Xerox Launches CareAR Subsidiary, Receives $10M Investment From ServiceNow

At the core of the new subsidiary is the CareAR technology, which is a visual augmented reality platform aimed at helping organizations digitally transform their users’ support experience.

Xerox Thursday unveiled CareAR, a new subsidiary that develops what the company calls a service experience management platform combining communications and augmented reality into an offering aimed at businesses providing training, repair and other services.

Norwalk, Conn.-based Xerox said CareAR, which it initially values at $700 million, received a $10 million strategic investment from digital workflow technology developer ServiceNow.

CareAR is a combination of four Xerox assets, said Sam Waicberg, president of the new organization, which is based in Dallas.

[Related: Partners Say Xerox Has Had Their Back Amid COVID-19-Related Sales Slump]

At the core is the CareAR technology, which is a visual augmented reality platform aimed at helping organizations digitally transform their users’ support experience. Xerox in January acquired CareAR, the developer of the technology.

The new offering also includes the Xerox DocuShare content management system, Xerox’s XMPie multichannel marketing technology for personalized content delivery,and artificial intelligence technology from Xerox PARC.

Waicberg, who was co-founder and CEO of CareAR at the time it was acquired, told CRN the platform allows organizations to offer help or assistance with using enterprise-class augmented reality.

With the introduction of CareAR, the organization is also introducing a new category called service experience management, Waicberg said.

“It is a set of experiences at the user level that combines proactive, reactive or self-service experience in making augmented reality accessible,” he said. “It includes visual tools and contextual data.”

CareAR was designed for technicians in the field, customers and employees, enabling them to receive assistance without needing to send someone to the field, Waicberg said.

“Assistance can be live audio and video with interactive tools to help or interactive content with instructions,” he said. “The help provided is contextual. It’s relevant to the specific topic.”

CareAR increases the efficiency of employees by allowing them to receive help remotely without sending another vehicle, Waicberg said.

“It also helps with greenhouse emissions and safety,” he said. “We are replacing costly truck dispatches by doing things remotely. And we help with contact avoidance, which is important during the COVID pandemic.”

There are several vendors including ServiceNow and Salesforce that offer service management technologies, Waicberg said.

“They do a fantastic job of getting the right techs to the right place at the right time,” he said. “That works, but that’s where it ends. One-third of the time, you need to bring in a second person to help.”

Waicberg estimated the service experience management total addressable market to be about $80 billion.

The $10 million equity investment by ServiceNow is an exciting addition to the CareAR story, Waicberg said.

“ServiceNow is the market leader in digital workflow,” he said. “Its investment endorses and validates what we are doing, and it aligns ServiceNow’s interests and market opportunities with ours.”

The investment from ServiceNow was not about the money, Waicberg said.

“CareAR with Xerox’s backing was viable anyway,” he said. “It’s a purely strategic investment. It gives them the opportunity to align with our technology. ... And their support helps us scale faster.”

The CareAR platform is sold directly by Xerox and via Accenture, Deloitte, HCL and Tata as well as some smaller channel partners, he said.