FRAMINGHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--#AR--International Data Corporation (IDC) recently published an IDC Innovators report profiling five companies that provide augmented reality (AR) applications allowing manufacturers to close the gap between remote field workers and real-time intelligence to deliver resolution. The five companies are Help Lightning, Librestream, Scope AR, SightCall, and Upskill.

The ability to deliver exceptional experiences for customers has never been more critical to manufacturers and service organizations. Competitive factors and the rise of customer expectations have led organizations to rethink the tools and capabilities needed to differentiate their offerings beyond the product itself to include the services being delivered. The desire to have a robust, secure collaboration platform or a set of tools is leading the field service market to explore the potential of augmented reality (AR) applications and platforms to enable a real-time connection between an expert and the field worker.

"Customers are less likely to tolerate waiting for resolution as we all become accustomed to on-demand answers and expert service on our schedules," said Aly Pinder Jr., program director, Service Innovation and Connected Products at IDC Manufacturing Insights. "To meet this need for faster service, manufacturers and service organizations are looking to new tools such as augmented reality to equip the field team with remote expertise and on-demand knowledge to solve problems correctly on that first visit."

IDC defines augmented reality as a technology that blends together the real world and the digital world by overlaying digital information or objects within a person's current view of reality. AR technology is often first leveraged via a mobile device such as a smartphone or a tablet, but there are now many use cases and pilots of more enterprise-grade hardware to leverage AR software applications. These AR tools and platforms can also enable remote experts to seamlessly collaborate with field service technicians and help deliver real-time support to customers.

The report, IDC Innovators: Augmented Reality in Field Service, 2019 (IDC #US43759019), profiles five software companies in the emerging market of augmented and virtual reality applications to support the delivery of field service management and customer support. Their manufacturing industry expertise enables them to focus on industrial use cases and solutions specifically to support field service execution, knowledge capture and transfer, and remote assistance.

• Help Lightning offers a virtual interactive environment where a remote expert can interact and collaborate with customers or field engineers with live video streams and telestration tools to improve interactions and collaboration.
• Librestream offers a field AR platform that includes core capabilities such as remote expert assistance, digital work instruction, knowledge management and analytics, and specialized add-ons.
• Scope AR has an industrial AR knowledge platform that offers real-time remote support, access to AR work instructions, and the ability to collaborate with remote experts to solve complex issues.
• SightCall provides a platform that enables technicians or customers to receive remote visual assistance leveraging AR and artificial intelligence to automate and guide installations, repairs, and inspections.
• Upskill offers a secure AR platform with task guidance, knowledge capture, live help, visualization of work instruction, and the ability to interact with live data for use in highly regulated industries.

About IDC Innovators
IDC Innovators reports present a set of vendors – under $100 million in revenue at time of selection – chosen by an IDC analyst within a specific market that offer an innovative new technology, a groundbreaking approach to an existing issue, and/or an interesting new business model. It is not an exhaustive evaluation of all companies in a segment or a comparative ranking of the companies. Vendors in the process of being acquired by a larger company may be included in the report provided the acquisition is not finalized at the time of publication of the report. Vendors funded by venture capital firms may also be included in the report even if the venture capital firm has a financial stake in the vendor's company. IDC INNOVATOR and IDC INNOVATORS are trademarks of International Data Group, Inc.

For more information about IDC Innovators research, please contact Catherine Bonner at cbonner@idc.com.

About IDC
International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. With more than 1,100 analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. IDC's analysis and insight helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based technology decisions and to achieve their key business objectives. Founded in 1964, IDC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), the world's leading media, data and marketing services company. To learn more about IDC, please visit www.idc.com. Follow IDC on Twitter at @IDC and LinkedIn.

Michael Shirer
press@idc.com
508-935-4200

Immersive Video Accounting for 20% of Traffic as 5G Subscribers Pass 2 Million

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--LG Uplus has a 5G market share 9 percentage points higher than its overall retail market share in South Korea, enabled by a strong focus on AR and VR content. New research from Strategy Analytics concludes that, in a highly competitive market where differentiation on network quality and pricing is difficult, the operator has successfully used AR and VR content as both a compelling use case for B2C 5G services and as a source of content exclusivity driving customer acquisition.

The Strategy Analytics report “LG Uplus Looks for 5G Differentiation Through AR and VR Service Portfolio” is available to clients and registered guests here. The report discusses LG Uplus’s 5G network and service launch strategy and early service experience, identifying lessons for operators in global markets in how to develop a successful 5G B2C service portfolio.

