Provide safe, real-time, and effective guidance with the Salesforce visual remote assistant

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There is no doubt that the breakout of the pandemic has transformed the way in which we work, use digital technology, and interact with each other. Despite these unprecedented times, customers still seek immediate and expedited service. Luckily, Salesforce has yet again rolled out an incredible new feature that will deliver service anytime and anywhere you are while helping people feel completely safe! Remote support allows contact center agents and field service technicians to solve a customer’s problems through virtual real-time, guided interaction. It also allows experts to help on site technicians resolve issues. 

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Visual Remote Assistant: How does it work?

The process is actually fairly simple. With advanced remote support software, an agent or technician is able to see a customer’s physical environment in real time through their smart device. They can guide customers using augmented reality, which displays on-screen information over the object that requires service. They provide targeted, step-by-step instructions with annotations on their mobile screen to resolve many issues. When the service has been completed and the customer is satisfied, the service organization has a visual record for future reference. All of this is accomplished in a safe manner without having to be in contact with someone face to face. However, depending on the circumstance or service request, visual remote assistance can be used to solve customer problems on its own or in combination with in-person service. 

Visual Remote Assistant Scenario  

Let’s walk through an example of the visual remote assistant in action. Let’s say, Sara, is a Salesforce customer. She is having issues with her water heater and would like to make the water hotter. She calls Brooklyn Water Heating through omni-channel in the service console and is immediately connected with the service agent, Charlie. Once connected with Sara, service cloud voice transcribes Charlie’s conversation with Sara in real-time and Einstein recommends Charlie the next best action to follow based on what Sara is saying and what assets she has installed. 

Charlie walks Sara through the process of adjusting the temperature on the unit, but Sara is not too sure about the heater’s buttons that Charlie is referring to. Charlie then offers to transition the conversation to video to provide interactive visual support. By using the visual remote assistant, Charlie is able to walk through the issue in real-time. Sara receives a text which directs her to a web page that commences the video conversation. Now Charlie can see what Sara sees live. He asks Sara to view the asset tag on the unit so he can confirm they are referencing the correct water heater. Sara then takes a picture which allows Charlie to view and process the image using character recognition to transcribe the text. 

The service agent then uses augmented reality annotations to interactively guide Sara. Sara is directed to the right buttons for adjusting the temperature. Throughout the interaction, Sara and Charlie have the same view as they remotely resolve the issue together. They can both verify the reading on the unit after it is completed. Visual remote assistance saves photos and transcripts so that other service agents can see the visual history for Sara in any future service interaction with her. 

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Better serve your customers with the visual remote assistant

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Remote customer assistance allows field service organizations to have much more flexibility to deliver service from anywhere while keeping both workers and customers safe. As you can see in the aforementioned scenario, Sara's issue was resolved without having to be face-to-face with the technician. She was assisted in real-time using augmented reality and her conversation history was safely stored inside of the Salesforce console, so the next time she encounters a similar issue with her water heater, the technician will know just what to do! 

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