Introduction to Augmented Reality
Augmented reality (AR) is becoming increasingly popular amongst businesses because it offers quite a few benefits. By enhancing what people see through smartphones, tablets, and head-mounted displays, AR has the potential to remodel various business processes. The technology has matured during the last five years, with pioneers like Google Glass and Blippar paving the best way for its development.
Practical Applications of AR
Today, AR is finding practical applications in a wide selection of industries, including manufacturing, entertainment, healthcare, and travel. For instance, AR is utilized in wayfinding at airports, allowing passengers to navigate easily. In the cosmetics and fashion industries, AR enables consumers to try products virtually, offering a brand new dimension of personalization. In the food and beverage sector, packaging is using AR to disclose detailed product content, supporting consumer purchasing decisions.
Business Process Transformation
AR can also be changing how workforces approach tasks. Companies like Boeing and DHL are using AR to boost their production processes. Boeing, for instance, uses AR to overlay wiring diagrams onto engines during assembly, reducing wiring time by 30%. DHL, meanwhile, has expanded its vision picking program worldwide using Google Glass Enterprise Edition, leading to a 15% increase in employee efficiency. According to research by Cognizant, 82% of business leaders expect substantial AR-driven redesign of business processes within the near future.
Benefits of AR
Rob Brown, vp of Cognizant’s Centre for the Future of Work, notes that AR will remove activities that involve checking information and toggling between multiple documents. Many businesses are already embracing the technology, with firms like Coca-Cola, Caterpillar, and Walmart using AR to boost their operations. The ambitions that companies have for AR are only now being realized, with mobile digital technologies providing a platform to construct AR services.
Overlaying Reality
Industrial process augmentation is a growth area for AR, with 69% of use cases focused on benefiting internal staff in engineering, manufacturing, service, and training. Companies like PTC and PwC are recognizing the chance to create recent revenue streams and grow existing ones through AR. Leila Martine, UK product marketing director of Mixed Reality at Microsoft, emphasizes the importance of starting with bottom-up projects that quickly deliver ROI and impact into businesses.
Future Dimensions
The power of AR lies in its ability to narrow skills gaps and speed up customer support. As high-speed 5G rolls out and the Internet of Things (IoT) delivers intelligent environments, services will increasingly change into AR-enabled. The value to businesses is a better relationship with their customers. Overall spending on AR and VR is anticipated to grow significantly, with PwC predicting that the technology will add £62.5 billion to the UK economy by 2030.
Conclusion
Augmented reality has precise applications that each one businesses can explore, from enhancing end-user products to delivering detailed information for technically intensive manufacturing environments. A transparent development roadmap is critical to identifying how AR may very well be applied and the way AR services may very well be delivered. With the proper hardware and software, businesses can ensure high levels of ROI. As AR continues to evolve, firms can expect headsets to change into lighter, smaller, and more intuitive to make use of, with costs falling further, enhancing the investment case for organizations.