Key report findings:

• Average 5G usage was 24 GBytes per subscription per month in Q2 2019 in South Korea, compared to 9.5GB on 4G and 0.5GB on 3G.
• AR and VR services account for 20 percent of traffic on the 5G network, with immersive video proving to be an important service to show users they are getting more than just faster downloads when they upgrade to 5G.
• LG Uplus is targeting nationwide 5G coverage by the end of 2022. For indoor coverage, in order to deliver a good AR and VR user experience, it estimates it will need 1.5x to 2x the number of 5G sites compared to 4G.

David MacQueen, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics, noted “LG Uplus is not unique in showcasing AR and VR content for 5G, but has shown a commitment to the medium that surpasses its competitors. The company has created some genuinely unique content through investment in a volumetric video capture studio, and has built a breadth of content allowing it to target multiple customer segments. LG Uplus has also taken a role bundling hardware to drive service uptake.”

Kevin Nolan, VP of UX Innovation Practice, added “We were impressed by the professional quality of the content and the range of experiences on offer. AR and VR content needs to be constantly refreshed and updated to keep subscribers coming back to the service, so sustaining momentum in its content production and acquisition will be central to generating longer term appeal and repeat consumption.”

Phil Kendall, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics, added “In markets like South Korea, where many 4G users will be happy with their service experience and not feel any need to upgrade for a better network experience, operators must develop a service-based marketing story around 5G. VR and AR content fits well with South Korean cultural and sporting preferences and will work well in other markets in those customer segments with strong affiliations to celebrities or social media stars.”

About Strategy Analytics

Strategy Analytics, Inc. provides the competitive edge with advisory services, consulting and actionable market intelligence for emerging technology, mobile and wireless, digital consumer and automotive electronics companies. With offices in North America, Europe and Asia, Strategy Analytics delivers insights for enterprise success. For more information, visit us at www.strategyanalytics.com

For more information about Strategy Analytics
Service Provider Team: Click Here
Virtual and Augmented Reality Team: Click Here
UX Innovation Team: Click Here

Phil Kendall: +44 1908 423620
pkendall@strategyanalytics.com

Kevin Nolan: +44 1908 423609
knolan@strategyanalytics.com

David MacQueen: +44 1908 423623
dmacqueen@strategyanalytics.com

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today Global Digital Agency Isobar has published an ‘XR playbook’, a guide to help marketers leverage XR to support creative experiences and drive business growth. It looks at the history of technology and shares Isobar’s view of the XR landscape and the opportunities that the technology has for marketers. It also discusses the role of human-insight and data to deliver XR enabled experiences and an approach to measurement. The report is available to download from Isobar.com today.

Written by Isobar’s innovation experts across the world, including the team behind Cannes Lion's award-winning Aeronaut, the playbook explains how XR is the convergence of AR, VR and MR, further accelerating the potential to create wholly new environments in combination with artificial intelligence, machine learning, haptics, biometrics, and spatial computing. It leverages the Isobar’s deep expertise in conceiving, creating and creating next-generation experiences from custom hardware to highly scalable, lower-tech solutions for the mass market.

Dave Meeker Isobar US Chief Innovation Officer said, “The opportunity for integrating technologies and platforms is much bigger than the sum of their parts. However the gap between ambition, potential and investment is a big challenge for us as marketers and consumers. We believe 2020 will be the year that XR explores into the public consciousness - we urgently need to lead this change.”

In a recent Global survey of 1,000 CMOs and senior-level marketers on customer experience, available to download here, Isobar found that CMOs are investing heavily in creativity to deliver better customer experiences that drive business growth. Whilst 64% are already using or expect to use AR and VR in the near future, only 37% of CMOs are ’investing in Innovation’ to support the development of customer experiences next year.

Isobar Global CEO Jean Lin said, “In 2019 we are headed towards an exponential shift from VR & AR to XR and fully immersive, transformative experiences. This is a critical time for bold CEOs and marketers to imagine how they can leverage this unparalleled opportunity as its ecosystem is still being constructed. You need to satisfy your customer in a beautiful way to win in this new economy — XR is key to delivering that.”

The Playbook also includes a guide to XR technologies, hurdles to be overcome, best practice examples in the B2C and the B2C space and 5 takeaway strategies marketers need to deliver XR success.

END

About Isobar:

We are a global digital agency transforming businesses and brands through the creative use of digital. Our 6,500 digital experts in 85 locations across 45 markets in Americas, EMEA and APAC deliver experience-led transformation, powered by creativity through our end to end service offering. Isobar’s clients include Adidas, Coca-Cola, Enterprise, KFC, Mead Johnson, Nestle and Philips, and is part of Dentsu Aegis Network, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dentsu Inc. www.isobar.com

Hannah Ainsworth
Hannah.ainsworth@isobar.com
+44 7824 142 788