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These days everyone is talking about metaverse platforms, and flowing on from this we’re getting a lot of clients asking a range of questions from; “how can Ethereum blockchain and real world blockchain work for me?” through to wanting to know…
“What is the latest when it comes to businesses using augmented reality and virtual reality for commercial purposes?”
Much of this discussion is due to organisations emerging from the pandemic and recognising an urgent need for effective remote working and training solutions. Plus there’s widespread fatigue towards 2D video conferencing and antiquated e-Learning delivery platforms. These considerations, coupled with a highly competitive market in the retaining and recruiting of staff, along with commercial travel still being problematic, has resulted in lots of discussion around metaverse platforms, and a significant growth in the production and distribution of AR & VR training experiences.
L&D and HR departments are leveraging virtual reality to deliver training, onboarding and recruitment without the User having to leave their home or office; while real world, interactive VR simulations, and 3D AR models, are allowing sales teams to showcase their services and visualise their product to prospective clients, without the need to meet face to face.
The metaverse is the internet in 3-D, and the businesses that are transitioning from 2D and e-Learning formats into building AR & VR training solutions, are at the forefront of this change. VR simulations which present real word situations in the virtual classroom, the visualisation of complex concepts through augmented reality, and the delivery of consistent, scale-able and trackable content delivered via VR, mobile and desktop, are the foundational components to building a business’ metaverse for learning.
Already the metaverse is fracturing into multiple metaverse platforms including enterprise, social and gaming experiences. While businesses, training organisations & educational institutions are starting to explore this new environment, Gen Z is already immersed in it. To them it isn't foreign or futuristic; it is their reality.
“Over 57% of Gen Z gamers feel they're able to self-express more openly to others in a game than they do in real life, and 33% would like to use it to build a career.”*
Faced with this new era of the metaverse, it is forward thinking businesses who are using AR & VR solutions to overcome the pandemic's screen fatigue and generate a competitive advantage for their workforce and clients, while still enjoying the benefits of the newly formed, hybrid work environment.
“What’s the future look like when it comes to businesses using AR & VR?”
The future for businesses using AR and VR consists of three clear stages.
1: Through the creation of AR & VR sales and training solutions they will increase productivity & profitability, reduce travel and L&D costs, generate a more engaged workforce and customer-base, and thereby gain market share.
2: As the delivery of AR and VR solutions into 3D immersive environments becomes increasingly commonplace, businesses will optimise their old 2D assets by porting them across into a metaverse platform. This provides the best of both worlds as companies can still generate value from their existing 2D material but give it a new lease of life by integrating them into the more compelling format of the metaverse. Examples include, users scanning with their mobile phone existing print and digital assets to activate new 3D AR animations; and 2D videos housed in a 360° environment having a new layer of interactivity via eye-tracking functionality, to drive greater engagement and increase knowledge retention.
3: To overcome the remote workforce challenge of a loss of interpersonal skills and reduction of inter-team connection, businesses will enhance their metaverse platform by creating mixed reality, multi-user shared environments. Employees and clients will each be represented by a 3D avatar and have face to face meetings in a virtual space. Delivered across VR, mobile and desktop this 3D shared experience eclipses standard 2D video conferencing by offering virtual eye contact and spatial audio; which allows for participants to have free flowing conversations as they communicate through voice, hand and body language.
The critical element to these three future-state phases is that they can be deployed at scale immediately. Through Start Beyond’s Oncio platform, businesses can deploy their own metaverse for learning. It is a tangible cost effective solution that combines the virtual world with the real world. The technology is robust and no longer cost prohibitive and the bandwidth required is accessible through the current 5G network. Plus the capacity for businesses to leverage their own subject matter expertise in collaboration with AR & VR producers before in turn bringing that production skill in-house, means that businesses have the capacity to immediately start shaping their own future and through AR & VR simulations, build their own metaverse platform.
The metaverse has arrived, the future of VR & AR, is now.
Of all the questions businesses face, the only one that matters is, “are they’re living in the past or building for the future?”
*Business Wire & Vice Media Group April 2022
AR & VR training provides learners with knowledge that sticks. It is cheaper and more memorable than traditional 2D methods.
Contact us for a demonstration of how AR and VR learning simulations can reduce costs, increase knowledge retention, and build high performing teams.
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