A Brief Guide on Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality
In recent years, Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies have rapidly evolved, transforming various industries and providing new opportunities for businesses to engage with customers in immersive and innovative ways. With the recent announcement of Apple’s Vision Pro headset, this space is set to expand rapidly. At first, it will be for businesses that have the money for a $3,499 headset, but once Apple releases a cheaper v2 or non-pro-option, the space will be hitting consumers quickly. If you’ve been wondering whether AR and VR are suitable for your business, you’ve come to the right place. In this blog post, we’ll delve into the potential applications of AR and VR and how they can benefit your business. Secure Packet, a leading provider of IT consulting services, can help you harness the power of AR and VR to elevate your business’s digital presence and customer experience.
Understanding AR and VR
Before we delve into the business applications, let’s briefly define AR and VR:
1. Augmented Reality (AR): AR overlays digital content onto the real world, enhancing the user’s perception and interaction with their physical surroundings. It typically involves the use of mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, or specialized AR glasses. With AR, think of being able to place a piece of furniture in your home to see how it will look or try on that new outfit in a mirror to see how it would look on you.
2. Virtual Reality (VR): VR immerses users in a simulated, computer-generated environment. By wearing VR headsets, users are transported to virtual worlds, creating an immersive and interactive experience. There are no outside real-world elements that are pushed to the user unless asked for. Virtual reality is great for transporting the user to another location or even completely fictitious places. Only the creator’s imagination is the limit in a VR scenario.
For example, most of the gaming reality headsets are considered VR while Apple’s New Vision Pro and Microsoft’s Halo Lens 2 are AR based.
The Business Benefits of AR and VR
1. Enhanced Customer Engagement: AR and VR technologies offer unique and engaging experiences that capture customers’ attention and create lasting impressions. By incorporating AR and VR into your marketing campaigns, product demonstrations, or virtual showrooms, you can elevate customer engagement and increase brand recall.
2. Virtual Tours and Showrooms: AR and VR can provide virtual tours of physical spaces, such as real estate properties, hotels, or event venues. This enables potential customers to explore and experience the environment remotely, saving time and resources while still delivering an immersive experience.
3. Interactive Product Visualization: AR and VR allow customers to visualize products in a realistic and interactive manner. They can virtually try on clothes, test furniture placement in their homes, or preview architectural designs. This enhances the customer’s decision-making process and reduces the risk of returns or dissatisfaction.
4. Training and Simulations: AR and VR offer powerful tools for training employees or simulating complex scenarios. For instance, in industries like healthcare or manufacturing, VR simulations can provide realistic training experiences, reducing costs and minimizing risks associated with real-world practice.
5. Virtual Meetings and Collaboration: AR and VR enable remote teams to collaborate effectively by providing virtual meeting spaces where participants can interact and share information as if they were physically present. This fosters better collaboration, especially for businesses with distributed teams or clients.
Knowing your customer
These points above have had great success in certain industries and with certain types of customers. There have been some businesses that wanted to force the adoption of AR/VR into their product and sales process which isn’t quite the best fit. If your customer base is on the side of not tech-saving at all and you see they even struggle with email then this new approach of showcasing your product might not be the best for your team.
One example that Secure Packet has had is a customer of ours who sells windows and door replacements. The cost for what they wanted to deploy for an AR solution to showcase their replacement solutions will be a good size investment, however, it really showed what their product could look like and how it will improve their customer’s homes. Secure Packet has suggested that only sales representatives have access in the beginning so the adoption of the technology can be fine-tuned for their offering while also allowing the consumer base to get time to understand an AR solution since it really isn’t mainstream yet. The cost had their Finance leads wanting the most adoption possible so we performed a study group for the customer to see what their current client base thought of the self-use model versus the sales representative presentation model. The sales representative presentation model won out hands down due to the customer base of our clients tended to skew into their 60s and 70s, they didn’t understand the technology and were easily frustrated. Also, the sales process was quicker since the sales representative was present to show all the options, help navigate pricing and options, and also try to close the deal while present in the home. If the customer base skewed more into a technology-proficient base or younger, this outcome would have been different.
How Secure Packet Can Help
As a trusted provider of IT consulting services, Secure Packet has the expertise to guide and support your business in leveraging AR and VR technologies. With Secure Packet’s IT consulting services, we can assess your business requirements, provide guidance on AR and VR implementation strategies, and offer ongoing support to ensure the smooth operation and maintenance of your AR and VR solutions. Our team can be as hands-on or hands-off as you would like. From simply being part of the vendor management and vetting process, or as far as helping design, implement, and support the deployment of your AR/VR solution.
Conclusion
AR and VR are now positioned to skyrocket in demand in the next few years. With Apple’s newly launched Vision Pro headset, the time is now for a business to see where AR and VR can play a critical role in engaging and capturing new clients while also helping existing clients use and understand their products even further. Businesses are already starting to utilize artificial intelligence with their AR/VR deployments so ensure that you are at least placing AR and VR on your technology roadmap to be discussed and explored to ensure this opportunity doesn’t pass you up. The space will move even faster now that Apple is involved so staying on top of this cutting-edge tech is critical. Keep in mind that Secure Packet is here to help if technology isn’t your strong suit. We are also a click or phone call away if you need help with AR/VR or anything else IT-related for your business.
Secure Packet is here to help!
Secure Packet provides IT consulting services along with web hosting and advanced services. Our team is a group of experienced IT consultants with a large amount of our team around our headquarters in Orlando, FL. We are local to your needs and have the skill set to get you solutions fast and budget-friendly. We provide a free IT strategy call at no cost to you and no commitment to go with us. We also offer an IT consulting service where we strictly only provide IT consulting services. We will make you aware of our other services that would be a great fit but that is where it stops. We won’t push our services as IT consulting should be the best fit possible for your needs and not an upselling opportunity. With Secure Packet being run by IT professionals and not MBA business folks, this is one of the cornerstones of our mission statement to our clients.