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AI-Guided Troubleshooting: Turning service into a strategic advantage

When service technicians are on the road, many tasks are still handled the old-fashioned way: calling colleagues for advice, flipping through thick manuals, or searching through digital documentation scattered across multiple systems. Each step costs valuable time, and every additional error keeps machines down even longer. Not to mention delays caused by spare-part sourcing, travel, and scheduling. This is where AI-Guided Troubleshooting can make a real difference.


Guest author
11 December, 2025
Technology
Reading Time: 2 min.
By Julia Roll

Key challenges in technical service

The consequences of manual, fragmented and isolated service processes are significant: contractual penalties loom, customers grow increasingly dissatisfied with service performance, and field technicians operate under constant pressure as every minute of downtime directly translates into eroding margins. For manufacturers who also assume operational responsibility, the stakes are even higher. They often bear full or partial risk for equipment uptime, making maintenance costs a decisive factor for healthy margins and overall profitability in the aftermarket business.

Field service management faces numerous challenges today, but many of them can now be adressed. Most organizations already have the relevant data; what’s missing is a way to integrate it in a usable form. Information is scattered across IoT systems, tickets, service documentation, ERP platforms, spreadsheets and, of course, in the minds of experienced technicians. This is where AI comes into play. With the support of agentic systems, it can unlock significant relief and value. A prime example is AI-Guided Troubleshooting, which unifies previously siloed data and delivers actionable insights directly to technicians in the field.

Understanding AI-Guided Troubleshooting

AI-Guided Troubleshooting describes the focused application of AI-driven tools designed to help service technicians resolve issues more efficiently. To do so, AI agents consolidate key data sources, including equipment manuals, historical service records and parts usage, and combine them with current operating data from IoT systems. With this integrated view, AI agents can proactively assess potential root causes and produce clear, context-aware guidance for the technical field teams.

How technicians and service centers benefit from AI-Guided Troubleshooting

The benefits are clear: by tapping into diverse data sources, AI agents provide technicians with targeted, case-specific guidance and actionable next steps. This not only eases the workload for the service center, but also ensures that technicians arrive equipped with the right context to act decisively and shorten resolution times. 

AI-Guided Troubleshooting doesn’t substitute human expertise, it accelerates and strengthens it. Technicians can be empowered to make faster, better-informed decisions. But AI-enhanced service is more than a convenient add-on for operators managing numerous service contracts and facing penalties for extended downtime. It is rapidly becoming a prerequisite for staying competitive.

Discover more advantages of AI-Guided Troubleshooting in field service and learn how AI transforms repair processes into a strategic service model in the full blog post by our IoT specialist, Device Insight:

AI-Guided Troubleshooting: Turning service into a strategic advantage

Learn more in the latest post on the Device Insight Blog.

About the author

Julia Roll writes regularly about digital and data-driven innovation – covering topics around Data, Analytics & AI, Smart Products, and Smart Factory solutions. Her articles highlight the latest projects and insights across industries from Device Insight, the digitalization specialist within the KUKA Group.

About the author
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