, reduced downtime, and, most importantly, a safer workplace. Remote support technology empowers your team to perform at their best, regardless of location and ensures that expertise is always within reach.

Create Meaningful Cost Reductions

How can remote support devices cut costs? There are too many ways to count actually but here are a few.

In 2022, Forbes reported the average U.S. manufacturer confronts 800 hours of unplanned equipment downtime per year, and that the average auto manufacturer loses $22,000 a minute when the production line stops. It adds up to as much as $50 billion per year for the U.S. economy. By implementing a strong remote support program, companies can significantly reduce downtime and avoid these substantial losses.

Another example: with standard remote support devices such as smart glasses loaded with RemoteSpark, frontline engineers and technicians have a library of resource material at their fingertips. They can consult it instantly, at any time, and continue to work while they refer to it. This immediate access improves worker efficiency and helps workers complete their tasks with greater accuracy the first time, reducing rework and saving costs.

And of course, you can achieve this while your senior managers – the sources of the knowledge transfer – remain in their home office rather than getting on a plane. The transfer of knowledge can happen in a manageable time frame without the field worker coping with an avalanche of information crammed into a flying visit by an expert. This optimization of experts allows organizations to not only better support their operations but allow for a better balance for their experts who are continually being stretched thinner and thinner.

The Bottom Line

Managers of industrial companies sometimes react with skepticism when presented with unfamiliar technology, such as remote worker support systems. (We’re not calling them new technology, because worker support technology has been available for years and is being used daily by leading industrial companies – and probably your leading competitors.)

We respect that point of view and would love to engage with people with such an opion.  We believe we can convince even the most skeptical manager that these remote support devices can make their workplace safer, happier and more productive. 

Why not call us and request a demo? As we said above, every business is unique and we would love to learn about the specific circumstances of your organization. Once we understand your challenges, we believe we can help you see how these solutions can benefit your business and impact your bottom line. What’s more, we can help you determine which use case would suit your business, develop pilot projects and help to scale the technology throughout your organization.