Standalone VR Headsets as the Key to Business Continuity in Times of Knowledge Loss and Workforce Shortages
The way organizations safeguard knowledge and ensure business continuity is under pressure. Experienced specialists are leaving the workforce, new talent is scarce, and processes are becoming increasingly complex. Errors or downtime not only cost time and money but directly impact the safety and continuity of operations.
At GOTOVIAR, we believe technology is only valuable when it solves a real problem. That’s why we don’t develop gadgets, but software that helps organizations work smarter, safer, and more efficiently, always based on thorough research and real-world practice.
With XeeXR, we have created a solution that transforms standalone VR headsets into a powerful tool. A tool that makes expertise available anytime, anywhere, and enables organizations to tackle knowledge loss, workforce shortages, and rising complexity.
The Challenge: Knowledge Loss, Workforce Shortages, and Growing Complexity
Organizations today face a combination of challenges that are becoming increasingly urgent. Experienced employees are leaving the workforce due to retirement and an aging population, while the influx of new specialists is falling behind. As a result, critical knowledge is disappearing faster than it can be transferred.
At the same time, the complexity of systems and processes continues to grow. Machines are more advanced, maintenance is more critical, and mistakes are more costly than ever. A single wrong action can lead to production downtime, safety risks, and reputational damage.
To make matters worse, ongoing labor shortages mean there are simply not enough people available to be physically present everywhere. The traditional approach, sending an expert on-site, has become too slow, too expensive, and increasingly unsustainable.
This combination of knowledge loss, complexity, and scarcity forces organizations to find new ways to make expertise available instantly, regardless of location or time.
intensifying the shortage of specialists.
Remote Assistance as an Answer to These Challenges
One way organizations are already addressing these challenges is through Remote Assistance. The principle is simple: an expert provides real-time support to an employee on-site, guiding them step by step. In this way, critical knowledge remains accessible, problems can be solved more quickly, and costly travel time is avoided.
In many cases, this support still takes place via phone or video calls. An employee holds up a smartphone or tablet and points the camera at the installation or workspace. The expert can watch, but is limited by the camera angle. Important details may fall outside the frame, and because one hand is always occupied holding the device, the employee cannot work fully hands-free. This makes tasks less practical and requires extra concentration.
To improve on this, some organizations are turning to smart glasses. These allow the expert to see directly from the employee’s perspective while keeping their hands free to perform tasks. For many applications, this is a valuable step forward. However, the possibilities for adding visual layers or digital annotations are still limited, which makes them less suitable for more complex work.
Remote Assistance is therefore a proven tool that helps organizations make knowledge and expertise more widely accessible. At the same time, it is becoming clear that current solutions do not always provide the full context and precision needed in practice. This creates the momentum for the next step in the evolution of Remote Assistance.
Why the Need for Remote Assistance is Growing
The fact that more organizations are turning to Remote Assistance is no coincidence. The rising interest is driven by structural developments that are putting increasing pressure on business operations.
Labor shortages and knowledge loss
With an aging workforce and the retirement of experienced employees, valuable practical knowledge is disappearing faster than it can be transferred. At the same time, the inflow of new technicians and specialists is lagging behind. Remote Assistance helps make scarce expertise directly available, anytime, anywhere.
Increasing complexity of processes
Systems and installations are becoming more advanced, demanding higher levels of expertise from those who work with them. Where local teams used to solve many issues on their own, specialist knowledge is now often required. With Remote Assistance, that knowledge can be applied immediately without the expert needing to be physically present.
Pressure on time and costs
Downtime is expensive. Every minute of delay can lead to production losses and high repair costs. Remote Assistance enables fast analysis and real-time support, eliminating travel time and helping to resolve problems more quickly.
Safety and risk management
In sectors where safety and regulatory compliance are critical, a single error can have major consequences. Remote Assistance allows experts to monitor and guide processes in real time, reducing risks and ensuring safer operations.
Because of these developments, Remote Assistance is shifting from a useful tool to a strategic instrument. It not only helps organizations work more efficiently but also safeguards knowledge and ensures business continuity in a time of growing pressure on people and resources.
XeeXR: Remote Assistance with the Standalone VR Headset as a Work Tool
At GOTOVIAR, we develop technology that moves organizations forward. With that vision in mind, we created XeeXR: a solution that transforms the standalone VR headset into a fully-fledged work tool for Remote Assistance.
A modern standalone VR headset is essentially a complete computer worn on the head. With built-in passthrough cameras, the user not only sees the physical environment but can also enrich it with digital layers. This creates a shared perspective: the remote expert sees exactly what the user sees and gains full context of the work situation.
