Challenge

As a provider of healthcare connected care products and services, Hillrom serves a high-profile customer base of large hospital and healthcare system executives.

Accommodating schedules for on-site visits in their showrooms, even for small groups of three to five people, proves challenging.

It can be difficult to satisfy complex schedules, geographical limitations and budget concerns. The sales process stretches, creating a disjointed, elongated experience for reps and prospects.

Solution

To address these barriers, Hillrom expanded its sales reach, customer experience and education processes by utilizing Ava Telepresence Robots at two premier product showrooms located in Irvine, CA and Batesville, IN.

With Ava, Hillrom sales teams can livestream product demonstrations globally. Telepresence robots allow remote customers and prospects to experience physical products and understand how they’re used, and view supporting content in various formats in an inclusive, immersive way.

“There is momentum and excitement around tech, like Ava. But if we aren’t comfortable figuring out how to best use and package our technology, we can’t expect our customers to be,” said Pete Zawodniak, Hillrom’s area vice president, sales. “With Ava, our team feels confident that we can deliver a better customer experience than our competitors, and that confidence spreads beyond the sales team, throughout the company.”

Initially focused on using Ava independently for demos and presentations, the team recognized an opportunity to further the experience by bringing in existing equipment and additional screens to expand perspectives. Ava Telepresence is fully integrated with Webex collaboration technology but also offers use of multiple video conferencing platforms, such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom.

Results

This combination of tools and technology allowed Hillrom to extend sales reach by including unlimited remote attendees or subject matter experts in the buying and decision-making process, and to increase accessibility for rural/satellite and government facilities with limited travel budget and capabilities.

Deploying Ava robots in their showrooms created cost-savings opportunities on travel/hosting expenses, as well as static technology implementations in only certain locations within Hillrom’s showrooms.

“Hillrom understands the evolving hybrid work environment and is ahead of the curve in anticipating the changing workplace and related needs, like an enhanced sales and education experience for customers” said Marcio Macedo, cofounder and VP, products at Ava Robotics. “Ava Telepresence Robots provide a compelling, reliable platform for virtual meetings and demonstrations without limits—showing what can be achieved and how workplace robots enable hybrid work.”

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About Ava Robotics

Ava Robotics is a robotics technology company that designs and builds intelligent robots for the workplace. Delivering on a vision of robots working with and for people, Ava’s technology emphasizes user experience, safety and autonomous mobility to empower people, while advancing business operations and access.