The Aquant Platform for Service Professionals
Aquant Inc. is revolutionizing service operations across various sectors, including manufacturing, medical devices, and industrial machinery, by harnessing the power of artificial intelligence. Assaf Melochna, co-founder and president of Aquant, emphasizes that their AI-driven methodology empowers service teams to achieve significantly greater efficiency and accelerate problem resolution. The core concept is AI augmentation, a strategy that contrasts sharply with AI replacement. AI augmentation focuses on amplifying human capabilities, fostering enhanced efficiency and creativity within the workforce.
“It’s the Aquant Platform for Service Professionals, and it’s an AI platform,” Melochna stated. “We’ve been pioneers in AI, long before it became a buzzword. For field personnel, it’s like having a coach or a buddy right beside them. But instead of a physical presence, it’s the AI guiding them to perform better. In our industry, it’s common for people to ‘phone a friend.’ Now, AI provides that guided support to elevate their work.”
Melochna, during a conversation with theCUBE’s Christophe Bertrand for the Tech Innovation CUBEd Awards 2025 interview series on SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, theCUBE, explored the transformative potential inherent in AI augmentation.
Why AI Augmentation Should Be a Priority
Unlike full automation, which aims to eliminate human involvement entirely, AI augmentation is fundamentally collaborative. It works with people to enhance their productivity, creativity, and decision-making capabilities. This collaborative approach is central to Aquant’s pioneering efforts in the service sector, as Melochna explained.
“You touched on a crucial point about augmenting human capabilities with AI,” he noted. “While many fear AI will displace jobs, we believe it will actually enhance them. AI is only as good as the data it’s fed. In our industry, there’s a wealth of tribal knowledge, a lot of insights residing in the minds of the most seasoned professionals in each organization. The challenge is, how do we capture that data, knowledge, and experience and integrate it into the AI?”
Aquant addresses the escalating complexity of modern machinery, rising customer expectations, and the ongoing workforce shortages by deploying a suite of AI-powered tools. Melochna highlighted that these tools facilitate continuous learning, provide proactive guidance, and integrate seamlessly into existing workflows. This leads to substantial efficiency gains across the board. Aquant’s significant contribution to manufacturing efficiency was recognized with a CUBEd Award for “Top AI-Enabled Product – Manufacturing.”
“As a company, we empower manufacturers’ service professionals to excel,” Melochna elaborated. “Our impact spans the entire service lifecycle. We enable quicker problem resolution, sometimes even before the customer is aware of an issue or needs to contact the call center. John Deere, for instance, utilizes our product to ensure swift issue resolution, maximizing crop yield.”
Delving Deeper into AI Augmentation
The core principle of AI augmentation lies in its ability to enhance, rather than replace, human expertise. It’s about establishing a symbiotic relationship where AI handles routine tasks and provides data-driven insights, allowing humans to concentrate on complex problem-solving, critical thinking, and creative endeavors.
Key Benefits of AI Augmentation:
- Increased Productivity: AI automates repetitive and time-consuming tasks, freeing up service professionals to focus on more strategic and demanding activities that require human judgment and expertise.
- Improved Decision-Making: AI algorithms can analyze vast quantities of data to identify patterns, trends, and insights that humans might overlook. This leads to more informed and effective decision-making.
- Enhanced Efficiency: By streamlining workflows, providing real-time guidance, and automating tasks, AI helps service teams resolve issues faster and more effectively, reducing downtime and improving overall operational efficiency.
- Reduced Errors: AI can minimize human error by automating tasks, providing checklists, and offering real-time reminders, leading to improved accuracy and consistency in service delivery.
- Improved Customer Experience: Faster and more efficient service, coupled with more accurate diagnoses and resolutions, translates directly to happier and more satisfied customers.
- Upskilling and Reskilling of the Workforce: By taking over routine and mundane tasks, AI augmentation allows service professionals to focus on learning new skills, adapting to changing technologies, and developing their expertise in areas that require human ingenuity.
Aquant’s Approach to AI Augmentation
Aquant’s platform is meticulously designed to integrate seamlessly into existing service workflows without causing disruption. It leverages a combination of advanced AI technologies, including machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), and other sophisticated algorithms, to provide a comprehensive range of features. These features are tailored to address the specific challenges faced by service professionals in various industries.
- Intelligent Triage: AI analyzes incoming service requests, considering factors such as the nature of the problem, equipment type, and customer history. It then automatically routes the request to the most appropriate technician based on their skills, availability, and proximity, ensuring that the right person is assigned to the job every time.
