Augmented and virtual realities are no longer niche toys for techies. Businesses of all stripes can now use AR and VR to build efficiency and key competitive advantages. - BY DANIEL PEREZ
Augmented and virtual reality systems broke into the collective consciousness thanks to science fiction work, and were initially brought to life via books, movies, and gaming toys. Early headsets and surround systems allowed users to be tourists in alternative worlds and to play with the idea of augmented reality in daily life. Yet many early products, such as Google’s glasses venture and Meta’s Oculus and Metaverse investments, failed to catch on as expected. However, they opened the door, and when COVID pushed millions of Canadians to search for remote ways to work, both augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) gained a new attraction for business owners.
In fact, Canada is currently in the midst of an AR and VR surge. The nation is already a world leader in adoption of AR and VR systems, and over the next four years, Statista estimates Canada’s AR and VR related business revenues are going to double. How? Here’s a look at some of the ways Canadian businesses and organizations are using AR and VR to build competitive advantages in fun and innovative ways.
Training, onboarding, and job shadowing are challenges for many Canadian organizations, and that’s doubly true for those with hybrid or fully distributed teams. However, as a part of its Canada Beyond 150 study of work trends and opportunities, the Government of Canada found that AR and VR tools were helping companies do more to provide high-quality job exploration, training, and onboarding experiences. The tools were also helping organizations recruit, train, and retain a more diverse workforce by making job opportunities more accessible and training more affordable.
Take job shadowing as an example. In the past, spending extended periods of time shadowing a coworker to learn a role required a 1:1 connection and sharing physical space, limiting who could be trained in this way. Now, AR and VR tools mean that workers from across Canada can do job shadowing in real time without needing to be co-located, and multiple team members can shadow at once without overwhelming a small office space. This is allowing firms to do more training at a lower overall cost, and offer virtual job shadowing to geographically remote workers, those needing accessibility accommodations, and other populations that have been traditionally excluded, deepening the talent pool and creating a new competitive advantage.
Telehealth? So yesterday compared to
AR and VR healthcare applications…
Being able to do a video chat with a doctor has been a big breakthrough, extending the reach of high-quality healthcare. However, the basic telehealth concept seems archaic compared to the possibilities offered by AR and VR tools in the medical space.
For example, at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, patients undergoing certain medical procedures have the opportunity to experience VR as a part of their procedure. Doctors have found that VR can lower anxiety and reduce patient discomfort, distracting and calming patients while eliminating the need for sedatives or other restraints that could create unwanted side effects or trauma. As a result, the hospital is able to deliver better care and outcomes for patients than its peers.
Doctors across Canada are also using AR and VR tools to level up their skills. Thanks to tools like those offered by Precision OS, doctors and medical students can perform simulated surgeries in immersive environments, practicing complex procedures in a risk free way. This is helping Canada’s medical establishment preserve and expand its reputation as a provider of world-class care, helping attract top talent, pull in leading medical researchers, and serve patients at a higher level.
Maintenance and service calls
improve with AR and VR assists…
AR and VR tools help Canadian manufacturers create innovative products. However, along with their high-level strategic uses in visualization and experimentation, AR and VR tools are also able to help companies with day-to-day issues. As a result, consumers and end users can now have better maintenance and service call experiences.
One example of this comes from Leybold, the vacuum pump manufacturer. The company was a pioneer in using augmented reality to help its service technicians gather data and troubleshoot while on site with end users, rolling out the beta version of its software in 2017. Over the years, the experience and inputs have dramatically improved, allowing service techs to generate 3D renders of issues and more accurately diagnosis pump problems, so that the AR can highlight exactly where and how repairs need to be made. This has created – and continues to create – a marked competitive advantage for the firm in terms of better customer support, more accurate parts service, and fewer repeat calls.
Entertainment companies aren’t
playing around…
When Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE), owner of multiple professional sports teams in Canada, embraced AR in 2022, it did so to create unmatchable experiences for fans, players, and franchise operations. It was about fun, but also the bottom line. Thanks to AR and VR data feeds, MLSE teams can operate more efficiently and keep players healthier, making the teams more profitable even as fans feel more connected.
It’s also a nod to the increasingly competitive international sports environment and interconnectivity with online sports gaming. Many fans play with their teams and favorite players in a variety of online games and forums. If MLSE wants to capture that attention and accompanying revenue, it needs to be where the fans want to be. Increasingly, that’s in the virtual world, so by leaning on AR and VR, MLSE can create more direct and unbreakable links between its teams and its fans.
What’s next…
Canada leads the world now… and its really just getting started. As much as has been done already, there is still room for dramatic growth. By allowing Canadian firms to do more with job training, medical care, manufacturing services, and entertainment, AR and VR tools will continue to create fun and profitable competitive advantage for homegrown businesses in the years ahead.