Panasonic adopts remote assistance technology

UK: Panasonic Appliances Air-Conditioning Europe is to employ remote work assistance technology to enable product experts to provide hands-on service and repair instructions to engineers in the field.

Using IFS Remote Assistance from Swedish company IFS, Panasonic will be able to remotely diagnose issues, ensure real-time knowledge sharing, and significantly speed up repair rates. By reducing or even eliminating the need to make site visits, the company is also able to lower travel costs and environmental impact.

IFS Remote Assistance is described as a merged reality solution blending a remote expert with another person to instantly diagnose, solve and validate issues. Remote experts can support customers, technicians or engineers in inaccessible locations, even from thousands of miles away.

It merges two real time video streams, blending a remote expert with someone who needs support in another location. It provides an interactive help session in a collaborative, virtual reality environment to accelerate and simplify problem diagnosis and resolution.

Experts can telestrate (draw lines and similar graphics on the video), freeze images, use hand gestures, share pictures, or even add real objects such as specialist tools into the merged reality environment.

“Our investment in the IFS solution is part of a larger strategy to transform our business mindset from product-centric to service-centric and to develop the maturity of our service organization,” explained Karl Lowe, Panasonic Appliances Air-Conditioning Europe’s head of European service. “With IFS Remote Assistance, we are leveraging state-of-the-art technology to unleash the full potential of our highly skilled workforce, regardless of where they are based. Not only are we able to navigate constraints, we are actually able to improve repair rates and access real-time performance data to help us gauge and improve our service.”

Alain Laing, managing director, IFS UK and Ireland, added, “Across the globe, we are seeing visionary manufacturers invest in technology to enable a servitised business model. We are thrilled to be part of Panasonic’s transformation journey and look forward to doing our part to provide the tools they need so they can ensure the safety of its workforce and a great customer experience.”