- Knowledge Management: Aquant’s platform captures and organizes the vast amount of tribal knowledge that exists within an organization, often residing in the minds of experienced technicians. This knowledge is then made easily accessible to all service professionals through a centralized, searchable knowledge base, preventing valuable expertise from being lost or siloed.
- Guided Troubleshooting: AI provides step-by-step instructions, recommendations, and troubleshooting guidance to help technicians diagnose and resolve issues quickly and accurately. This feature acts as a virtual assistant, providing real-time support and reducing the need for technicians to rely solely on their own memory or experience.
- Predictive Maintenance: AI analyzes equipment data, including sensor readings, performance metrics, and historical maintenance records, to predict potential failures before they occur. This allows service teams to proactively schedule maintenance, minimizing downtime and preventing costly repairs.
- Remote Assistance: AI enables technicians to remotely diagnose and resolve issues, often without the need for an on-site visit. This feature leverages technologies such as augmented reality (AR) and video conferencing to provide remote guidance and support, reducing travel time and expenses.
Real-World Impact: The John Deere Example
Melochna specifically highlighted John Deere as a prime example of Aquant’s AI augmentation in action, demonstrating the tangible benefits of the platform in a real-world setting. In the agricultural industry, timely equipment maintenance is absolutely crucial for maximizing crop yields and ensuring profitability for farmers. Aquant’s platform helps John Deere ensure that any issues with their machinery are addressed swiftly and effectively, minimizing downtime and ensuring optimal productivity throughout the farming cycle.
This real-world application underscores the practical value of AI augmentation. By empowering service professionals with AI-driven tools, Aquant helps companies like John Deere achieve significant improvements in operational efficiency, customer satisfaction, and overall business performance. The ability to quickly resolve equipment issues translates directly into increased productivity and profitability for farmers.
Addressing Concerns About AI
The fear that AI will replace human jobs is a common and understandable concern. However, Aquant’s philosophy centers on the concept of AI as a tool for augmentation, not replacement. By automating routine tasks and providing data-driven insights, AI actually frees up service professionals to focus on higher-value activities that require human ingenuity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills.
The focus is on creating a collaborative environment where humans and AI work together, leveraging each other’s strengths to achieve optimal outcomes. AI handles the repetitive and data-intensive tasks, while humans focus on the more complex and nuanced aspects of service delivery.
The Future of Service with AI Augmentation
The trend is undeniable: AI is not going away. The adoption of AI in service industries is poised to accelerate significantly in the coming years. As AI technologies continue to evolve and mature, we can expect to see even more sophisticated and impactful applications of AI augmentation. This will lead to a fundamental transformation of the service landscape, characterized by:
More Proactive and Preventative Service: AI will increasingly be used to predict and prevent equipment failures before they occur, minimizing downtime, reducing repair costs, and maximizing productivity. This shift from reactive to proactive service will be a major game-changer for many industries.
Hyper-Personalized Service: AI will enable service providers to tailor their offerings to the specific needs and preferences of each individual customer, creating a more personalized and satisfying service experience. This level of personalization will be driven by AI’s ability to analyze vast amounts of customer data and identify patterns and insights.
Greater Collaboration Between Humans and AI: The future of service will see humans and AI working together seamlessly, leveraging each other’s strengths to achieve optimal outcomes. This collaborative approach will require a shift in mindset and a focus on developing new skills and competencies for service professionals.
Continuous Improvement: AI-powered analytics will provide valuable insights into service performance, enabling organizations to identify areas for improvement and continuously optimize their operations. This data-driven approach to service management will lead to greater efficiency, effectiveness, and customer satisfaction.
The transition to an AI-augmented service landscape will undoubtedly require a significant shift in mindset and a concerted effort to upskill and reskill the workforce. Service professionals will need to develop new skills and competencies to effectively collaborate with AI and leverage its capabilities to their full potential. Companies that embrace this change and invest in the necessary training and development programs will be well-positioned to thrive in the future of service.
Aquant’s platform offers a compelling glimpse into this future, showcasing the transformative power of AI to enhance service teams and drive significant improvements across a wide range of industries. By focusing on augmentation rather than replacement, Aquant is paving the way for a more efficient, effective, and ultimately, more human-centric approach to service. The integration of AI is not just about implementing new technology; it’s about empowering people to do their best work, leveraging the power of AI to enhance their skills and capabilities.