In the last few years we have seen multiple emerging technologies like IOT, Cloud, Mobility creating a huge excitement, transforming the business and eventually becoming a mainstream technology. So, what is next new excitement in the industry? Experts are forecasting that the next big technology which is going to excite the enterprise world is Augmented Reality. It’s going to completely change how we see and interact with the real world and it can even create a virtual world where a person can immerse himself and interact with it.

In the enterprise world AR adoption continues to be low. The hype surrounding AR/VR are forcing business leaders to feel an urgency to adopt AR/VR to refresh their brands and attract new customers. Yet, most companies aren’t sure where to begin, which problems to solve, or if AR VR is even the right technology to pursue. However, with Integration with Enterprise IT AR/VR adoption is rising. It’s the new way of UI -Mobility at Your Eyes. When we start thinking this way, we have a plethora of real-world use cases, previously un-resolved which can transform the way we work. Whether in an Oil and Gas company or a Hospital or a manufacturing plant or a retail store or a retail bank - AR/VR adoptions are helping to improve immersive customer experience, workers productivity, quality of outcomes and excitement at work.

“Immersive virtual environments will be the new UI – Mobility at Your Eyes through which we interact with Enterprise AI platforms, enabling us to visualize and manipulate vast amounts of data in entirely new ways”

In the Manufacturing as well as Energy and Utilities Sector AR devices can make the “life of a day” of a field engineer easier and more efficient. With AR assistance he/ she shall be able to troubleshoot problems which in normal circumstances might be beyond his or her skill scope. In case of complex problems AR headset can also help in remote collaboration and expert support by setting up a video call with realtime object detection and annotation. As Baby Boomers exit the workforce (and take valuable skills with them) and opportunities made possible by technology fuel growth, it’s expected that nearly 4.6 million manufacturing jobs will become available over the next decade - and nearly 2.4 million are expected to go unfilled due to skill shortage. Adoption of AR/VR will be a critical step towards bridging this skill gap.

In the healthcare industry, with the advent of 5G, AR/VR will help the doctors and surgeons train in a completely virtual world. It can help in assisting surgery by providing step by step guidance and patient data. AR/VR solution can significantly improve the overall patient experience and make it less problematic by adding pop-up information and navigating features among other things. VR solutions can also be used for Psychological Relief and Treatment. Specific environments can be used to treat the mental condition, such as anxiety, various kinds of phobias and addictions. VR Healthcare Simulation of events can help better understand the patterns of disorders and develop more effective treatment strategies.

In the Banking and Insurance Industry Virtual assistance will become more efficient with AR/VR adoption coupled with AI Enablement and bank can serve the customers with better experience and efficiency. 3D equivalence of Alexa & Siri in a virtual world can create a more exciting and immersive experience for the customers and can help them choosing a finance plan or visualizing a property in a virtual environment and apply the loan.

In the retail and consumer care business VR technologies have a big role to play. Retailers can excite the customers and improve the sales with Customers getting an immersive experience in a virtual-world e.g. seeing different models of car and having a ride, add accessories to the car or you see how a shoe looks in your own feet. These will excite the customer, bring him to the store and sales cycle will be lesser and more productive.

To make AR more effective Solution providers must realize that AR is just a channel. The real power of AR will be unleashed when we create AR solutions which leverages the underlying technologies like 5G, AI/ML, Cloud and IOT. And most importantly to make mass adoption of this technology, more specifically make it more like “Mobility at Your Eyes”. Glass providers need to ensure that it is light and safe to use, has a reasonable battery life and an affordable price. Or even, if mobile and AR glass sold in a pair might make it more popular. In this regard Vuzix blade which is going to be released soon might cheer up the mass market. The mixed reality experience in HoloLens is superb and unmatched but can be more popular if it is less bulky and more affordable to masses.

At the same time AR/VR application platform providers must ensure applications developed in AR/ VR are more price competitive. Apple and Google with their AR Kit and AR Core are investing in making their AR /VR platforms more stable and feature rich and very soon app stores for AR/VR might become as popular as app stores for mobile.

I would look forward for an Integrated Eco System to rapidly evolve where platform providers, the Glass manufactures and developer community work hand in hand for mass adoption of AR/VR both in Enterprise and Consumer world. AR/VR in combination with 5G & AI Platforms, will accelerate our ability to find solutions for problems previously considered very difficult. Immersive virtual environments will be the new UI - Mobility at Your Eyes through which we interact with Enterprise AI platforms, enabling us to visualize and manipulate vast amounts of data in entirely new ways. Patterns, relationships and anomalies will emerge more easily, empowering us to transform how we run our businesses and even create completely new business models.