Capgemini Research Institute recently published a research on Augmented and Virtual Reality in Operations: A guide for investment .It has found that 82 per cent of companies currently implementing AR/VR technologies to enhance their business operations. However, a shortage of in-house expertise and insufficient back-end infrastructures are significant barriers to growth.
The report, which surveyed more than 700 executives in the automotive, manufacturing and utilities sectors, with considerable knowledge of their organisation’s AR/VR initiatives, found that 50 per cent of enterprises currently not implementing AR and VR, but will start exploring immersive technologies for their business operations within the next three years. These include using AR to remotely access real-time help from experts on a wearable or handheld device, and VR to train employees. Some 46 per cent of companies believe the technology will become mainstream in their organisations within the next three years, while a further 38 per cent think it will become mainstream in their organisations in the next three to five years.
Organisations are seeing the benefits of immersive technology
According to the survey AR is more complex to implement, organisations perceive it as more beneficial than VR. It highlights that AR generates productivity benefits thanks to streamlined workflows.Two-thirds of all the organisations survey believed that AR is more applicable to their business operations than VR. While VR has been found to enhance a solo, immersive user experience that is isolated from the real world, AR connects the digital world to the real world, and therefore supports a number of breakthrough use-cases. Of companies deploying AR, 45 per cent are implementing the technology, compared with just 36 per cent of those companies using VR (the rest of the companies are still at the experimentation phase).
The US and China are currently leading the aggressive implementation race, with over 50 per cent of companies surveyed already implementing immersive technology for business operations. Whereas, over 50 per cent companies in France, Germany, the Nordics and United Kingdom are in experimenting phase with AR/VR initiatives.
“Immersive technology has come a long way in a short time and will continue to evolve. Faced with stiff competition from aggressive investors in the US and China, businesses need to streamline investment to seize the long-term growth potential this technology offers. To drive the highest business value from AR and VR, companies need a centralised governance structure, proofs of concept that are aligned with business strategy, and to be able to drive innovation and employee change management,” said Capgemini CIO Lanny Cohen.
Four key strategies to expand AR/VR initiatives
The report identified a group of early achievers who are driving the most benefits from their immersive technology initiatives. Representing 16 per cent of the total companies surveyed, these organisations are focusing on four key strategies to expand their AR/VR initiatives:
Put a centralised governance model in place and build AR/VR awareness: 78 per cent of early achievers have dedicated central teams or innovation centres to manage the organisation’s overall AR/VR activities, compared with only 51 per cent of other companies.
Invest in upgrading talent to gear up for future adoption: 93 per cent of early achievers are investing heavily in agile, in-house teams of experts, compared with only 76 per cent of the rest of companies surveyed.
Focus on the right use cases that provide lasting value and support employees: Finding the right use case and testing its applicability is one of the top three priorities for early achievers, whereas currently, the inability to identify a use case is a challenge for more than 50 per cent of organisations.