MSPNetworks Blog

Have you considered the use of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) for your business? If so, you’re not alone—many small businesses are opting to use these technologies in new and exciting ways, particularly as it relates to engaging customers, enhancing products, and creating better training experiences. Let’s look into how your business can utilize AR and VR to its advantage.

Product Visualization

Some of the more powerful applications for AR and VR consist of visualization, or the act of allowing potential customers to try their products before they commit fully to them. For example, let’s say you’re trying to buy something for a furniture store and you want to see how it would look in your home, or you want to purchase an outfit, trying clothes on virtually before clicking the “Pay” button. These types of visualizations allow businesses to cut down on returns and improve customer satisfaction.

Customer Engagement

These technologies are also incredible for customer engagement, offering interactive AR experiences that can entertain or educate customers. A restaurant might use an interactive menu that shows a 3D view of their dishes through a smartphone app, or a local museum might implement similar technology to bring their exhibits to life in new and immersive ways.

Virtual Tours

Businesses that are a part of the travel, real estate, or hospitality industries can use VR to offer virtual tours of properties or destinations without the customer or buyer’s physical presence. It can save time during the home buying process, something which any prospective home buyer who has had their dream property snatched away within minutes can appreciate. A travel agency can also give destination previews, allowing customers to make informed decisions while planning out their next vacation.

Employee Development

Small businesses might struggle to offer meaningful training and development exercises for their staff. VR can make this training immersive and cost-effective, leading to better training outcomes. A small manufacturing company, for example, can use VR to simulate potentially dangerous scenarios and allow employees to act them out or interact with them in a way that could prepare them for such situations in real time.

Advertising and Marketing

Finally, small businesses can use these technologies to great effect for marketing and advertising. With AR-powered ads, customers can interact with products, and with VR experiences, users can be transported to a simulated reality to experience a business’ offerings. These types of strategies work wonders for immersive experience and brand engagement.

How would your business use AR and VR? Do you want to get started with utilizing emerging technologies for your business? Call us today at (516) 403-9001 to find out how we can help.

Virtual reality has been one of the coolest technologies available for over a decade. Today’s applications make it an exciting piece of tech for individuals; and you’ve seen that market expand (especially during the pandemic) with Facebook, Sony, HTC, and HP coming to market with a VR offering. The question we wanted to look at is how VR could be used at a business like yours.

Virtual Reality Explained

For those of you who think that this technology is nothing better than a gimmick, you may be surprised to find out that not only is there serious application development happening in the VR space, some of that software may actually be of huge value to your business. Virtual reality is technology that allows an individual to simulate an interactive, three-dimensional virtual world and the use of those virtual worlds is slowly growing.

In 2018 the virtual reality market was a mere $829 million. As a result of growth, much being spurred on by the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, VR in business is projected to top $4.2 billion by 2023. That growth is due to the advancement of better hardware, better software, and more exposure to the technology. The software is notoriously difficult to develop so growth figures that look like that are impressive. 

Two Functions VR Can Bring to Your Business

On the surface, VR doesn’t seem to be the most practical technology. The price has dropped as to not be prohibitive for businesses who want to use it for the following two reasons:

Training

As a technology, virtual reality may be best suited for a training facility for businesses. By immersing employees into a lifelike environment you can better train them for situational awareness. Imagine not having to have business back up every time you had to train a new employee? With VR, employees can face complex situations, and learn how to best react when those situations come to fruition.

Retail

One way that virtual reality could grow to be an extremely important technology for business is in the retail sector where you can already see it moving online. VR development, then will have to be a line item on a retail store’s to-do list. With VR, customers can enjoy a shopping experience that is customized for them and they won’t have to worry about the crowds or the lack of product in stores. Even in brick and mortar stores, VR is being used to heat map traffic to coordinate where to put certain products. 

Engineering and Realty

With production costs higher than ever, one use-case for VR might be found for manufacturing and realty industries. Product designers can build products in VR for board members and buyers to sample and demo, before producing a physical product. Architects and interior designers can create virtual environments of living spaces, offices, convention centers, and more, and help convey their ideas and vision to their clients.

Virtual reality may not be the answer to all of your operational problems, but it is a fast-emerging technology that will be normalized before too long. What are your thoughts on virtual reality? Do you think it’s a gimmick or do you think there is room for it to be a positive force for your business down the road? Leave your thoughts in the comments below and check back soon for more great technology information.