Page 16 - Print21 magazine Sep-Oct 2022

Cover Story
Currie Group launches
eRServices for 24/6 support
The country’s biggest equipment supplier has always built its business on servicing. Now it is launching its most ambitious programme yet, for round-the-clock, six-days-a-week support. Wayne Robinson reports.
Everyone who was at PacPrint this year would have walked past the original Currie Group service vehicle from 1949,
advertising Currie & Southward, the independent ‘printing machinery service and engineering company’. The service ethos has been the key pillar at the company through all the 73 years that have passed since that van hit the road.
Today the majority of Currie Group staff are service engineers, with more than 50 working across Australia and New Zealand, supporting print businesses of every type, with a countless number of those print businesses relying
on Currie Group’s commitment to service to keep them operating at optimal efficiency. A major reason print businesses invest in the equipment Currie Group supplies is because of the service back-up they know they will receive.
Until now the company has operated a working day 8.30am- 5.30pm service model, Monday to Friday, with emergency support available outside these hours.
The new model will be round-the- clock, every day bar Sunday, and goes under the eRServices brand, standing for extended remote services. The idea is that Currie Group customers will be able to call the remote service desk any time of the day or night, from wherever they are in Australia
or New Zealand, and speak to a service technician.
And if they also opt in to the
new HP xRServices, they will be able to don an augmented reality (AR) headset, which will enable
the remote service technician to
see what the operator sees. So no more trying to explain what you are talking about, it will be crystal clear to the remote service technician. This all means immense time, money and effort savings.
Raise offering
Currie Group has been running a pilot programme with eRServices for the past 12 months. It has analysed the metrics, logged the experience, made a few tweaks, and is now ready to launch. Marcus Robinson, director of operations
at Currie Group says, “Covid, and specifically lockdown, gave us the opportunity to look at how we could raise our offering to the print industry. In Victoria of course we had severely limited mobility for a long time, and there were ongoing lockdowns elsewhere. But print did not stop, and our servicing of print did not stop. From there we had to think how we could create systems that would meet the evolving needs of print businesses. We clearly ramped up our remote servicing, and we talked extensively with printers around both countries
“We needed to think outside the
box. The old working day model in today’s on-demand world does not work as well for everyone as it once did. If a printer has a big job and
is working through the night, the ability to connect straight in with
a remote service technician can be really beneficial. And it doesn’t have to be just to fix something, they may have a technical or operational question, or a question about a particular substrate, where an instant answer would save them a lot of time.”
Currie Group is launching eRServices as HP launches its xRServices, its virtual reality headset. Robinson says, “A print business can implement xRServices as part of its eRServices or not, it’s up to them. You can have eRServices on its own, the 24/6 remote service support will be there. But with the xRServices augmented reality, the service technician will be able to
see straight into the machine, and can provide additional support,
for instance by popping up documentation into the visual of the press operator. It does take service support to a whole new level.”
“Print businesses from wherever they are in the country can speak directly
to a technical expert at any time of
the day or night, and that technician can see exactly what they are talking about.” – Marcus Robinson, director of operations, Currie Group.
Currie Group has never been a business to stand still and
rest on its laurels; part of the reason for its longevity has been its ability to adapt and embrace new opportunities using new technologies. That philosophy
is about to manifest itself in its biggest service development in recent years, with the company moving to a 24 hours a day, six days a week, service model, which will also have the option of embracing virtual reality remote visuals.
16 Print21 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022