How a 3D online configurator makes HMI decisions easier
- Automation
- HMI
- Digitalization
- Service
- 10.7.2024
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Contents
The selection and customizing process for HMI solutions is often complex and is influenced by many factors. The large selection of companies offering mobile and stationary HMIs and their wide range of products complicate the decision-making process. The path to the ideal HMI is therefore sometimes long and often rocky. For HMI customers, the difficulty usually lies in identifying their pain points and finding the right product from the very beginning of the process. For the sales side, it takes a lot of time to acquire the necessary extensive product knowledge and ultimately to train the interested parties on all product types and their features.
The new 3D online product configurator for KEBA's HMI solutions is designed to reduce this complexity in the customer journey. The customer journey refers to the path or phases that a potential customer goes through before deciding to purchase a product.
What are the advantages of the product configurator?
KEBA had long wanted to simplify the sales and customizing process for the "KeTop" operating devices. After all, simplified processes not only benefit customers, but also the company itself.
Thanks to advancing digitalization, purchasing behaviour has also changed in the B2B sector and is shifting more and more towards online. Users are increasingly gathering information about companies and their products online and only contacting the sales department later.
A product configurator integrated into the website makes it possible to find out about individual HMI products independently, regardless of time and place. This interactive user experience leads to a longer time spent on the website and thus to a more intensive engagement with the products.
Various combinations of control elements are possible, and changes are visible in real time as 3D renderings. This allows the HMI to be experienced visually on the screen and gives you a concrete idea of the design. Possible combinations are configured with just a few clicks and the relevant features are preselected using a decision tree. The option of being able to view HMI devices directly in comparison is a significant added value for prospective customers. Errors and misunderstandings in product selection are reduced, thereby speeding up the sales process. In the configurator, an offer can be requested directly after the configuration, or it can simply be saved for later.
The option of being able to view HMI devices directly in comparison is a significant added value for prospective customers. Errors and misunderstandings in product selection are reduced, thereby speeding up the sales process. In the configurator, an offer can be requested directly after the configuration, or it can simply be saved for later.
HMI devices are usually purchased with the necessary accessories such as connection boxes, cables or base stations. These can therefore also be configured and ordered in the configurator. The dependencies of the operating devices on the accessories are already considered and only suitable components are displayed. This means that another potential source of error is eliminated in advance by the configurator and the need for coordination between the enquirer and KEBA is reduced.
HMI devices play a key role here too. For this reason, a special feature, the "best match" function, was developed. This feature makes it possible to display similar products to the configured KeTop device that are available more quickly and to view them in direct comparison. The properties of the devices are listed and compared at a glance in tabular form.
This increases efficiency and enables faster decision-making for users.
How will the product configurator be further developed in the future?
The HMI product configurator is constantly being improved, adapted and made more user-friendly. In the future, it will not only be available in German and English, but also in other languages (e.g. Italian and Japanese). The software aspect will also gain in importance and be more strongly represented in the configurator.
What is not yet possible today will certainly be an important topic in the future: The big step from online configurator to online store. It can also be assumed that VR and AI technologies will play an even more important role in the user experience soon.
