News: Microsoft HoloLens 2 Assists De'Longhi Japan Call Center Agents Using Augmented Reality Product Models

Less than a month after the worldwide launch of HoloLens 2, call center consultant BellSystem24 has already prepared an augmented reality solution for one of its clients.

This week, the company unveiled a call center virtualization solution, developed for coffee machine maker De'Longhi Japan Corp., which uses the HoloLens 2 to display virtual product models rendered via DataMesh's 3D technology and delivered using Microsoft's Azure cloud platform.

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Dubbed the Call Center Work Style Innovation Project, the solution enables customer service representatives to assist customers with troubleshooting on De'Longhi products by interacting with virtual products in augmented reality. The system includes animations that help users understand all of the moving parts of the products.

BellSystem24 is testing the solution with De'Longhi products, helping the company to expand the number of employees, products, and locations utilizing the project. Upon the completion of testing, Microsoft and DataMesh plan to develop a business model for the solution by the end of 2021 to offer to other clients.

According to a joint statement issued by the four companies, the solution enables De'Longhi to manage a distributed workforce and hire and retain talent by offering remote work accommodations and flexible scheduling.

While employees at call centers are able to interact with the actual products, it's not realistic for the company to ship all of its products to each remote worker. Instead, remote workers are able to interact with virtual versions of the products via the HoloLens 2.

Most enterprise solutions demonstrate how AR can assist workers on the factory floor, this remote work solution demonstrates how the technology can apply to customer-facing functions as well. And, with research suggesting that as many as 42% of workers will be remote by 2022, the HoloLens 2 could be a much more common component of the remote office equipment package.