Augmented Reality Critical to Company Investment Strategy, Survey Says

Librestream, a global provider of augmented worker enterprise solutions, in conjunction with Worldwide Business Research (WBR), B2B research provider, today announced the results of a survey that revealed 82% of organizations plan to increase investments in augmented reality (AR) by over 20% in 2021, reinforcing its transformational impact from a company-wide level.

The report includes findings that reveal leadership attitudes around AR including viewpoints on business needs and benefits, pace of adoption, most important capabilities, challenges and expected investments.

The survey highlighted the increasing rate of AR adoption with 56% reporting growing applications while 10% are fully integrated across the service operation. A majority of organizations surveyed anticipate increasing investments in AR at a significant rate—by as much as 60%—over the next year. Librestream’s user growth supports these findings; from 2019 to 2020, the company saw customer license growth of over 838%, indicating expanded deployment across business units and use cases.

The study also placed a spotlight on the remote assistance features companies are seeking. More than 40% of respondents said that the most crucial remote assistance features are usage statistic analytics, device-agnostic software, diagnostic tool support and offline and low-bandwidth features. This indicates that many organizations are pivoting towards more technically mature field service operations and technology vendors.

“Remote assistance technology itself is not new—Librestream pioneered the category more than 17 years ago,” explains Jereme Pitts, COO of Librestream. “However, this survey shows us that organizations are no longer using remote assistance tools simply to communicate—for that, a simple phone call or Zoom conference is often sufficient. Instead, sophisticated organizations are harnessing the full power of AR-powered remote assistance platforms like Onsight, to improve productivity, enhance service ROI and even create new revenue streams.”

The survey also revealed common business benefits associated with AR platforms, including as a selling point in third-party contractor negotiations (45%), improved technician productivity (40%), improved ROI/cost savings (38%), improved worker safety (37%) and shorter training timelines (34%).

Barriers remain, however. The survey uncovered challenging factors to manage when developing an AR business strategy. These include collecting and implementing technician feedback (53%), managing scaling of technology after a pilot (50%), and change management/training (45%). 

“These survey findings showcase the importance organizations are placing on prioritizing the integration of AR into field service processes. As such, companies are adopting these technologies at a fast clip, across business units, and to solve a vast array of needs. Service providers like Librestream will remain a key partner as companies continue to improve their business outcomes through AR,” says Chris Rand, digital content and research manager at WBR.

The survey, commissioned by Librestream and carried out by WBR, consisted of phone interviews with 100 leaders at US-based service organizations in industries including heavy equipment, manufacturing, aerospace, energy, automotive, medical, food and beverage and more. 

Download the full survey results here.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.