What concerns prevent you to grow your business using extended reality?
by Vladimir Fedorenko - Head of delivery at BidOn Games Studio
In the past 5 years, we saw a lot of entrepreneurs and startups who pursue the same goals with extended reality technologies. It would be ridiculous if they didn't have the same concerns about extended reality. Especially, if they didn't have such projects before.
We would like to share our experience and opinion about that.
We would like to share our experience and opinion about that.
What is Extended Reality?
Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR / AR) are perhaps the most important technological developments after the creation of the Internet and mobile phones.
Someone met virtual reality headsets in shopping and entertainment centers were children played video games. Another one saw videos and films about augmented reality glasses on the Internet. Moreover, you heard about Google Glass, which were released for developers in 2013.
Someone met virtual reality headsets in shopping and entertainment centers were children played video games. Another one saw videos and films about augmented reality glasses on the Internet. Moreover, you heard about Google Glass, which were released for developers in 2013.
Nowadays, AR is the most often used solution for business.
In Virtual Reality, all images are 100% graphics or 360 video, which are used perfectly in video games, and various simulators (for example, parachute jump).
However, in AR, you can see a real environment or object which you can interact or study with thanks to glasses or using the camera and screens of your mobiles or tablets.
These technologies provide a completely new, immersive way of interaction between human and computer, human and surrounding. Now their capabilities are beyond the scope of the entertainment industry. There are a lot of applications in education, industry, science, sports, fashion, medicine etc. There is no branch left where it would be impossible to apply them effectively.
Slow adoption
This is certainly one of the main reasons why immersion technologies haven't filled this world yet. Consumers are still afraid of accepting AR / VR, because of small user experience and technical issues. Most of them don't understand how to integrate and implement it into their business. Therefore, they usually prefer videos and PDF presentations.
However, advanced managers quickly realized that all specifications and tools are better kept in memory after physical contact and interaction. Videos, instructors, breakdowns have cost you all the time and still doesn't give you any guarantees of knowledge and professionalism by your employees. Military and medical industries were among the first who started using VR / AR trainings with direct practice but without any risks to people. The price of their mistakes on a new equipment will cost you a fortune or someone's life in the worst scenario. They have no chance and time for that.
You've got an opportunity to get ahead of the trend. Big tech companies like IBM, Dell, Oculus, Apple, Google, and Microsoft are non-stop upgrading their XR products. We are sure that by 2025, immersive technology will be as ever presented and handy as mobile devices.
However, advanced managers quickly realized that all specifications and tools are better kept in memory after physical contact and interaction. Videos, instructors, breakdowns have cost you all the time and still doesn't give you any guarantees of knowledge and professionalism by your employees. Military and medical industries were among the first who started using VR / AR trainings with direct practice but without any risks to people. The price of their mistakes on a new equipment will cost you a fortune or someone's life in the worst scenario. They have no chance and time for that.
You've got an opportunity to get ahead of the trend. Big tech companies like IBM, Dell, Oculus, Apple, Google, and Microsoft are non-stop upgrading their XR products. We are sure that by 2025, immersive technology will be as ever presented and handy as mobile devices.
Return of investments
A unique promotion of your product with optimizing costs. Imagine that you are able to transport your any-sized product to anywhere in the world without any extra transportation costs and documentary/legal permissions.
Consider the example from open source:
The American company AM General spent 2.5 to 5k dollars for the transportation of one of its armored Hummer (4.5 tons). The amount does not include the cost of certificates and other permits. By the way, the wholesale price of one such Hummer was 220,000 dollars. Therefore, the presentation of one piece of equipment cost the company from 2 to 5% of the value of the Hummer itself. Of course, for a major player, this is not a loss under major government contracts. Nevertheless, if your business has not yet reached such a scale, such expenses may adversely affect it.
Consider the example from open source:
The American company AM General spent 2.5 to 5k dollars for the transportation of one of its armored Hummer (4.5 tons). The amount does not include the cost of certificates and other permits. By the way, the wholesale price of one such Hummer was 220,000 dollars. Therefore, the presentation of one piece of equipment cost the company from 2 to 5% of the value of the Hummer itself. Of course, for a major player, this is not a loss under major government contracts. Nevertheless, if your business has not yet reached such a scale, such expenses may adversely affect it.
The solution from the side of AR and VR will perfectly allow presenting such equipment at all exhibitions, in any room, even in the office. In addition, the cost of investing in these solutions will pay for itself from the very first additional sale thanks to them. Not to mention that with these tools you can easily increase your total sales.
If we are talking about the development of labor, XR is the most applicable tool and has no limitations in various fields of application. XR can help meet the needs of both employers and workers. Accenture, a professional consulting company, noted in its report on spending cuts and increasing staff, that the participation and the ability to reflect real-world situations in XR accelerated employee adaptation processes and improved professional skills by 30%. Some industries already follow this experience: energy, industry, manufacturing, and construction.
Other applications, such as student training, retail, sales training, are still being explored.
The first wave of XR in the workplace was with training to make people more productive.
But we think there eventually will be more to XR than just training.
The first wave of XR in the workplace was with training to make people more productive.
But we think there eventually will be more to XR than just training.
Conclusion
In talks with potential investors, startup firms seem to hear two main concerns: slow adoption and not established consumer market. This implies that widespread adoption may still be a few years away, as products continue to improve and their intended uses become clearer.
A wide range of high-quality content should be available to attract consumers. In addition, more marketing / promotion is needed to disseminate information about these technologies and inform people about the benefits they offer to users.
A wide range of high-quality content should be available to attract consumers. In addition, more marketing / promotion is needed to disseminate information about these technologies and inform people about the benefits they offer to users.
In fact, after working with different clients and their pains, we understood that the unconscious opinion of clients controls their behavior. If they understand and become trust us to solve their problems, they will end up with more benefits.