The Silicon Review
The term mixed reality defines the coming together of virtual and real world. The objects in this world coexist and it can be interacted with. One of the significant projects under mixed reality is Intel’s Project Alloy; it makes use of MR to allow people to use real hands in the VR world. Virtual reality is one of the most used terms for all these magical artificial worlds that are popping up around us. HelpLightning is one of the pioneers in this segment. The company was founded in 2016 and it is based in Birmingham. Help lightning helps service organizations reduce costs and increase productivity through remote video collaboration. Our patented technology uses merged reality to create a virtual interactive presence. Merging two real-time video streams allows an expert to virtually reach out and touch what their service tech or customer is working on. Service experts can show a resolution, not just describe it, even from thousands of miles away. Help lightning is changing the way industries exchange expert knowledge and dramatically improves customer relationships and experiences. Using current mobile devices (iOS, Android), experts can now visually collaborate, assist with issues, and resolve problems as though they were working side-by-side with a colleague or customer.
"I need to be able to..."A phrase that starts many successful companies. Prominent Neurosurgeon, Dr. Bart Guthrie, needed superpowers. He needed to be consulting on cases, prepping support staff, collaborating with other physicians in surgery and meeting with patients: in other buildings, in homes, in offices across town, across the state, even in other countries all on the same day often in the same hour. And given the expense and reimbursement issues in health care, he needed innovation that wouldn’t cost an arm or a leg or require brain surgery to operate. With Help Lightning, we have completely reimagined how businesses, customers and employees are able to give and receive help using merged reality. We've eliminated the frustrations and inadequacies of phone or simple video chat, as well as dramatically reduced the need to drive or fly to interact in person. Whether you need to quickly solve problems for customers, assist newly on-boarded personnel, eliminate wasteful trips or differentiate the way your products are sold, implemented and serviced. Once you're in a merged reality call with a colleague or customer, simply tap the mode to change how you interact. Choose whether you're giving or receiving help, and start collaborating in seconds. Merged reality adds missing visual cues, gestures, and non-verbal communication methods to any session. If you're providing remote assistance, simply reach your hand, tools or other relevant objects into your device's field of view. Your colleague will see your hand merged into their field of view. You can telestrate, freeze images, use hand gestures, upload pictures and even add real objects into the merged reality environment. Due to affordability and simplicity you can start helping and sharing ideas instantly. Nothing special is needed to start a merged reality session where the live video streams and telestration are combined and smartly intertwined to change the way a person can give or receive help. Add simple sign-up to powerful administration and management tools and affordable success can be there in an instant.
Help Lightning runs on multiple platforms and integrates with your CRM. One of our greatest strengths is compatibility, working on virtually every mobile device as well as smart glasses and even a web browser. Help lightning integrates into your existing process adding a powerful remote assistance tool for you service team.Instant, accurate communication augmented by mobile merged reality and virtual presence can have a dramatic impact on service operations. Help Lightning can help your organization proactively, efficiently and effectively attack hard costs that plague the efficiency and effectiveness of operations and customer interactions.In research conducted by our own customers we have seen a dramatic impact on hard cost, opportunity cost, as well as the opportunity for new source highly profitable revenue. Customers can experience a 7 to 15 times hard cost savings for every dollar invested. Expert personnel can see a 10 to 20% increases in efficiency.
Gary York, CEO of Help Lightning
Gary is a serial entrepreneur with four successful software and services exits: three private sales and one IPO. He has spent his career at the boundary of what is possible and what is practical. He has held technical and executive positions with leading technology companies in Boston, Silicon Valley, and Alabama. Not only is Gary a winner of the Smithsonian Innovation Award and the EDPA Lifetime Achievement Award for Innovation, he also serves on the Boards of TechBirmingham, the McWane Science Center and Urban Avenues. He holds a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon and was a visiting fellow at UC Berkeley. Gary and his wife Cathy have two children. He is an avid runner.