How Automata uses augmented reality in their sales proposals to win multi-million dollar deals for their innovative lab automation solutions.
Automata: a cutting-edge lab solution with a long sales cycle
Automata delivers cutting-edge lab automation solutions that completely revolutionize how laboratories operate.
But closing multi-million dollar deals can be difficult with a customer-base that’s largely unfamiliar with automation technology. Automata needed a way to help customers quickly understand the benefits of the technology while also making it easy to visualize how it would fit into their daily workflow.
Inviting customers into a personalized world of lab automation
✔️ Explain technical detail quickly
✔️ Speed up quoting times
✔️ Win multi-million dollar contracts
“With JigSpace we’ve been able to shorten our sales cycle from 6 months to 6 weeks.”
Mathew Keegan - Director of Applications Engineering
In the past, Automata’s sales team largely relied on taking screenshots of their designs in SolidWorks as a means of visualizing and communicating each unique setup. Not only did this static format leave a lot to the imagination, the process of producing the assets took several days and required the support of another team.
This slow, multi-team process was a huge drain on Automata’s valuable time and resources. The visuals also became irrelevant whenever changes needed to be made, forcing the teams to start from scratch with every new iteration of the design.
Now, Automata demonstrate their specific configurations to customers with Jigs, which can also be viewed in a real-world context using augmented reality. This helps customers visualize Automata’s products in their own environment.
Presenting designs in such a clear and engaging format offered the additional benefit of helping Automata’s own teams gain a clearer understanding of each layout, vastly improving their ability to communicate with customers.
JigSpace’s straightforward and easy-to-use platform means that a single person can now complete a quote for a prospect in as little as 30 minutes, compared to the 3-5 day turnaround of the past.
“It’s amazing to be able to bring our customers into the world of lab automation - especially when these machines are extremely big, heavy and not particularly straightforward to set up or view.”
Mathew Keegan - Director of Applications Engineering
Minimizing costs and maximizing impact at trade shows
✔️ Cut transportation costs
✔️ Attract interest at events
✔️ Engage customers
Trade shows are a key part of Automata’s sales strategy. But transporting and setting up their large, heavy and fragile equipment has proved risky, time-consuming, and expensive.
With JigSpace, Automata discovered that they could exhibit their technology without having to transport physical products to events or rent out huge booth space worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
JigSpace allows Automata to save all their designs as detailed 3D product demonstrations that are always ready for viewing in augmented reality. This means customers can enjoy an in-depth exploration of the technology, giving them a real sense of scale even though the products aren’t physically in front of them.
Automata invite trade show attendees to explore their Jigs on a tablet, and the sales team can now engage attendees in interactive conversations where prospects can physically see the product in action. This has helped increase the quality of conversations the team is having with prospects, and has created more qualified leads from every single trade show.
“We’re seeing a 10x reduction in cost. It’s been a good ROI. We’re saving tens of thousands of pounds per trade show!”
Mathew Keegan - Director of Applications Engineering
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Scaling efficiently during rapid growth
JigSpace has allowed Automata to enjoy incredible time and cost reductions, while helping them close multi-million dollar deals more effectively. But this is just the beginning of our partnership.
Automata is currently in the process of developing a customer experience center in which visitors will interact with Jigs in order to see any number of possible configurations in augmented reality.
“It’s a fantastic tool. The fact that we’re already buying another ten licenses speaks to the wildfire effect it’s had internally.”
Mathew Keegan - Director of Applications Engineering
Looking for more ways to sell with JigSpace? Download the app or book a guided tour of the platform today to explore the possibilities for yourself.
