How can Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality Help Grow Your Business?

As the world surrounding us becomes more connected, Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) are fast becoming an ingrained part of our everyday lives without many of us truly realising it; rescue charity, the RNLI allow you to view the engine room of an RNLI lifeboat with even stepping onboard the vessel using VR. Retail giant IKEA enable you through the use of a simple application, to visualise their furniture in your own home setting through the power of VR. Then you have the likes of the gaming industry, who demonstrate perhaps the most prevalent offering in AR, having you search for Pokemon in your home, your street or even your local café, as you go about your business. The Forestry Commission even got in on the action with their infamous ‘Gruffalo Spotting’ app; use the app to scan each marker as you trek through the forest and the Gruffalo and his friends appeared before your eyes. These are just a few examples of how virtual and augmented reality is creeping into our daily lives and becoming an unquestionable reality for the next generation – it’s happening.

So how many competitors in your industry do you know who are currently looking at bringing in advanced technological solutions to their business, with a goal of making their lives, and those of their customers more seamless and effective? If the answer is none, then this is your chance to be leader in your industry and show how you can be working smarter with tech. If the answer is one, a handful, or loads, then you need to get a piece of the pie and get your business utlisiing immersive technology, in order to retain a competitive edge in an ever-evolving world.

So how might this be relevant to your business? What exactly are we talking about? Here are a couple of hypothetical explanations to get you thinking;

Example one; a construction company is commissioned to design a new custom garage; using GPS reference points plotted on the site upon which they wish to build, the construction company are able to create a visual representation of what that garage will look like in a virtual reality environment. This gives the customer an opportunity to contribute very early on in the design process and perhaps provide a level of sign-off on the project with a clear view as to how it will be progressing, before the build even begins and without even visiting the site. This VR solution would likely save costs on re-design further down the line by giving the client a realistic view of the end product. But how will the customer know what the space feels like? By using an augmented reality experience, the customer would be also able to attend a site visit, prior to build, (so we’re still looking at plans), and that customer could ‘walk right into that garage’. The plans will map out around them right there on-site, giving them a ‘real-life’ experience of how the end result will look and feel space-wise. It would give them an idea of how the space might function for them and may even highlight which parts of the design need improving. This type of technology would be outstanding for uncovering any problems at design phase, before they become a costly reality at build stage. What a dream for an architect, for developers, those in construction, or even for those in property development!

Example two; imagine you are working in a manufacturing company using a piece of machinery. You are trained to operate the machinery but have to rely on the screens that sit alongside the machine, for all your information and instructions. Imagine a sensor on the machine reports a fault. If the operator were wearing a pair of augmented reality glasses with relevant bespoke functionality and programming, upon sounding the alarm, the AR glasses could indicate to the machine operator, specifically where the sensor in question is located, and step by step could guide the operator to locate it. Once located, advice on how to deal with the fault could appear, even utilising something like an instructional video to show the operator exactly what to do next. If the fault could not be identified a remote expert could be called onto the session to help resolve the issue and give a more manual support and input. There’s plenty of scope with this sort of solution to also put in preventative measures in order to check and locate faults before they become a problem; heat map technology for example, might be a way to scan the machine and understand where the fault is and how it could be prevented or fixed, before it becomes a real issue. This alone could improve cost efficiencies for assembly lines, for example. Not only would they be identifying the problem in its infancy, in order to get the issue resolved at the earliest stage possible, but beyond; the plant would be able to continue to operate, reducing or eliminating any down time, and allaying the potential costs to the business associated with the foreseen fault.

OK, so you have a couple of ideas, and they may not be relevant to your specific industry, but these examples will hopefully give you some food for thought. Perhaps you can now start to imagine how this type of technology could help grow your business and help add value for your clients.

If you would like to explore VR and AR solutions further, or simply want to get hands on with the tech experience, give us a shout! We want to share our expertise and know-how.  We’ll talk you through how bringing AR and VR solutions into your business can help solve your business problems, future-proof your business model and get you well ahead of the competition.

Don’t just imagine the possibilities! Drop us an email to register your attendance at our AR & VR Knowledge Drop event, or give us a call on+44 (0) 1962 454 474 to find out more.