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The Microsoft HoloLens mixed reality glasses have always been an interesting technology, but it has never been clear how the company would move from novelty to viable use cases. Today, it is oriented towards the latter, announcing some applications designed for HoloLens to work in Dynamics 365, which gives it a real commercial purpose.
Dynamics 365 is Microsoft's one-stop shop for customer relationship management (CRM) and ERP, where a company can work in an integrated way on some of its core software functions, including on-site service. The company asked HoloLens to bring computing power to a group of field workers, such as repair technicians for whom even a tablet would be difficult because they have to work with both hands free.
For these people, having a fully functional Windows 10 computer that you can wear on your face could be a big plus and this is what Microsoft hopes to provide with HoloLens. The problem was finding use cases where that would make sense. One idea is to provide remote assistance to people on the ground to get expert help on the subject at the office, and today the company has announced Dynamics 365 Remote Assist.
In this scenario, the worker wears a HoloLens to understand the repair scenario before going to the site or for remote assistance from an expert in the field when it is on the site. The expert can virtually see what the technician sees through the HoloLens and guide them through the repair without leaving the office, even while touring the rooms and providing other annotations in real time.
Microsoft Remote Assist in action with an expert to guide the technician in the task. Photo: Microsoft
Microsoft is not the first company to create such a solution. ScopeAR announced RemoteAR 4 months ago, a similar product, but Microsoft has the advantage of building it natively in Windows 10 and all that includes data integration to update the different repositories with information once the repair is complete.
The other business scenario announced today by the company is called Dynamics 365 Layout. A designer can create a 3D representation of something like a store or factory layout in a CAD software, display the 3D design in HoloLens and adjust it in real time before the design is put online. As Microsoft's Lorraine Bardeen, who has the brilliant title of General Manager for Microsoft Mixed Reality, says instead of creating cardboard mockups and adjusting your 3D drawing on your computer when you have problems in your design, you can put your HoloLens in a virtual representation of the layout and adjust the CAD drawing for you when you make changes.
Arrange parts in a factory using the Dynamics 365 layout. Photo: Microsoft
Bardeen says the company has worked with customers to find real-life use cases that would save time, reduce costs and save money by using a mixed reality with HoloLens. They cite companies such as Chevron, Ford and ThyssenKrupp Elevators as organizations that actively adopt this type of technology, but it remains unclear whether HoloLens and mixed reality will become a central part of the business in the future. These two GA solutions on October 1st and we will begin the discovery process.
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