Augmented Reality in Business

by Adesina Abdulhameed

Remaining relevant in any sector strongly depends on how much your business incorporates innovations into its growth strategy. One up-and-coming technology that can captivate customers and solidify loyalty and engagement is augmented reality (AR). What is AR, and how can you leverage it to take your business to the next level? AR is the integration of digital information with the user’s environment in real time. In other words, it is a digital overlay of images or graphics onto the real world.

Amazon, IKEA, Facebook, Google and other companies already have some sort of 3D-based AR option for customers. See it in action with a “virtual try-on” for sneakers here:

Unlike the completely digital medium of virtual reality, AR is a blend of what exists physically with digitized add-ons to improve appeal, accessibility and user experience. A brick-and-mortar store can champion AR by giving customer service options that were previously limited to in-person experience. In the augmented world, a shopper can easily wear a product displayed digitally and check out how well it fits before making a purchase, all while not having to leave home.

Like any new technology, AR’s full potential is yet to be excavated, and there is much room for improvements and greater innovations. With a projected market capital of $72.8 billion by 2024, leveraging this untapped gold mine now is a smart decision by any business.

How to Leverage Augmented Reality as a Business

AR’s immersive and improved presentation feature makes it a multifunctional technology that can be used in different ways by different businesses. The ways various industries can leverage AR are inexhaustible; however, these are some of the ways different sectors can make use of this emerging technology.

  • Construction Companies

The beauty of AR is that it opens a new world of business opportunities. For example, if you own a construction company, you can easily spice up your business with AR by making your products and services more desirable to consumers. Imagine presenting a client with an AR rendering of a skyscraper you intend to build. Your client could walk into your digital prototype to get a real feel of the possible end result. Unlike the old means of presenting projects in cardboard prototypes, presenting your plan with something close to physical beats any other form of presentation!

  • Education

Ever wondered why it’s easy for children to watch a two-hour movie without losing concentration while their usual attention span in class is less than a few minutes? It’s simple: Movies are interesting, while traditional learning can often feel boring to many kids. Imagine introducing AR into your lectures where students can virtually touch the solar system or pick up an ancient fossil. How engaging would that be? With special lenses, students can feel like they are in space touching the stars, moon and planets. It’s a no-brainer that AR would help students look forward to school more than they currently do.

Schools can leverage AR technology to improve comprehension. It’s one thing to read; it’s a totally different ball game to be able to see, feel and interact with a concept in a more physical manner. That immersion will create the magic.

  • Corporate Institutions

Enabling the imaginative and creative abilities of individuals is strongly dependent on the tools they have to express themselves. You can easily enhance your company’s productivity by using AR as a tool for communicating creative ideas. It is almost conventional to use slides in presentations. However, imagine giving your staff the liberty to express their thoughts in more dynamic ways.

Communication using AR instantly becomes more interesting, wonderful and exciting. It breaks workers out of old habits and fosters creativity. With this kind of communication, productivity will likely increase because work becomes a little more fun.

  • Healthcare

Visualize being able to diagnose or care for patients by projecting their vitals through AR. Or, walking into a surgical unit with critical vital information already projected. In a sector where speed and accuracy are determinants of the success of a procedure, leveraging AR in this sector will definitely be a game changer.

Rigid businesses that fail to leverage newer trends in technology risk stagnation or, worse, failure (remember Blockbuster Video?). Even though the cost of adopting augmented reality is still relatively high, the potential results from its proper use could be worth every penny. There are multiple opportunities with AR—unlock them by looking inward into your business and leveraging this untapped gold mine. To stay up to date on the latest technologies, trends and events in Web3, subscribe to our blog today.

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