The difference lies in the way guidance is delivered. With XeeXR, the employee doesn’t just receive verbal instructions but also visual cues that appear directly in their field of view. This can be a simple arrow or marker, but also a full 3D model overlaid on a machine or component to demonstrate step by step what needs to be done. In addition, the expert can share their desktop screen, making manuals, schematics, or other digital information instantly visible inside the VR headset.
The user remains fully hands-free to perform their tasks while being guided both visually and audibly by the expert. This makes complex work easier to manage, reduces the risk of mistakes, and accelerates problem resolution.
With XeeXR, the standalone VR headset becomes a strategic tool: a computer on the head that merges physical and digital worlds, helping organizations preserve knowledge, bridge workforce shortages, and ensure business continuity.
This Trend Is Also Confirmed by the Market
Deloitte emphasizes in its recent whitepaper that Extended Reality will play a key role in how organizations work, learn, and collaborate. Applications such as Remote Support are identified as delivering direct value: experts can observe and guide remotely, making processes more efficient, safer, and more scalable.
Read the Deloitte article and listen to the podcast:
The Power of Visual Guidance
The true added value of Remote Assistance in a standalone VR headset lies in the power of visual guidance. Where verbal instructions leave room for misunderstandings, visual cues make it possible to carry out tasks faster and with greater accuracy.
This is not an assumption but a fact, as demonstrated by a large-scale Harvard study. In a virtual assembly environment with 199 participants, visual guidance led to over 50% faster task completion and more than 50% fewer errors compared to working without visual support. Importantly, the cognitive load on participants did not increase. In other words: efficiency and accuracy improved significantly without adding pressure on the user.
For organizations, this means visual guidance is no longer just an extra feature, but a crucial factor in safeguarding knowledge, safety, and business continuity. In XeeXR, we translate these insights into practice: by displaying arrows, markers, 3D models, and shared screens directly in the user’s field of view, we make complex tasks more manageable.
Read more about the Harvard research:
The XeeXR Dashboard in Development:
Where Guidance Takes Center Stage
The XeeXR dashboard is still in active development, but the vision has been clear from the start: guidance is central. The employee who needs support should be able to focus entirely on the task at hand. All additional functions are managed as much as possible by the expert through the dashboard.
To achieve this, the dashboard is being built on four core principles:
Simplicity for the employee
The user in the standalone VR headset does not need to operate complex menus or settings. They only receive the instructions that are relevant in the moment: markers, 3D models, or a shared screen. Control rests with the expert, enabling the employee to work hands-free and stay focused.
Full control for the expert
The dashboard functions as a control center. From a single interface, the expert can provide guidance: place annotations, display 3D models, or share their desktop screen. This creates a shared context in which the employee can see exactly what is meant.
Prepared for AI integration
The platform is designed to support AI integrations, from automatic recognition and translations to intelligent assistance that accelerates processes and safeguards knowledge. In this way, XeeXR grows with technological advancements and further strengthens the role of the expert.
Flexible and widely applicable
For the expert, XeeXR is fully browser-based: no installation and directly accessible from any device. For the user in the field, an app is required to initiate the stream from the standalone VR headset.
XeeXR is not tied to any single manufacturer or model; new headsets and devices can easily be connected as long as the required camera functions are available.
With this dashboard, we are creating a solution that goes beyond features alone, it fundamentally strengthens the collaboration between expert and employee. The expert guides, the employee executes, supported by a platform that is simple, powerful, and future-ready.
Two Versions Available in Demo
XeeXR is still under active development. Features such as advanced visual support with annotations, 3D models, and AI integrations are part of our roadmap. What you can already experience today, however, is the strength of our streaming technology.
Through a dedicated demo portal, companies and organizations can test the quality of video and audio streaming themselves and experience how the connection performs in practice. A suitable standalone VR headset is required. If your organization does not have one available, we can provide the demo in another way to ensure you still get a clear impression of the possibilities.
The demo is exclusively available to businesses and organizations and comes in two versions:
Remote Assistance
The expert watches live through the passthrough camera of the employee’s standalone VR headset. The physical environment is shared directly, allowing organizations to experience for themselves how stable and clear the streaming is.
Remote Guidance
The expert watches within the user’s virtual environment. This makes it possible to test the streaming quality of VR training sessions and assess how smoothly the connection runs.
The Next Step Starts Here
Do you have questions, want to learn more, or experience the demo yourself? We welcome dialogue and are happy to start the conversation. Whether it’s exchanging ideas, exploring opportunities, or initiating a partnership, the best solutions arise when knowledge and experience are brought together.
With XeeXR we are taking the first step, but the future is something we build together. Let’s explore how Remote Assistance and Remote Guidance can make a difference in your organization.
