A vision for the future: How AR/VR is changing the way businesses work

Please note: This post was written by Highlander prior to their rebrand to FluidOne Business IT - Sheffield.

Only a few years ago the concept of virtual reality may have sounded more like something out of a science fiction film than a valuable workplace tool, but recent innovations in augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) technology are creating new possibilities for businesses that are starting to make a significant impact.

Although somewhat in its infancy, AR/VR technology is admittedly a significant step or two away from becoming common place, but nevertheless there are still exciting opportunities to be pursued for lots of businesses keen on tapping into the very practical benefits of the innovation.

One clear avenue for AR/VR technology is for use a sales tool. Imagine, for example, being able to walk someone around their new dream home without ever leaving the sales office, or showing someone the useful new features of your updated product line without a physical example.

With AR/VR you have the potential to massively reduce the time and travel burden on your sales people whilst providing an even deeper level of insight for potential customers, allowing them to not just see what you are offering with their own eyes, but also take the opportunity to test it out themselves in a virtual environment. You can take your products to them in a way that has never been possible before, speeding up the process and providing a genuine ‘wow’ factor.

As great as this might sound, sales people may be wincing at the prospect of carrying around masses of additional tech, but new innovations have solved that problem too, such as HP’s Z VR Workstation Backpack, a fully mobile virtual reality set up that doubles up as a backpack for ease of use and simple transportation, allowing you to take your demonstrations with you wherever you go.

Not just an avenue to demonstrate what you do to potential customers, AR/VR technology can also be hugely beneficial as a training resource. Instead of bringing people to your training centre, you can take the training centre to them, reducing costs, travel time and potentially increasing the regularity of sessions.

You can also reduce the risks associated with dangerous or highly technical training. In manufacturing for example, young and inexperienced trainees can hone their skills in a virtual world without the need for real products or physical tools, avoiding the dangers of operating complex machinery and eliminating the risk of that piece of expensive equipment becoming damaged. There’s also no need for trainees to wait their turn, as everyone can be working in the same area at the same time, with the freedom to go at their own pace.

All this means that you’ll be able to train more people faster, and potentially at a reduced cost per head, avoiding any delays and allowing people to start making a difference more quickly.

We’re incredibly excited by these innovations and we’re looking forward to seeing the impact they can make for our customers. However, we also appreciate that this not an insignificant investment, and in its current form AR/VR is not a viable solution for everyone.

Qualification and assessment are key to matching a genuine need with the capabilities of the technology. Our job is to take you through a thorough discovery process to identify exactly what your challenge is and offer insight into how the technology could help.

Following a successful assessment, we’ll provide all the follow-on expertise needed to manage the entire process from beginning to end, with a further in-depth assessment followed by hardware selection, installation and even application design to deliver exactly what you’re looking for.

To learn more about AR/VR and to explore the viability of these solutions for your business, get in touch with a member of the team.