Business case precedes the selection of mixed reality technologies

From our experience with enterprise customers, most often, mixed reality products improve the training process when employees use virtual simulators to master their skills before real-life work. It is relevant to difficult and hazardous production facilities, like in the metallurgy, mining, oil and gas, or heavy engineering sectors, where any mistake may cost too much and beforehand drilling is of paramount importance.

Other use case is practicing soft skills – most often customer conversations. Augmented reality products are often used when doing technical operations as virtual assistants. For instance, a tip function can be embedded into augmented reality glasses for employees to see real-time recommendations on how to repair and configure certain equipment or perform other field operations in the most effective manner. They can also have a live call with a remote support expert that will see exactly what is in front of the worker’s eyes

It is useful to emphasise two factors here: 

• Focus on a business task 

• Focus on technology aspect

The first means that we should clearly define the problems our customer wants to solve. Taking business needs into account is the key requirement when creating a product. 

The second factor is of technical nature. Mixed reality and augmented reality technologies are most often used in 3D graphics. Computer graphics development should follow certain rules and standards. Let us say, 3D graphic usage in gaming and manufacturing differ, so will the approaches to task solution. 

First, figure out whom you are making the product for and only then select the technologies and tools to achieve the outcome that will bring value to such end users. 

Of course, the developer community is growing but ever-evolving technology calls for synergy between all market participants: vendors, systems integrators, and end users. We see increasingly more meetups, conferences and sessions where developers and users can meet and openly discuss opportunities, bugs, and industry trends in terms of both technology aspects and business needs. 

It is crucial to involve all market participants in this dialog because this is the only way to create a truly effective product. 

Key takeaways 

• The developer community is growing but technology calls for synergy between market participants.

• We see sessions where developers and users can meet and openly discuss opportunities, bugs, trends.

• Augmented reality products are often used when doing technical operations as virtual assistants.

• Mixed reality and augmented reality technologies are most often used in 3D graphics.