People who stay with one company for their entire career are a rarity these days. 2021 studies have found that the average job tenure can be as low as 1.8 years.

It’s very different from my father’s days. He joined BT straight from school and went on to have a fulfilling 40-year career with the company. I used to go to work with him during the holidays and saw firsthand how his years of knowledge were vital to monitoring, supervising, managing, and training BT teams in the field.

Given today’s turnover rate, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for organisations to pass on vital and hard-earned information from one employee to the next. That’s why, across all verticals, knowledge loss and retention are significant issues.

Changing workforce behaviors, increasing technological complexity, and a global shortage of 85.2 million skilled workers, are all making it harder for organisations to share already limited skills and experience across their business.

The consequences of losing crucial knowledge are profound. Organisations without reliable access to senior-level technical skills and longstanding expertise encounter higher training costs, increased dependence on external maintenance support, and potential occupational health risks associated with an inexperienced workforce.

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these challenges. Social distancing restrictions have made it even more challenging to spread expertise to the right places and maintain business continuity.

Many organisations are turning to advanced augmented reality (AR), artificial intelligence (AI), and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions to collect and distribute knowledge effectively across their global and distributed workforce. This technology connects field workers to remote experts to get the information they need no matter where they are, whether it’s for onsite training, maintenance support or carrying out safety inspections.

These capabilities offer an immersive experience in real-time by allowing users to capture and share live video, audio, and data with their remote experts. And, if experts aren’t available for support, solutions such as smart glasses can use AI computer vision for intelligent, real-time object detection and safety monitoring, or guiding workers through digital workflows using earpieces.

These remote solutions are already accelerating decision-making, reducing costs, and increasing productivity and safety. Without the need for travel, one major retailer we’ve been working with is now carrying out multiple site audits a day – as opposed to one – significantly reducing their carbon footprint and costs. Additionally, inspectors no longer need to enter hazardous environments, the technology is helping them to meet their commitments to improve onsite safety.

Librestream is proud to offer solutions alongside BT which can help you overcome your barriers to getting knowledge into the places you need, at the right time. We built our Onsight AR platform to transform workforces by providing access to remote experts who can diagnose, inspect and troubleshoot assets in the field.

Our platform incorporates AI capabilities such as computer vision to automatically identify assets. Also, it connects to IoT platforms to display relevant safety and workflow data to staff when operating in the field. And it can run on a range of different devices to suit your individual use case and environment – whether that’s mobile phones, industrial wearables or traditional computers.

Please speak to your account manager to learn more about Onsight and its features.