Troubleshoot anywhere with Dodge Virtual Support

In gaming, virtual reality creates a computer-generated environment that makes objects seem real. Now, there’s a new tool that supports teams with Dodge Application Engineering and Lifecycle Solutions use to show customers how real-time innovation can help customers.

“Dodge Virtual Support is a powerful remote support tool that combines live video with guiding tools. This helps us easily solve problems for customers,” Toha Poveda-Zambrano said.

She’s the Application Engineering Manager of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) Technologies.

“I’m proud that we’re able to support our customers in this way. We’re able to take customer support to this high-tech level, which is different from our competitors because of our excellent support services,” Poveda-Zambrano said. “By using Virtual Support, we help customers reduce cost and downtime. In case of a problem, they can call us right away and we can look at the issue.”

Virtual Support is a software application that is installed on devices of Dodge customer support teams. Customers only need Internet access to connect with an engineer. The engineer gets a phone number or email from the customer and the customer is sent a link.

“All they need to do is click on the link they receive by email or text. Then, they will need to allow their phone or the device they’re using to enable the camera and the microphone, and the virtual call starts,” Poveda-Zambrano said.

Before Virtual Support, a customer would call customer support and describe in words the problem. Engineers say they would also email drawings or pictures with markings and those would be confusing. The back and forth could also take several hours.

“With Virtual Support, this is real-time support, and we can draw and communicate on the spot. For example, if we’re looking at the customer’s equipment, we can pause the video and draw where we believe the customer needs to make some changes or adjust something on the equipment,” Poveda-Zambrano said. “We can point and show the customer where he or she needs to adjust the equipment and we can also do a hands-overlay. The virtual hand simulates the movement the customer needs to do with their hands.”

“The tool saves time and money. We had an application engineer who was able to assist a customer with a Safety Mount bearing installation. They needed to get the bearing up and running right away. The customer didn’t have to wait a couple of days for an engineer to get onsite. The application engineer could see the problem right away while the customer was installing the new piece of equipment.”

Poveda-Zambrano says the engineer guided the customer through the installation step-by-step and the installation took an hour to get the customer up and running instead of days.

“The tool can also be used for training purposes. We can have up to five people on a call. For example, if we want to do bearing installation training, we can have our customers join the call to see how it should be properly installed,” Poveda-Zambrano said. “It’s user-friendly and extremely easy for everyone involved.”