Xerox has expanded its growing software portfolio with the acquisition of CareAR, an augmented reality support platform company that provides real-time access to expertise for customers, employees, and field workers.
With CareAR software, remote agents and experts can virtually see the situation and visually guide a solution using a suite of augmented reality tools via desktop, mobile, and smart glass devices, as if they were in-person.
Today, one-third of field service on-site calls require remote expert assistance to resolve issues but cannot effectively communicate the context of the situation. This causes delays, creating negative customer perception while risking loyalty and retention. Equipment downtime can be costly, running organisations between $300,000 and $5 million per hour, depending on the company’s size.
“Our software solutions address some of the biggest needs for customers – content management, digital transformation and personalised communications. And now we’ve added enterprise augmented reality,” said Steve Bandrowczak, president and chief operations officer, Xerox. “By combining DocuShare, XMPie and CareAR, we have a Software business that can together and apart support a wide range of clients’ needs.”
This expanded Software business will be led by Sam Waicberg, vice president and general manager of Digital Services for Xerox and former CareAR Co-founder and CEO prior to acquisition.
CareAR’s platform seamlessly integrates with workflow leader ServiceNow, ensuring an end-to-end approach to work orders, cases and incidents for full visibility and better troubleshooting.
“CareAR’s augmented reality software, which is integrated and certified with ServiceNow, helps customers remotely view and solve service issues,” says Michael Ramsey, vice president of Customer Workflow Product Management at ServiceNow. “Xerox’s acquisition of this technology can help drive further opportunities to modernise field service, customer support and IT services leveraging the power of the Now Platform and CareAR.”
Today, ServiceNow is collaborating with Deloitte to integrate the CareAR platform for ServiceNow® into the operations service systems and support workflows for joint clients.
“Xerox’s CareAR augmented reality platform provides us an ability to extend our market leading, industry-focused ServiceNow offerings,” said Asish Ramchandran, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP. “CareAR represents the next mile in the digital transformation journey of organisations, and together we have the ability to deliver next generation solutions that drive greater outcomes and value for our collective clients.”
CareAR is the latest addition to a series of solutions Xerox has launched to provide digital transformation tools to customers. These include automation and centralisation solutions like DocuShare, a content management platform providing robust tools to automate processes and support cloud-enabled digital transformation; and XMPie, a flexible technology that allows customisation and personalisation of assets across customer touchpoints, both online and offline, for full marketing campaign integration.