Makers of The Metaverse: Erik Ashby Of Helpshift On The Future Of The VR, AR & Mixed Reality Industries
An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
Be connected; These experiences will grow as we connect to each other, and leverage each other. Some of the most powerful experiences will be based on open, decentralized technology. As someone who is making a career, this also implies a level of flexibility as you navigate to connect with others.
The Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality & Mixed Reality Industries are so exciting. What is coming around the corner? How will these improve our lives? What are the concerns we should keep an eye out for? Aside from entertainment, how can VR or AR help work or other parts of life? To address this, we had the pleasure of interviewing Erik Ashby.
Erik Ashby is the head of product at Helpshift, the world’s leading in-app mobile customer service platform that has been deployed on more than 2.5 billion mobile devices. Erik has spent his 25 year-career leading digital innovation in communication across the decades, working on such products as Microsoft Exchange, Office 365, and Microsoft Outlook. At Helpshift, Erik leads the company’s product and design teams as it creates the next generation of in-app customer service experiences for both mobile and the future metaverse.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit about your backstory and how you grew up?
I grew up in Southern California during the home computing revolution of the 80s, where I spent countless hours after school tinkering with an original Apple II computer, dialing into every mainframe I could find the number to, and playing every type of game that I could access, buy, still or copy. At my age, I was amazed at how enabling technology could be and even back then, how it was leveling the playing field.
Is there a particular book, film, or podcast that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
The classic technology science fiction writers such as Isaac Asimov (The foundation series), Orson Scott Card (Ender’s Game), and now Earnist Cline (Ready Player One) all land at the top, and all require frequent re-visits. All these writers had a wonderful way of taking the technology and exploring the human aspect that is so important. Advances in technology are driven by our real and ongoing need to improve the human state.
Is there a particular story that inspired you to pursue a career in the X Reality industry? We’d love to hear it.
For me X-Reality is not about technology but instead about advancing the human connection. This comes from the first day, on my first job, where I was introduced to, what at the time was groundbreaking technology…. ‘Email’. It was amazing to me that with only a few keystrokes on my computer, plus a local area network, plus a server in the basement, plus a modem, plus a LOT of software, I could communicate with anyone in the world, provided that they also had a computer, and local area network, and server in their basement and a modem. It was amazing, and I knew that this was going to change the world, not because of the technology but because it connected humans, and I wanted to be a part of it.
It has been amazing to watch and be a part of the technology shifts over the years that have resulted in a world that is now more connected than ever in more engaging experiences all designed to enable and connect humans.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began this fascinating career?
It is interesting sometimes how being at the right place at the right time can set you down a path that will last a lifetime. My first entry into my career started with a very short interview where I was asked 2 simple questions. The first question was, “do you know what email is”. I answered ‘Yes’, although email was not at all common at that time, I had seen it briefly a few weeks before and was interested in what it could do. The second question was, “can you start tomorrow…”.
From there, there have been several global technology revolutions I have been able to witness and participate in — and I have enjoyed seeing how each has impacted the world.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
(Not sure how funny it is, but it was a great lesson for me) Early in my career I was working with a US armed forces base as they were trying out some new software that I was developing. One morning I received a call that an entire US air-force base communication system was off-line that morning and it was suspected that my software was at fault. I did not believe it, but after investigating, I came to find out that there was indeed a bug in my software that was the problem.
I boarded a plane that afternoon with a fix on a floppy disk in my hand and by morning I was sitting with a 4 star general explaining how this mistake took down his base. I was sure that this was the end, the trial would be over, but before I left, I felt he at least deserved an explanation. However, to my surprise he asked me to stay, to work with his team as they rolled out my software (yes with the fix!) and brought back up the base.
He expressed that although he had worked with many technology companies, he had never had someone actually fly out and give this level of personal attention to a problem. I realized that, even though I can personally be credited for taking down a US base (at least for a few days), it is not the technology but the human connection that, in the end, is what is most important.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
This is simple. At Helpshift we are focused on creating amazing customer support experiences, which are designed specifically to help people. In my mind there is nothing more important in the world that technology can be focused on than to enable humans to be able to help out and lift up other humans anywhere, and at any time. With the advances in mobile, VR, and AR technologies we now have so many more ways to engage, connect and help each other, and as such it is super exciting to be developing these enabling experiences.
