How AR and VR are transforming the realities in the ways we work
Two prominent and related technologies poised to transform practically every industry are virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). To clarify the difference, virtual reality creates whole artificial, digital environments that users can interact with through immersive audio-visual headsets, handheld controllers, or other motion sensors. In contrast, augmented reality uses projectors, mobile devices, or holographic displays to overlay digital displays and content that remains grounded in a real-world environment.
Thanks to artificial intelligence and machine learning, both technologies have been experiencing leaps and bounds in sophistication and processing capabilities to the point where they’re becoming more commonplace in consumer and enterprise circles. AR and VR are now being tested and implemented for everything from education to workplace training, medical procedures to entertainment, and everything in between and beyond.
How will these technologies impact organizations? Here are several significant ways you can expect to see them engaged on multiple fronts:
- Workforce recruitment and onboarding – In HR, recruiting and retaining the best talent is an ongoing challenge. One of the biggest problems, especially in today’s increasingly remote workforce, is employees coming onboard and finding they’re not the best fit within an organizational culture. VR interactions can actually help increase employee retention rates by giving potential employees a clearer perspective on their intended job roles and team relations. Remote workers can virtually attend business conferences, visit company locations around the world, and experience loyalty-building events throughout the onboarding and training process. AR/VR-based training software can also streamline the recruiting process, with HR bots assisting with candidate screening, scheduling, and interviews.
- Analytics visualization – Businesses can live or die based on their ability to procure and base decisions on data analytics. The potential to visualize analytics can give employees a deeper understanding of the reporting and enhance insights into factors such as ongoing campaign performance, customer relationship scores, budget activity, and much more. AR and VR can be powerful ways to deliver the data in more engaging and informative formats, helping to improve data absorption, daily operations, and outcomes.
- Enhanced customer support – By merging AR and VR interactive UIs, including AI-based chatbots, organizations can deliver more personalized customer service. As AI helps bots achieve more human-like behavior in textual interactions, the visual engagement remains a crucial element to fully humanize the experience. Organizations can also use VR and AR tools that involve facial and speech pattern recognition to anticipate customer needs and adjust the responses accordingly, all without eating up too many physical hours from a real person.
- Training employees – Employee training is essential to increasing workforce value and keeping your teams relevant to evolving technologies and industrial standards. But it is also costly, both in time and money involved—and if it’s not comprehensive or practical enough, it can be a further waste of resources. VR and AR solutions can provide more interactive and efficient training, increasing employee confidence and shorter course times. Attendees can avoid physical injury while learning to operate equipment or can learn to navigate upcoming worksites without additional travel requirements.
- Operational oversight – VR and AR can help organizations test new products, new software, and even new factory tools and equipment without requiring actual physical space to perform the tests within. This can sidestep major safety regulation requirements, costly energy expenditure and also allow for many more employees to simultaneously undergo identical training courses that would’ve otherwise been limited by resource availability or scheduling conflicts. Managers can maintain virtual views of supply chains and manufacturing floors via VR/AR dashboards and monitor company vitals such as fleet traffic, product stock transfers, and secure employee access to sensitive locations.
Where does your organization see the potential for VR/AR implementation? Where could that virtual interaction actually save your business in operational costs, add value to the employee experience, improve safety, or help your remote workforce feel more connected?
- PWC, “How virtual reality is redefining soft skills training,” 2021,
https://www.pwc.com/us/en/tech-effect/emerging-tech/virtual-reality-study.html - Fingent, “Step into the Future of Workplace with AR and VR,” 2022,
https://www.fingent.com/blog/creating-a-future-workplace-with-ar-vr/
