October 9, 2018

How Immersive Technologies Are Aiding Business Transformation?

Immersive Technologies Immersive technology carries with it the potential to bring a veritable plethora of benefits to the modern business enterprise. These typically include near universal ease of use, widespread scalability, as well as many new types of both content and application experiences for the discerning customer and employee alike.

As a matter of fact, just about every day in myriad DIY (do it yourself) stores and home furnishing outlets all over the world, many, if not most customers typically make highly calculated gambles as they try to figure out exactly how the item (that they are about to purchase) will look once they manage to get it home. The ultimate cost of a potentially bad decision? Sometimes a high return rate for the erstwhile retail outlet.  Which basically means an otherwise unhappy customer who has to face the bleak prospect of repainting his or her entire house.

How companies are using immersive technologies to create greater efficiency

This is why various leading home improvement retailers all over the United States and Europe as well as other developed parts of the world, are now turning to multiple immersive technologies to minimize the risk typically associated with the purchasing process, as a whole.  Take Lowe’s, for example; the retail based home improvement and appliance outlets that are present all over the our country:  They have pioneered the concept of their ‘Holoroom’, this is an otherwise instore virtual reality (VR) room, that is easily available to customers in most of their real world stores. Thanks to this example of immersive technology, now customers can also virtually test not just various shades and hues but also different lights materials, as well as other home products even before they make a purchase. In this way the ‘Holoroom’ help them in eliminating any pre-purchase dissonance so that the final decision becomes all that much easier.

And this is not the only company doing so. There are others who are now beginning to use mixed reality technologies and there are now very many other examples that can be found in not just the front desk but also the back of the store or the office.

There is the global courier service DHL, that is now applying augmented reality (AR) to its vast logistics network and it is doing great with its proprietary Vision Picking Program. The program uses highly advanced ‘smart’ eyewear in shipping warehouses at their facilities all over the world, so as to be able to reduce any packaging related errors and also increase the overall speed of their pick and pack tasks.

Their workers are well equipped with these highly advanced smart glasses that visually display the relevant day with respect to where each individual picked item also needs to be placed, on which shelf of which trolley.

These are just a few examples of various organization and companies that have become used to the utilization of ‘immersive technology’ as a means to changing the way they typically run their business. Not just when it comes to interacting with their customers,but also with regard to how they run their business.

The two of the most popular immersive technologies would be Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). When taken together, these mixed reality technologies have now effectively started to transform the overall user experience of today’s end user and turn the same into a more contextual and continuous event. And what is of some significance is the fact that in the near future they will also meaningfully change how various people interact not just with each other but also with a computing system as well.

Multiple applications of such cutting edge technologies

Predictions suggest that 20 percent of the larger enterprise businesses will thoroughly adapt and evaluate AR, VR and their advanced Mixed Reality (MR) solutions as early as next year. In addition, it is important to note that this prediction for such rapid uptake in the corporate sector is based on the ever-increasing range of applications that exist both within and without the enterprise.

Many companies and organizations that involve multiple design and engineering teams are now also using immersive technology solutions in a bid to speed up product visualization as well as its maintenance, and eventual prototyping.

Immersive tech and HR

HR departments in many organizations and institutions are now also utilizing immersive technology internally for their training, and externally for the purpose of recruitment. The British armed forces have effectively teamed up with a company known as Visualizeso as to create a complete 360 degree VR (virtual reality) recruitment video, so that any potential recruits would be able to handle and experience military training, first hand. this way many such prospects will get a chance to walk away from the job before they get involved in the training program. Which means a lower dropout rate and correspondingly higher recruitment figures overall. In this regard the VR experience substantially increased the overall awareness of the British Army’s recruitment efforts by around 20 percent or so.

By 2020, it is expected that not just consumers alone but also their business counterparts will have very easy and near universal access to different quality devices, tools systems, as well as services.  AR, VR and MR now offer many new ways for customers to be able to engage with different brands and for organizations to be able to achieve peak efficiencies via commonly available devices such as head-mounted displays (HMDs), smartphone VRs, smart glasses and even full on 3D experience rooms.

A point to be noted here is that both VR and AR basically require substantial input from their sensors,user movement, and also historical data.  This is why when they are combined with other technologies such as conversational platforms (for instance), immersive technology can easily be used to create extremely personalized services products, and experiences for the customers so that they keep coming back to the same business, again and again.  Exciting times!  🙂

by Bobby J Davidson

We love our company and we love what we do.  Check out the ‘Why Percento‘ page to learn more: Love of Technology and Business!  As the President of Percento Technologies International, I provide day-to-day leadership to the company’s senior management and I am personally involved in the strategy, business development and sales activities of the firm.

The company was founded in 1999 with the purpose of providing a one call source for organizations in need of Enterprise IT Consulting and Management.  We also provide a line of products in the boutique Cloud Server space with a touch of high-end website strategy consulting and design services.   We personalizes the IT Service experience with a team approach, working with clients from diverse sectors of industry, including energy services, financial, legal, entertainment, healthcare, hospitality, retail and general and/or corporate business.  percentotech.com/contact

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