Ok super. Thank you for all that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. The VR, AR and MR industries seem so exciting right now. What are the 3 things in particular that most excite you about the industry? Can you explain or give an example?
As I look at these industries, and the advancement in technology, I get most excited about (A) the immersion factors, (B) the human factors, and © enabling factors.
- A — These technologies are moving so fast and are creating worlds, experiences, journeys that we have never seen before, and it is so exciting every day to be introduced to something new, innovative that surrounds me, invites me in and has the power to invoke emotion.
- B — To me what makes these interesting will be the human connections that are enabled through these new experiences. Beyond just the obvious chat rooms, and shared gaming experiences, brands will continue to push these new experiences to become more personal so that consumers are more connected. (Not less) (Think shopping, education/training, counciling, religion, etc).
- C — This gets more into the decentralized technology that surrounds these industries, but as with previous technology revolutions, these technologies will create new economic opportunities as they continue to lower the entry requirements enabling more people to find new ways to contribute regardless of many of the factors that inhibit people today.
What are the 3 things that concern you about the VR, AR and MR industries? Can you explain? What can be done to address those concerns?
There are the obvious concerns of any social, and immersive technology of abuse and overuse that will constantly need to be addressed, but also as an industry we need to be careful that we do not distance ourselves from humanity.
Although the promise is to enable and deliver new/innovative experiences with openness and freedom, this industry will also be a reflection of who we are (as a global community), and has the negative potential of expanding abuse and overuse that we see today often with technology today. We need to be careful to create experiences that are safe for everyone and that reflect the best of what we should be. And most importantly, we need to leverage this technology and industry to help us connect (and not disconnect) with each other.
I think the entertainment aspects of VR, AR and MR are apparent. Can you share with our readers how these industries can help us at work?
Just as with other technology transitions, entertainment is usually the first to the game and paves the way for other industries. Specifically, the largest experiences today are social games and experiences where people, technology and the entertainment experience are mixed together.
There will be obvious extensions to other industries where human/service is important such as training, consulting, health care, education, and retail where these mixed experiences will do well.
As part of this we expect the service industry will change completely as VR, AR and MR become standard — and as brands look for better and scalable ways to make engaging support experiences. Imagine being able to virtually connect with service to get a problem solved directly in the virtual world, or having service be able to leverage AR/MR to direct and guide you to solving a problem.
So much here !
Are there other ways that VR, AR and MR can improve our lives? Can you explain?
AV, VR and MR are going to give brands new and better ways to serve and help their customers. Brands that see these experiences as an extension of their product / offering will also see how they can use these new experiences to support their customers.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about working in your industry? Can you explain what you mean?
The biggest myth is that VR, AR and MR are not mainstream experiences and are only for gaming. Often these are seen as gaming tools, and gaming experiences, but not for the broad consumer scenarios. This is not true. The goal of VR, AR, and MR is to create engaging human experiences that are backed by powerful, mobile technology. This is a shared goal across all industries and given the advancements in mobile, I expect we will see more and more of these experiences showing up in all aspects of our lives, often in very subtle ways. Before long many consumers will be interacting with experiences from these industries and not realize that they are actually immersed in one of these.
What are your “5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career In The VR, AR or MR Industries?”
- Be a human advocate; This industry will be great as we create experiences that use technology to solve human problems.
- Be ready to help; This will be a new set of experiences for everyone; As you work with others in this field, as you work with consumers and as you create experiences, always include help, and support as part of the experience.
- Be open to feedback; Again this is a new set of experiences for everyone, which means that we need feedback to make these industries great. Be willing to question everything you do, make, and be open to feedback. If you are creating experiences, create a feedback loop as part of the experience.
- Be connected; These experiences will grow as we connect to each other, and leverage each other. Some of the most powerful experiences will be based on open, decentralized technology. As someone who is making a career, this also implies a level of flexibility as you navigate to connect with others.
- Be different; This is a transition, this is a revolution, so as such we will need people that will create different and new experiences that have not been seen before and that will attract people to engage.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Very simple, let’s use this new medium to connect with each other to help and uplift.
We are very blessed that very prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂
Malinda Gates, as she has dedicated much of her life to helping others; and I am excited as to what we can do.
Thank you so much for these excellent stories and insights. We wish you continued success on your great work!
Makers of The Metaverse: Erik Ashby Of Helpshift On The Future Of The VR, AR & Mixed Reality… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
