The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly prompted the adoption of virtual reality and augmented reality technologies as businesses have turned to remote work.
Overall, global spending on AR and VR headsets, software and services, including purchases by consumers, rose in 2020 to $12 billion, up 50% from 2019.
In 2020, 32% of consumers used AR for shopping. The augmented reality and virtual reality market for the retail industry alone is expected to reach $2,094.08 billion by 2027, witnessing market growth at a rate of 68.5% in the forecast period of 2020 to 2027.
As you can see, AR/VR has come a long way, from a niche technology to a growing trend across multiple industries. In this article, I will share how the pandemic and advancements made in technology have catapulted the growth in demand for AR/VR solutions.
How Businesses Use AR/VR In Their Work
Before the pandemic, many companies were cautiously interested in AR and VR, but only a few were actually ready to use the technologies. Some researched how to apply this new technology in their businesses. Others tried to calculate the development costs so as to budget resources for the future.
But over the past year, the situation has evolved quickly. Today, customers are less hesitant to actively implement AR and VR in education and retail. They also see it as a tool that helps their scattered teams and remote workers do their jobs.
Businesses are observing the impact of these technologies on the market and believe the trend will continue.
Remote Collaboration
One reason virtual reality has gained popularity is that, during lockdowns, many companies began to actively use VR collaboration platforms.
Members of a scattered team can put on headsets and join each other in a virtual environment. Depending on the purpose of the meeting, this virtual space could be a room or any environment you want. People can sit at a table and listen to the main speaker, as they would in any meeting.
Or, for example, if they are meeting to discuss the design of a car the company plans to produce, then they can all virtually stand around the car, rotate it, open the doors and explore its interior with fine detail.
To use this option, participants need the right hardware. A VR headset like Oculus is enough for simple meetings. But sometimes, haptic gloves or treadmills are also required. Most of the time, a virtual avatar repeats the movements of a real person in the virtual space; the avatar can also move in a virtual space while the person sits motionless.
Education
Companies also use AR/VR technologies for educational purposes. Their workers can acquire complex technical skills or master a new profession without leaving home. A good example is a simulation by Transfr, a hands-on simulation-based training company, called “Basics of Soldering.” A beginner can study the technical process in a virtual room.
The global lockdown has also generated interest in AR mobile apps that help maintain complex industrial equipment without the help of external experts. All the user needs to do is simply point a tablet at the equipment and follow the advice that appears on the screen. Such tools are already in use at multiple industrial companies.
Retail
AR/VR technologies have become popular among retail businesses as well. Retailers are seeing the potential of this technology and utilizing it to its full extent.
For example, a virtual clothes-fitting app could be a great technological extension for a retail business. An app like this creates a 3D model of a person from photos, then uses this model to fit virtual clothes. Many retailers have developed similar applications that customers can use to try clothes on virtually before buying them, enhancing the customer experience.
Other Reasons For The Boost In AR/VR Popularity
The lockdown, of course, has led to increased demand for AR/VR products, but there are other factors, including a big leap in the development of complementary technologies.
Four years ago, our company began to develop an AR platform for marketers and creatives that allows interactive marker-based and markerless campaigns to launch. Users, who need not have advanced technical skills, can design, configure and launch their own complex AR experiences.
And it’s not just this one project that shows how technology has come a long way. Powerful frameworks, such as ARKit and ARCore, have emerged, and the processing power of computers and internet connectivity have increased at an unprecedented rate.
If we compare the current platform against that of four years ago, we see a great difference. Current AR experiences are richer and more realistic. Another thing driving the development of AR/VR is that both mobile devices generally have reached a greater hardware power than ever before, and the networking infrastructure offers unprecedented connectivity. This allows for the implementation of more complex projects.
Other factors that affect AR/VR adoption are the general growth of knowledge and experience. But the developers and companies who build customer-facing AR/VR apps have gained experience in both overcoming technical challenges and understanding business cases.
As a result, the technologies that were mostly experimental toys two years ago blend into our lives with ease. Extended reality is not the future anymore. It has become a mature and usable tool for both business and entertainment purposes. In addition, VR headsets are getting cheaper every year and becoming popular in the B2C market, which also increases the demand for technologies.
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